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Chelsea 2 – 0 Arsenal (Hazard pen 27, Costa 78)
Friends, how are we? It’s Eoin O’Callaghan here to bring you through today’s mouthwatering clash at Stamford Bridge.
The Chelsea team news sees Mourinho bring back Cesar Azpilicueta who was rested against Sporting Lisbon midweek while Cesc Fabregas starts against his former club.
For Arsenal, Jack Wilshere returns with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain dropping to the bench.
An odd occasion for Fabregas, certainly. And Arsenal fans are maybe a little confused at what reception they should offer up.
Here are the teams:
CHELSEA: Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Matic, Fabregas; Schurrle, Oscar, Hazard; Diego Costa.
ARSENAL: Szczesny, Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Wilshere, Flamini, Cazorla, Ozil, Alexis, Welbeck.
GAME DELAYED! Well, things have been pushed back here until 2.20. There’s been ‘an incident’. More information when we get it.
So, apparently a flare has been let off at the away end and that’s slowed down some fans’ getting to their seats.
Interesting if that has affected either side’s preparation. Hardly ideal to have to return to the dressing rooms and re-focus, etc. Teams are just about to head onto the hallowed Stamford Bridge turf…
Contrasting words about where the flares were set off. Many have said everything happened outside but this photo might suggest otherwise:
3 mins – Sanchez is a long way from goal and tries his luck. But it’s never going to trouble Courtois and it trickles wide of the near post.
Terrific atmosphere at The Bridge. Lots of noise from the Arsenal fans. It’s hinting at a pretty special afternoon. Let’s hope.
Flamini is talking to his centre backs about stepping up higher and closing the space down between the lines. Arsenal allowing Chelsea have the ball at the back and aren’t pressing that far up the pitch. In contrast to Mourinho’s system, really.
9 mins – OUCH! Courtois comes off his line to smother as Sanchez can’t quite control a nice ball over the top. The Belgian keeper gets a knee in the jaw for his troubles. He receives attention but is fit to continue. We’ll keep an eye on it.
15 mins – A bit of needle to proceedings here. Matic goes in heavy but referee Martin Atkinson waves play on and then, moment later, Gibbs brings down Hazard. Free-kick given – decent position…
…but it comes to nothing. Arsenal do well to keep their offside in place and Chelsea players are too far forward.
As expected, Arsenal have brought a little more discipline to the blue side of London today. The full-backs haven’t made rampaging runs forward so Chelsea haven’t been able to find much space so far. A tight affair with no clear cuts chances yet. 197 days ago, Arsenal were 3-0 down. Progress.
20 mins – HANDBAGS! Well, this is incredible. Gary Cahill absolutely cements Alexis Sanchez and picks up a yellow card. Wenger is incensed on the touchline and, for some reason, confronts Mourinho, the pair square up to each other and Wenger pushes The Special One in the chest. Atkinson comes over to calm things down but this is explosive stuff so far.
21 mins – Calum Chambers picks up a yellow card for another thumping challenge. This is getting very, very tasty.
Here’s that confrontation between the two managers. Who would you back in a fight?
24 mins – SUBSTITUTION! Cech (on) – Courtois (off)
Change of goalkeepers for Chelsea – remember Courtois was involved in that nasty collision with Alexis Sanchez earlier on.
27 mins – GOAL! Hazard penalty!
Well, incredible stuff. Hazard takes off on a mazy dribble, taking it around two players, rapidly changing direction and he’s unceremoniously dumped to the ground by Koscielny’s leg. The defender gets away with just a yellow card, Atkinson feeling there was some cover in the area. But, that’s debatable. Surely it was still a goal-scoring opportunity?
No doubt it’s a penalty though and Hazard steps up himself to send Szczesny the wrong way. Cool, cool customer.
Here’s the run by Hazard that made the penalty. The footwork is superb.
Jogi Loew is in the house. That’s nice. Also, Arsenal have responded well to going behind. Still haven’t managed to create much. But, plenty of reasons to be positive.
Interesting comparison though Hazard’s superb individuality has proved the biggest difference so far.
