Chelsea here.Chelsea to bring on Fernández and Mudryk, with Lavia – who’d picked up a knock – replaced, along with Madueke.Arsenal win it high up, with Colwill caught in possession, and Chelsea look rather rattled at the moment. Timber then wriggles through midfield and unleashes a decent shot, which is whizzed just wide.Chelsea into life. They’d probably looked the more likely to break the deadlock …
Saka is finally getting some joy against Cucurella. And all the noise is now coming from the Arsenal contingent.
Chelsea scream for a penalty for a foul on Gusto but both Oliver and VAR turn the claims away.
Havertz has blood coming from his head so will have to go off for a bit.
Premier League away goal was in September.
Sean Orlowicz emails in: “It looks like two strong teams that are both just a rung below title contenders.”
53 min: Oh, close for Fofana. Madueke floats a nice ball into the mixer and Fofana – still up from the corner – extends a leg to try and volley it home. It’s an awkward one for him, and it’s over the bar.
52 min: Palmer shows a bit of urgency again and wins his team a corner.
The Mancunian whips it in with his left but it doesn’t beat the first man. Groans.
51 min: Saka gets the better of Cu-cu-cu-rella this time, cuts into the centre and Arsenal work it quickly to the opposite flank, from which position Martinelli curls a lovely ball towards the back post. But nobody in an Arsenal shirt gambles to get onto it.
Martinelli goes again but it’s snuffed out by Fofana. The Chelsea centre-back has been excellent.
49 min: Yep, it’s Chelsea who seemed to have upped the ante since the interval, with some impetus coming down their flanks. There’s a bit more zip in their passing, too.
Madueke cuts inside off the right but balloons his shot into orbit.
47 min: Palmer with an injection of pace and directness down the Chelsea left, but his cross is well claimed by Raya. There’s little sign of an increased tempo from Arsenal, who are seeing lots of the ball.
Second half: Will this game ignite in the next 45 (to 50) minutes? Let’s hope so. We’re back under way and it’ll be the same players – for now – charged with improving on the first half fare.
After my bold pre-match prediction that this would be a “corker”, you’re happily telling me otherwise on email. This is from Rick Harris:
This game is an absolute stinker – can’t see either team scoring but I imagine one of them will get a lucky deflection or a dead soft penalty in the second half and then the other team will equalise with an equally jammy fluke.
Oh, Kai.
The half finishes with another Palmer free-kick struck straight into the wall. Frustrating stuff for Chelsea, as the whistles goes with the score goalless.
What started as a high-quality, high-octane half of football lost a fair degree of momentum some point after the 20-minute mark. Both teams have fashioned decent chances, but the tempo has dropped as both teams’ discipline has dropped.
Chelsea need to get Cole Palmer on the ball more often and Arsenal, I’d suggest, need to keep their heads and stop committing unnecessary fouls. More needed in this London derby, please.
45 min: On the brink of the break, Chelsea have a free-kick in a great spot … but Palmer fires it left-footed into the wall from 20 yards.
We’ll have three minutes of stoppage time.
Unless something happens in the final minute or so, plus added time, this will be the major talking point of the first half at Stamford Bridge.
43 min: If there’s been one player on either side who has struggled to get involved so far, it’s Nicolas Jackson. Chelsea simply haven’t got the ball to him, either into his feet or via the ball in-behind Arsenal.
Hence, Chelsea’s goal threat has been minimal in this first half.
40 min: Palmer, who has looked a bit frustrated in the past 10 to 15 minutes, wallops a free-kick into the Shed End. That was way off target – he allows himself a wry smile.
39 min: Neto and White come to blows near the Chelsea left-hand touchline after a push in the back from the Arsenal man.
Saka then stops Cucurella in his tracks and White is booked for a flaying hand on Neto off the ball. Soft, that.
37 min: It feels like Arsenal have got to grips with Chelsea now and they’re ensuring Palmer doesn’t see too much of the ball, which is key.
The home side are sitting deep right now.
In the era of VAR, these things can come back to bite you …
34 min: Neto has been booked for dissent. Chelsea’s chief complaint there was that they weren’t ready for the free-kick. But the whistle had gone and, if Havertz hadn’t been offside, the goal would have stood!
33 min: Havertz is indeed ruled offside. There wasn’t a huge amount in it, but he was definitely just the wrong side of the line when it was drawn up. A big cheer goes up around Stamford Bridge.
The Chelsea’s defenders’ blushes are spared. They switched off at the taking of that free-kick.
Arsenal free kick. Taken quickly and smartly – and Kai Havertz smuggles it in!
Oooh is this offside though? There will be a VAR check.
30 min: Many thought it would be an even-money game before kick-off and it’s proving that way. Chelsea are just shading things, for me.
28 min: Looking back at that Martinelli chance, it fell kindly to him after Saka’s shot was blocked and the Brazilian hit it too close to the Chelsea goalkeeper, who got in the way.
Source: theguardian.com
