Mikel Arteta cheered as much as his players. The Arsenal manager was beside himself both after the final whistle and after his team’s decisive goal to make it 1-0 at Chelsea – following a corner kick in which the German Kai Havertz swung the ball over the ball. All that was missing from Arteta’s little dance of joy on the touchline was that he did a belly flop like winning goalscorer Gabriel Magalhães on the wet grass in London’s rainy weather. At 40, Arteta is part of the younger generation in his first tenure as head coach, the second youngest manager in the Premier League after Bournemouth’s Gary O’Neil – just as his side are the most inexperienced side in the league.
During his tenure in north London, which has lasted since 2019, Arteta developed a finely tuned eleven from this upward-striving boy band, who only lost their nerve in the pre-season on the home stretch when it came to qualifying for the Champions League. In response, Arsenal signed Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City for around €85m – two established figures known for their will to win. The result was Arsenal’s most successful start in the Premier League. After twelve games, the club led the table with ten wins and one defeat – and defended this top position in Arteta’s 150 competitive game, remarkably mature and ripped off.
The win keeps Arsenal two points clear of defending champions City
In the relentless derby, as is so often the case between the two clubs, Arsenal’s lightweight strikers had to put up a bitter fight. In the recent past, the team has often had their guts bought off, especially in away games at other top clubs. But this time, in the passionate atmosphere of the packed stadium at Stamford Bridge, Arsenal resisted resolutely, almost doggedly – and defied all the minor and major nastiness of their city rivals. After the game, Arsenal’s midfield leader Granit Xhaka was right in saying that they were “sooo much better” than Chelsea today. For minutes afterwards, the fans gave their own players a standing ovation and triumphantly sang: “One-nil to the Arsenal!”. The victory over Chelsea keeps Arsenal two points clear of defending champions City, who the day before outnumbered newly promoted Fulham 2-1 in added time. If the Gunners also pass Wolverhampton next week, the club could call themselves something like autumn champions.
Unlike in Germany, for example, island football has not yet chosen a first-round champion and certainly not an autumn champion. This is because the Premier League – until this season, which was suspended for several weeks due to the first World Cup being hosted at the end of the year – had never been interrupted for six weeks. Therefore, there is not even a correct term for the first half of the table in England. If anything, it bears the somewhat unwieldy title: “first place at half season”. Game operations on the island normally run without a break: sometimes because the traditional holiday games over Christmas and New Year are best marketed on television for the investor-driven clubs. After all, the horrendous transfer and salary costs of the kicking workforce have to be refinanced to some extent. The London clubs Arsenal and Chelsea alone have posted a joint transfer loss of no less than one billion euros since 2018. The result is currently two teams that are completely different in their composition, as can now be observed again.
City rival Chelsea relies on elite kickers – their game seems comparatively sluggish
While Chelsea initially relied on talented young professionals as part of a transfer ban in the summer of 2019, Arsenal invested in all kinds of experienced players. Only when the Gunners could no longer afford to do so after missing the Champions League several times and suffering losses due to the pandemic, did the club go the opposite way with Arteta. Dazzling and very well-paid professionals like Mesut Özil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were pushed out of the club. Arsenal gave talent a chance – with success. Arsenal’s average age against Chelsea was 24.4 years. There are only three players in the squad who are past their 30th birthday, with only the Swiss Xhaka making regular appearances.
Chelsea, on the other hand, fell back into old patterns after the failed attempt to place more trust in young squad players: win at all costs. The Blues have just invested almost 300 million euros in largely experienced elite kickers under the new ownership of a US investor consortium. Average age against Arsenal: 28.2 years – and the game looked so uncoordinated and sometimes sluggish. The Blues failed to create a real chance to score, dropping the club to seventh place in the table.
Arsenal, meanwhile, have now defeated Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea in succession – underpinning their own ambitions of at least one return to the Champions League. Much to the delight of coach Mikel Arteta.