45 mins – Calum Chambers is lucky here. Chelsea break quickly and spread it long and wide to Schurrle on the left. Arsenal players try to get back but the German checks inside Chambers right on the edge of the area and he’s barged off the ball. Atkinson awards a free-kick but doesn’t show Chambers another yellow. Arsenal escape after Fabregas’ free-kick is cleared.
Four minutes of injury-time, by the way, because of that injury to Courtois. Arsenal are almost in after some neat passing inside the area. A Chelsea boot just manages to get it away.
Wenger is cutting an increasingly frustrated figure on the touchline. Oscar brings down Wilshere though Atkinson refuses to show him a yellow. The Brazilian has been involved with a few late challenges and Wenger can’t believe he’s not been booked.
HALF-TIME! Well, we had to wait a while longer for it to get underway but it has been worth it. Hazard’s magic, Jose v Wenger on the touchline, Courtois forced off because of injury and tackles flying in everywhere. It’s perfectly poised for the second half though Arsenal’s inability to create much in the opening period is a worry.
Confirmation that Courtois has been take to hospital for tests. Once again, we’ll be hearing plenty about the Belgian allowed to continue after receiving such a powerful blow to the head.
Picture of the season, already?
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In the moment it looked quite bad but this image of Cahill’s challenge on Alexis Sanchez (what sparked the confrontation between Wenger and Mourinho) is damning. Wenger, no doubt, will talks post-match about how Cahill should’ve been dished a straight red for this.
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Some nice touches again from Arsenal as Sanchez and Cazorla combine. The ball slipped through for Welbeck is just slightly too long and that’s been the story so far for the visitors – just lacking that quality with the final ball. Also, Oxlade-Chamberlain was warming up quite a bit at the break so we’re certain to see him soon if Arsenal don’t make the breakthrough.
50 mins – CLOSE! Cazorla picks it up on the edge of the area after a nice dummy and has space top shoot. It’s a decent effort, low towards Cech’s bottom left corner. But it’s always bending away from goal and the keeper watches it all the way. Solid effort but always going wide.
53 mins – BOOKING! Ivanovic is the latest player to get shown a yellow. Cynical pull-back after getting his pocket picked on the edge of the Arsenal area. The guests were prepared to launch a quick counter and the Serb conceded the foul.
54 mins - Szczesny gets lucky twice in quick succession. He’s out of his goal to cut off a long ball towards Costa but he sends the clearance straight at the Chelsea striker. Luckily, it ricochets straight to an Arsenal player. Moments later, Chambers plays it back to his goalkeeper who conjures another weak clearance straight down the middle of the pitch.
58 mins – VERY CLOSE!
Hazard takes off wide left and charges towards the Arsenal penalty area. His cut-back strikes Flamini and heads towards the net but Szczesny gets a slight touch and it thumps off the outside of the upright. Not sure how much the keeper knew about it but it was a vital touch. Arsenal seem absolutely terrified when Hazard gets on it and he’s still being afforded far too much space.
Chelsea have gone up a gear in the last 5 minutes or so. Arsenal need some inspiration – Welbeck and Ozil in particular have been poor.
63 mins – BIG CALL!
Wilshere cracks a shot toward goal from the edge of the box. Fabregas slides in to try and block. His arms are out-stretched and the ball comes back off him. Un-natural position for his hands but Atkinson waves away the protests. Probably only a free-kick, if given but it should’ve been.
Somewhere in there, Schurrle has also picked up a yellow card. There’s been five of them now.
A telling moment. Arsenal break with Alexis Sanchez. He looks around and plays it left to Ozil. Through the middle is Welbeck. But there’s a lack of movement and Chelsea get plenty of bodies back. Arsenal try and recycle but it ends up with Cazorla trying a shot from the edge of the area that’s charged down. Very predictable stuff from the visitors.
69 mins – SUBSTITUTIONS! Oxlade-Chamberlain (on) – Cazorla (off) and Mikel (on) – Schurrle (off)
Both sides chance things around. The Ox, as predicted, comes in to offer more purpose and energy. Meanwhile, Mikel will sit alongside Matic and it becomes a lot harder for Arsenal to break Chelsea down now.
