Set-piece goals and Raya saves: How Arsenal beat Chelsea

Football writer Alex Keble analyses a hard-fought Arsenal win at Emirates Stadium in which their defenders and goalkeeper played pivotal roles in both boxes.

If Arsenal go on to win the Premier League title this season it is games like these that will have defined their charge and be remembered as textbook examples of Mikel Arteta’s side in their stride.

They delivered a resilient performance and earned a deserved win over Chelsea - but it was a match not without moments to make supporters' stomachs drop.

Ultimately, another opponent was ground down by set-piece goals: it is classic Arsenal, the version that will live on in the public imagination should this be the year their 22-year wait for a Premier League title ends.

The simple fact is that every Arsenal game between now and the end of the season will be weighed down by tension. To get over the line for the first time in decades requires nerves of steel and, inevitably, supporters will be put through a rollercoaster of emotions.

Today there was a bouncy confidence in the first half cancelled out by the Piero Hincapie own goal on the stroke of half-time, after which the fear crept in, receded, and reared its head again for a frantic finale that saw David Raya pull off a spectacular save.

Arsenal show the resilience of champions after emotional rollercoaster

It was just after Joao Pedro headed a glorious chance wide of the post, ten minutes into the second half, that the atmosphere shifted and a familiar tension descended on the Emirates crowd.

Within a quarter of an hour the cheer that greeted Pedro Neto’s second yellow card, coming moments after Jurrien Timber had restored Arsenal’s 2-1 lead, told a very different story.

Watch: Raya's INCREDIBLE late saves against Chelsea

And yet there was time for Arsenal to almost get into trouble again. There was Raya’s big save from an Alejandro Garnacho cross, then Liam Delap had the ball in the back of the net after another incredible stop from the goalkeeper, this time from Joao Pedro.

For a moment Arsenal supporters had flashbacks of the Wolverhampton Wanderers equaliser a fortnight ago.

But the offside flag went up and Arsenal held on – just. The muted celebrations from the players at full-time spoke volumes. This was an exhausting game, a hard-fought win that so nearly led to another late collapse.

The fine margins in football mean that although Arsenal came so close to another desperate evening and days of recriminations to follow, by hanging on they emerge with renewed confidence and were applauded by pundits for their resolve.

These are the wins that get labelled as a ‘performance of champions’, especially under the pressure of a title rival bounding into view.

“It's never easy when the team that you're up against for the title play first on a Saturday, they win, get their points on the board and then you've got to respond,” Gary Neville said on Sky Sports.

“It adds pressure and you've got to get over the line. It's hard work winning a Premier League title and Arsenal are finding that.”

Set-piece goals will remain crucial in run-up to Etihad showdown

The way they get there is so often set-piece goals, and another two today took their total to 19 in the Premier League this season, as well as five in three matches against Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea, having exposed the flaw in both legs of their EFL Cup semi-final.

Arsenal have scored 16 goals from corners alone - the joint-most in a season in Premier League history with Oldham Athletic (1992/93), West Brom (2016/17) and Arsenal themselves (2023/24) - and with nine games to go they are well on course to break it.

Watch: Arsenal equal their own set-piece goal record

Corners and free-kicks will no doubt continue to be important in Arsenal’s three-game run leading up to the crunch match away at Manchester City on April 18.

Before then, they face Brighton & Hove Albion (A), Everton (H), and AFC Bournemouth (H), three awkward mid-table opponents more than capable of slowing Arsenal down. Dead balls might be needed to ensure the Gunners get maximum points and stay five ahead of their rivals when they arrive at the Etihad.

Judging by Man City’s sudden upturn in form, Arsenal will need to be perfect to keep riding out anxious occasions like this one and rising to the challenge with those set-piece goals.

Every win takes Arsenal a small step closer. Every time they cling on after a late onslaught they become that little bit more resilient. But Arsenal supporters know to brace for an emotionally exhausting few months.

Chelsea face defining point in their season after three-game winless run

Liam Rosenior will take many positives from the performance of his players, but a too-familiar issue defending set-pieces (going into the weekend, their 14.05 xG conceded from dead balls was the most in the Premier League) has left Chelsea on a three-game winless run in the Premier League.

The honeymoon period is over for Rosenior and it is essential his Chelsea quickly recover from this setback, because in three days’ time they travel to Villa Park for their biggest game of the season so far.

Defeat at Aston Villa would open up a nine-point gap to Unai Emery’s side and, most likely, a nine-point gap to the Champions League places with just nine games to go.

Only one of those nine matches is against one of the six clubs battling relegation - and that’s the penultimate match of the season against rivals Tottenham Hotspur – while Chelsea still have four of the current top five to play.

A tough set of fixtures and a widening gap to the Champions League places means this is not the time for Chelsea to get stuck in a winless run. The Villa game on Wednesday could be season-defining.

Click here to read article