Arsenal are behind Chelsea and it hurts

In the build-up to yesterday’s London derby at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea deployed a stadium DJ and some excitable stadium announcers pitchside to ramp up the atmosphere. Last season, after a 30 minute delay to kickoff due to garment issues for the away side, the stadium DJ was handed an impromptu 30 minute slot while Arsenal nipped to the Chelsea megastore. It turned Stamford Bridge briefly into a kind of disco.

That works better on a Friday evening than a Sunday lunchtime, of course, but Chelsea also upped the ante by displaying new signing Naomi Girma on the pitch before the game, a world record signing and arguably the best centre-back in the world. In the Guardian, Jonathan Liew wrote a scathing editorial  about Arsenal.

In it, he wrote, ‘In a way this was a game that encapsulated why Girma has chosen London blue over London red, why Arsenal – arguably the club that needs her more – are not getting her.’ I slightly reject the premise that Arsenal needs Girma more given the ACL injury to Kadeisha Buchanan who, in any case, had not consistently displayed her full talent at Chelsea.

What I don’t and can’t reject is that when Chelsea lost a starting defender, they just went out and bought one of the best centre-backs in the game at the earliest opportunity. No fuss, no muss. When Sam Kerr befell the same injury as Buchanan a year ago, Chelsea bought Mayra Ramirez when they already had Catarina Macario in the final stages of recovery from a knee injury.

No making do and mending. On Sunday, we saw that Arsenal and Chelsea are very evenly matched teams, it was a very even game that could have gone either way, as these games often are. The margins were with Chelsea this time, they have been with Arsenal before in similar encounters (the last two Conti Cup Finals, for example). 

The difference was the attacking options on the respective benches. At 0-0, Chelsea introduced Lauren James, Guro Reiten, Maika Hamano and Aggie Beever-Jones. At 0-0, Arsenal introduced Frida Maanum and Stina Blackstenius. Rosa Kafaji came on on 88 minutes when the Gunners were a goal and a player down. 

When the game was level, Chelsea introduced four quality attackers and Arsenal introduced two quality attackers and that was the difference. Substitute Lauren James’ mazy dribble won Chelsea a late penalty, which her fellow sub Guro Reiten, one of the best players in the league, dispatched. 

On reflection, Caitlin Foord’s injury was a marginal factor that went against Arsenal, meaning they had to introduce one of their good bench options in the first half. But Foord came into the game carrying that injury and Arsenal pretty much had to patch her up and play her because of a lack of depth out wide. Russo, Arsenal’s best goal scorer, finished the game as a winger.

Because in the cold light of day, arguing that maybe Rosa Kafaji can play out wide and maybe Alessia Russo can play out wide and maybe Lina Hurtig can be a super sub when she is fit is making do and mending at the very highest level. That is why Arsenal are behind Chelsea. They are not miles behind, in my view, as the games between the teams tend to show. But Chelsea are about to walk to a sixth consecutive title. It hurts. It hurts Arsenal fans and it ought to hurt Arsenal.

Likewise, at right-back, we seem to have developed a situation where Laura Wienroither is no longer trusted and Arsenal would probably be open to a sale given the evidence of recent weeks. That is sad, before her injury Wienroither looked like an excellent right-back and we just haven’t seen her in any meaningful way since rupturing her ACL in May 2023. That being the case, Arsenal should not make do and mend by saying maybe Katie Reid, an 18-year-old centre-back, can play at right-back on occasion.

That isn’t what Chelsea would do and that is the level of the competition. That is the bar. Emily Fox virtually had no summer break this season, it would be a big risk to ask her to play in every single game given Arsenal still have three cup competitions they are in contention for and given the rewards of finishing 2nd in the table and making the task of UWCL qualification much easier.

I understand that finding an understudy for Fox may be difficult given her quality- and her signing last January was a great demonstration of upgrading, Noelle Maritz was a really good right-back for Arsenal but Emily Fox is better, so they bought Fox and sold Maritz. My personal preference would be to buy a centre-half who can play at right-back like Jade Rose, who I think would be available if a good offer came in.

Arsenal’s defensive options will likely be pared back in the summer but being decisive now is what the competition would do and Arsenal will either decide to meet that or they won’t. I think Renee Slegers is coaching the team really well and we saw that yesterday, we saw a performance that I think was broadly in the line with a high quality squad with a lot of high quality players.

Arsenal have plenty of examples of demonstrating ambition, muscling their way into signing Alessia Russo, slapping the money down for Kyra Cooney-Cross three months before she would have been available on a free beat Chelsea and Manchester United to her signature. Bidding pretty much the same amount for Keira Walsh that Chelsea did for Girma (and I don’t doubt that Arsenal are holding back some budget to allocate to Keira Walsh in the summer if they can get that deal over the line).

But the painful truth is just that Chelsea had more quality and they still have Sam Kerr to return. Arsenal flex their muscles often, Chelsea just do it a little more often. If Arsenal want to challenge Chelsea, both this season and in the future, there is only way through. They can’t make do and mend in key positions and expect to win the Champions League and if they are to win one or both of the domestic cups, they will need to beat Chelsea at least once.

I think Arsenal have a quality coach I think they have a lot of quality in the squad. But Chelsea just have a little bit more and Chelsea don’t make do and mend with their squad options. That is the level and Arsenal have to commit to meeting it or else they will continue to watch Chelsea lift the big trophies ahead of them.

Ordinarily, I don’t like to make big takes off the back of a single game. It is unarguable that I wouldn’t have written a piece like this if Arsenal had shaded the game 1-0. However, Chelsea have five consecutive league titles and are now 10 points clear of Arsenal in the table. We are not talking about one game, we are talking about an era. I don’t think the gap is large but denying there is a gap is an exercise in delusion at this stage and the next few days of the window will say much about Arsenal’s immediate commitment to closing it.