Calum Chambers tries one from a difficult angle but it’s always rising. Maybe Arsenal’s best bet is from distance though it’s hardly their style, is it? Tough to see how they’re going to break Chelsea down with 16 minutes (plus injury time) left…
76 mins – VERY CLOSE! And that’s the difference. Costa is sent away, wide left, and he’s all alone with plenty to do. He charges towards the Arsenal goal, despite a litany of defenders around him. Hazard makes a great run inside to offer support and Costa squeezes a perfect pass through to the Belgian who takes a first touch at pace to take him away from a challenge and one v one with Szczesny, he blazes narrowly over.
78 mins – GOAL! Costa!
It had to be. He really hasn’t done much at all this afternoon but he had just popped up to set up Hazard moments ago and this time, the striker applies the perfect finishing touch. Fabregas sends a terrific pass towards him, it drops over the heads of the Arsenal centre backs and Costa knocks it past Szczesny as the keeper rushes off his line. Ruthless. And that’s the difference between these sides.
A couple of substitutions from Arsenal here with Podolski on for Sanchez and Rosicky coming on in place of Jack Wilshere. A disappointing day for the Gunners.
Oscar is given a rapturous reception as he departs. Willian comes on in his place. Arsenal fans are already looking at things rather ominously.
90 mins – CLOSE!
Podolski pops up in the area and forces Cech into a close-range save. The best Arsenal have mustered, really.
91 mins – OUCH!
Welbeck is a bit fortunate here as he cuts right through Fabregas. Gets away with just a yellow card.
We’re into the last minute of injury time here and there’s been a little bit of relief for Diego Costa who has missed an open goal from five yards. Luckily, he was about 10 yards offside. Though he didn’t know it at the time.
FULL-TIME! And, rather unsurprisingly, there’s no handshake between the two managers. Mourinho bolts straight down the tunnel and Wenger follows moments later. It’s a tasty sub-plot but the game was all about the lack of cutting edge for Arsenal when they needed it most. In the final third, they just couldn’t find a way through. Ozil and Welbeck struggled (the latter could’ve got sent-off late-on) while Sanchez, who looked the most likely to conjure something special, was replaced with 10 minutes left.
For Chelsea, they had 2 players in particular, Hazard and Costa, who stood up and did what was needed. Fabregas was solid though his assist for Costa’s goal will rightly receive plenty of plaudits.
We’ll be back with much more reaction on the site. Thanks for staying with us this afternoon.
A big decision to hand the reins over to a guy who’s never held a head coach role, only coached for a year, and the bulk of current players trained alongside him less than two years ago. Hopefully doesn’t backfire.
This will all end in tears.
Wish Leo all the best. Journalists and pundits go on about Leinster fans demanding entertaining rugby but I never heard one fan demand that. What Leinster fans did demand was a competent head coach with a clear gameplan and players able to perform basic skis well. This didn’t happen under MOC. It was clear the players were confused going onto the pitch and subsequently they made basic errors. Leo can’t be any worse than MOC. Nevertheless that’s a fair bit of bull#%t from Mick Dawson about Leo being the best candidate. Leinster were turned down by other candidates and Leo was the last man standing. Let’s hope he’s a Franz Beckenbauer and not a Steve Staunton.
Have faith – he’s made of the right stuff.
will leo be used as the escape goat for all the best players heading to France., yes.
Mick Dawson claims all the stakeholders were considered, so basically he doesn’t consider the Leinster supporters as a stake holder in the clubs future.
We have suffered for the last two seasons and deserved a coach with at least a spark or a buzz about him.
Brian O’Driscoll always say he learned so much from joe about the game and that was coming from one of the worlds best players at the time. How many Leinster backs will come away from Leo’s reign and say the same.
The common sense deal was a one year deal and extend it if the first year goes well.
If this was a one year deal I’d have a real good feeling about this season.
Saying all that I truly hope that Leo proves me wrong and that no matter what we can’t be as bad as last year.
Added to that I’m delighted kurt is back full time.
You expect Leinster Rugby to consult the fans when deciding a new head coach do you?
