Maurizio Sarri’s side took a 2-0 lead before the visitors drew level before the end of the first half.
Pedro slotted home in the ninth minute and Alvaro Morata scored the second 11 minutes later.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan got one back in the 37th minute for the away side before Alex Iwobi restored parity in the 41st minute.
However, Chelsea bounced back , dominating the second half before Alonso finished off substitute Eden Hazard’s pass in the 81st minute.
Here’s a look at how Sarri won the tactical battle with Unai Emery.
BASIC STATS
Goals – 3
Shots – 24
Possession – 62%
Tackles – 15
Dribbles – 11
30-SECOND REPORT
‘Sarri Ball’ is definitely taking shape. There were several encouraging aspects from this performance, their slick passing and clever movement certainly topping that list.
Jorginho orchestrated Chelsea’s build-up play from the middle of the park as the hosts maintained a high-line and regularly looked to pick out runs in behind Arsenal’s defence, leading to goals for Sarri’s side.
N’Golo Kante in particular was key in enforcing Chelsea’s high-press, forcing Arsenal defenders into mistakes. However, once the visitors got past that line of pressure, they were allowed to cause the Blues problems of their own with Sarri’s side woefully short of cover in the defensive third, frequently falling victim to overloads on the flanks.
Marcos Alonso made the difference.
TACTICAL TALKING POINT
Threat in behind
Arsenal also employed a high line and were drawn even higher when they were left chasing shadows during Chelsea’s spells of possession. That meant the ball in behind the defence was on and the hosts were successful in their efforts to utilise that on a few occasions.
They scored twice in that fashion with Alonso bursting into space beyond the back line ahead of Morata did the same later on.
Alvaro Morata got in behind for Chelsea’s second.
VERDICT
It’s still a work in progress but Chelsea fans will be very pleased with what they saw at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
There were some glaring shortcomings at the back and those will need to be addressed quickly but there was sufficient dominance on the ball and penetration in attack to suggest the Blues are moving in the right direction.
Rating 8/10
