Following today’s clash between Arsenal and Chelsea, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Arsenal hosted Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium for a 7.45pm kick off on Wednesday January 3, with both sides playing out a two all draw in an extremely entertaining affair.
Despite plenty of chances falling to both teams, it took until the 63rd minute before Jack Wilshere opened the scoring for the hosts, but Chelsea were quickly back on level terms following the award of a penalty with Eden Hazard dispatched from 12 yards.
Chelsea then took the advantage with six minutes remaining on the clock, but Hector Bellerin saved the point two minutes into stoppage time.
Teams:
Arsenal:
Cech, Chambers (Walcott 88), Mustafi, Holding, Bellerin, Xhaka, Wilshere, Maitland-Niles, Ozil, Sanchez, Lacazette (Welbeck 80).
Substitutes:
Mertesacker, Ospina, Iwobi, Coquelin, Elneny.
Chelsea:
Courtois, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Cahill, Moses (Zappacosta 56), Bakayoko, Kante, Fabregas (Drinkwater 71), Alonso, E Hazard (Willian 82), Morata.
Substitutes:
Caballero, Rudiger, Pedro, Batshuayi.
Covered by the BBC’s from the Sky Sports cameras a short time after match day referee Anthony Taylor blew the final whistle, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger explained.
‘A fantastic football game. The regret we have is we were first to score and after that we have a farcical decision. We looked like we were mentally shot and could have lost the game – we had the resources to come back to 2-2. Maybe it was a fair result. Look, since the start of the season it is what we have to take. I say it’s a farcical decision – you could give 10 penalties like that a game. You read the foreign papers what they write about that and the English papers and you will see a difference. Games are spoiled by factors you cannot determine – we can only continue to play the way we want to play and hope things go for us. It’s all opinions. But when your opinions go the same way – what is repeated is not coincidence. I’m happy with the quality of our games.’
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte in his comparative interview explained.
‘I think it is a pity because when you have so many chances to score you must win the game. Instead we are talking about a draw against a good team, but in this game we deserved to win as we created a lot of chances. We must be disappointed, we had a great chance to win, but we must accept the final result. We win together, we lose together, we draw together.’
With Alvaro Morata missing three one on one chances, he added.
‘It is not luck in this period, he has to continue to work and continue to improve. For a striker it is very important to score, it is a pity, he had many chances to score, but I’m very happy with his commitment and effort for the team.’