It’d certainly be a novel approach from a pro sports team.
Will this decision prolong the like of boss reddan Darcy etc ( the old men and best mates brigade) and stunt even more the progress of youth? Or will Leo be clever enough to realise that he really had a free shot this season to really have a go and bring players through.
No I don’t but Dawson comes out with this bull that all the major stakeholders were consulted and their views taken on board.
Robson, does this mean you’re finished trolling the Munster articles and have moved onto the Leinster ones? Well, we welcome you with open arms……that are locked and loaded.
Paul Sheehan’s tears
Escape goat…. Ha!
Does anyone know of another professional sports team who has a coach and mascot with the same name?
They were, Leinster fans aren’t ‘major stakeholders’ in the decision process to choose a new head coach.
I wish him well, but I also remember what ROG said about one of the reasons he went coaching in France was because he didn’t feel that as a coach that he would have had the necessary separation from the players who he had previously played with. It’s not going to be easy to move from being one of the lads to telling them what to do and he’ll be doing it in a much higher pressure environment than the average workplace.
Best of luck to him, good to see Irish coaches get their opportunity
Really interested to see how Dempsey does with the backs, always seemed to have the Leinster A team playing entertaining rugby which he can hopefully bring back to Leinster.
Best of luck Leo.
Hopefully he’s given a fair shot without too much bull from fans and media.
Could not have been handed a harder challenge in his first season in charge.Majority of the squad off to the world cup and a horrendous ERCC pool. Wish him well. Hopefully the media and some of the fan’s will have realistic expectations and give him some slack if results don’t go his way this year.
Great to see Irish coaches in Irish jobs!
win win, Leinster get a cheap head coach, Cullen gets an extra €50 a week on top of his dole
Where’s Joan Bruton to announce Jobsbridge latest roll.
Matt O Connor knew how to defend but not much else. I fear that will continue under Leo’s reign but we’ll wait & see. It is what it is now anyway, so let’s be true supporters and get behind him the players. COYBIG
And you boys in blue too! Oops! (World cup on the brain…) :-D
Jimmy Matt didn’t know how to defend. If you looked at Leinster last year there were at least 10 games that we were winning going into the last quarter and we ended up either losing or drawing.
It’s just not true that he knew how to defend.
You never mentioned your disapproval with MOC once last season Chris why now?
Ps.joke
James I wanted to give moc an extension of another two years, purely to brighten up our country cousins but mick Dawson wanted to put a dampener on that.
Moc the best coach we ever had
Matter of opinion I s’pose. When MOC took over, we lost our attacking prowess and never got it back. And we couldn’t build up a lead or hold one on the rare occasion we did. That’s why we couldn’t finish off games or losing it in the last quarter. Anyhoo, that’s in the past, onwards & upwards with Leo.
A Leinster man through and through and will be a great head coach. Best of luck to him and his squad.
Re rookie coaches: When Franz Beckenbauer was appointed coach of the German soccer team in 1984 he not not only didn’t have any coaching experience, he didn’t even have a coaching licence. So according to the rules, he should have never been given the job. Two years later under Beckenbauer Germany reach the WC semifinals; 1990 they win it. Leo Cullen is similarly an exceptional talent. According to Bernard Jackman his forte is man management and leadership. They are the most important abilities a head coache must have. The technical stuff Girve, Richie Murphy, John Fogarty and Kurt McQuilkin can take care of. Best of luck to Leinster’s new coaching “regime”. Arise and follow Leo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For every franz Beckenbauer there’s a Steve “I’m the gaffer” staunton.
A one year deal to be extended should have been issued.
We have suffered for the past two seasons and a gamble such as this if it goes belly up will mean at least 4 seasons of regression.
I am going to get behind Leo after I calm down and build on the positives ( and there are loads ) but I don’t think a 2 year gamble at this stage is the Crieff decision.
Keep it positive, Chris!!!
Let me get over the shock Riocard. I’ll get behind Leo soon enough.
Maith fear! COYBIB!!!
