Chelsea vs Arsenal: The One Where Chelsea have Cesc Fàbregas

When Chelsea bought Cesc Fàbregas from Barcelona this summer, the transfer nearly brought Twitter to a standstill. So with Chelsea playing host to Arsenal this week, it was no surprise that the buildup focused on what might have been, had Fàbrgreas returned to his former club.

Although Arsenal fans were prepared to not give him a moment’s rest, they did just that by delaying kick off for 15 minutes as they set off flares in the stadium's surrounding area. Without a goal in their last 302 minutes against Chelsea before the game, it seemed like the prime opportunity for their mischief.

As the game finally got under way it was evident that a much more resolute Arsenal had turned up than the team from last season, who had found themselves 3 goals down after just 20 minutes. They had come better prepared defensively this time around, but it’s unclear what they had planned going forwards.

Alexis started brightly enough in trying to breakdown Chelsea’s defence. But once his collision with Courtois had taken the Belgian goalkeeper out of the game, Gary Gahill seemed to take it upon himself to effectively remove Alexis from the game by any means necessary. His hefty initial challenge on Alexis (for which he was somewhat fortunate to stay on the field) brought some additional physicality into the game — unexpectedly from Arséne Wenger.

The managerial tête-à-tête seemed to signal to everyone that they needed to take the game from cagey to explosive. Eden Hazard looked unstoppable as he dribbled around Arsenal’s midfield like they were statues and could only be stopped by the outstretched leg of Laurent Koscielny which led to a penalty and Chelsea’s opening goal. It was their third goal from the penalty spot in as many games against the North London side.

Chelsea were happy enough to let Arsenal have the ball with no real threat coming in the final third of the pitch. Arsenal opted to shoot from distance with 8 of their 10 shots coming from outside of Chelsea’s box and not one of them hitting the target. As the game went on it became glaringly obvious that Arsenal’s loss (of Fàbregas) was well and truly Chelsea’s gain.

If Mesut Özil is meant to be the man filling Fàbregas’ place as Arsene Wenger eluded to earlier this week, then he will have to work as much on his work off the ball as he does in the final third of the pitch. While Özil managed a only single interception over the course of 90 minutes, Fàbregas completed 4 tackles, 2 clearances, an interception and a blocked shot. 

Fàbregas does have the luxury of playing in a central role at Chelsea, while Özil was once again out wide in this game, but throughout the season the former's offensive output has outstripped Özil. Fàbregas has registered 7 assists in his opening 7 Premier League games while Arsenal's players have managed that many in total. Özil has managed just 1. Fàbregas has created 22 chances in the PL so far, with no player creating more. All the while Özil has created just 1 more than Jason Puncheon.

If Mesut Özil is tasked with replacing Fàbregas, he only need to look back to yesterday’s game for a blueprint in becoming the architect.