Lonestar I’d like to think I had something to do with it but I’m afraid his inability to do the job he was paid for was why he got sacked.
jaysus the negativity is dumbfounding. he’s been in a supporting role for a yr, he can see what the issues are and knows what’s required. He has a good supporting cast, Kurt signing for 2 yrs is great news. girv gets a shot with the backs, if it doesn’t work our bring in higher profile for 2nd half of season. its fairly clear leinsters hands were tied as no one high profile wanted the job. Leo short on experience but tainting him with any aspect of last season, including forwards, may be wide of the mark as we don’t know the circumstances or directives he was working under. How great will it be if it works out? leinster developing their own Liverpool, bootroom style, succession planning
This never works
About time…. Le-o, Le-o, Le-o
No better man Leo!
Ah there’s quite a few better men in fairness.
Have to say this sounds brutal. 3 times European Champions with a rookie coach. For some bizarre reason I am getting the old “Ireland don’t want to win the Eurovision” feeling again.
This will not end well.
Very true Aaron, I dunno is it because leinster are struggling to attract a top coach or whether they are just willing to take a risk with big Leo but either way I could think of 10 better and more suitable coaches for the job
In fairness Joe was a rookie coach when Leinster took him on and look at home now, he’s possibly the best coach in the world, definitely in the northern hemisphere at least. We got it wrong with O’Connor but maybe he was, on paper, the safe bet back then, maybe a bold move is what we need. Best of luck to him. A leinster man who knows leinster rugby with good men of the old guard behind him who also know how things were run in the good times. This could go very very well. It could also be a disaster but I choose to be optimistic! ;-)
@bazhealey I’m flummoxed! The “Old Guard”? What are you talking about. Cheika won our first cup. Leinster until then were considered a joke in European rugby. Capable of beating anyone but absolutely no consistency. He is doing exactly the same thing with the Australians at the moment.
In order to become champions you have to have a champion coach. The logic behind O’Connor’s appointment was sound. However he was put in the position where his style definitely didn’t suit that of Schmidt’s. I think it was proved definitively last year that Player Power should never be a factor in the appointment of a coach. Yet again we have been given quotes by the team that they are behind Leo. The reality is that if we want to win another European Championship we are going to need the best coach we can get and I can tell you now it is definitely not Leo.
Joe was far from a rucky coach he had coached in New Zealand and Clermont where he was highly regarded. The difference between Cullens and Smiths path to leinster head coach couldn’t be more different.
Hope he was paying attention during all Schmidt’s coaching sessions and video reviews.
i saw him at the big grill festival on Sunday. We are besties now
congrats to Cullen.. as a Munster fan will be interesting to see how he gets on..
Not convinced by this at all. Cullen just doesn’t have the experience for this job.
Leo Cullen has captained every team for which he has played including his country. In that role he would have interacted with coaches, selectors and trainers over the many years he played. I wish him and the team the very best for the coming season which will be difficult due to the demands of the WC. He has a good coaching team around him and a great squad of players to pick from.
Best of luck to Leo. Hopefully they recruit a high profile backs coach post RWC also. Someone that can act as a mentor to him the way Gaffney did for Cheika at Leinster and the Warratahs. Someone like Ex Wallabies and Reds Super Rugby winning attack coach Jim McKay would be excellent. He’s with Tonga for the RWC
Delighted with this appointment. Long may Leo reign!
In Leo what we have is a very intelligent passionate Leinster man, I wish him and Kurt (defensive coach) all the best. What seriously miss fired last season was our use of the ball in attack… so for me Girvan as backs coach ( if I’m right) will bear the mosw pressure from the supporters who demand high quality finishing from our backline
I don’t agree with Leinster Rugby’s very premature appointment of Leo Cullen as head coach, but the proven and impressive Kurt McQuilkin will be the most crucial man for Leinster over the next two years (along with Richie Murphy arguably, who as a coach has worked closely with Joe Schmidt over the past few years and would have learnt a good deal from him), in terms of his input as a member of the coaching team and on the training field.
The extension of Kurt McQuilkin’s stay from an initial three-month contract to a two-year contract is the one, small silver lining from today’s coaching announcement from Leinster Rugby.