English FA Premiership: Arsene Wenger is going to need all his wisdom and motivational powers if this season is not to descend into the kind of mediocrity that seemed unthinkable only a couple of years ago.
Yesterday's defeat at the hands of the champions, their first at home this season, contained little to suggest Arsenal's short-term future offers much comfort for their valedictory season at Highbury.
"I would say that we have been beaten physically in our last couple of away games and I don't deny that we need to improve that," Wenger wrote in his programme notes, referring to the visits to Bolton and Newcastle, where failure ended their already fading interest in this season's championship race. "It looks like it has gone around England that when you play us you need to make it a physical battle."
Yesterday Chelsea provided a further demonstration of how effectively Wenger's players can be undermined, on this occasion by opponents steeped in ringcraft and with a level of physical fitness probably surpassing anything to be found elsewhere in Europe.
With Joe Cole and Didier Drogba contesting possession deep inside the home half, Arsenal endured a torrid opening 20 minutes. And just when they had regrouped and were imposing some sort of rhythm on the game, Arjen Robben scored the breakaway goal that reawakened their insecurities. Chelsea's second, scored by Joe Cole 18 minutes from time, merely provided confirmation of the tide that engulfed the home team, who now find themselves treading water in the middle of the table.
Chelsea had more of everything. In statistical terms, they scored higher in terms of shots on target, shots off target, fouls committed, offsides and yellow cards. They were unscrupulous when it mattered, they were ready to give and receive pain, and their will was unshakeable. Arsenal, by contrast, looked in need of leadership on the pitch. Sol Campbell's teeth-rattling 21st-minute tackle on Drogba was a rare example of the sort of act that stiffens a team's morale, but its effect was immediately negated when the linesman's flag cancelled Robin van Persie's strike.
"We are too far behind Chelsea now to consider we will challenge them for the championship," Wenger conceded. "But we have to be in the Champions League next year, which means we have to finish as close as possible to the top team, whether it's Chelsea or somebody else. We have to show our strength and come back."
To show strength, however, first they must find it. Lacking the departed Patrick Vieira and the suspended Gilberto Silva, Wenger sent his team out with Mathieu Flamini and Francesc Fabregas, aged 21 and 18 respectively, to confront the guile, experience and physical presence of Michael Essien and Claude Makelele. After a shaky start in which all Arsenal's midfielders - notably the 24-year-old Alexander Hleb - regularly made a present of the ball to their opponents.
"I would have loved to see the game going on with us 1-0 up," Wenger said, referring to Van Persie's disallowed effort. "In a game like that the first goal had a massive influence. We feel we scored a regular goal and that the referee made a bad decision. But I think that compared with Chelsea we have a lack of experience and physical power."
Arsenal never lacked commitment but they are not the kind of side that can go two goals down with 18 minutes left and look as if they believe they will save the game. Only when all the components of the team are functioning in perfect harmony can they hope to succeed without the raw edge of aggression.
Not for the first time it seemed appropriate to reflect on Wenger's apparent distaste for the home-bred products of his own academy. Whereas Jose Mourinho has taken three talented Englishmen and made them into even better players, Wenger has shown no similar inclination. It is instructive to contrast the unsteady progress of David Bentley, a 21-year-old playmaker now on a season's loan at Blackburn Rovers, with that of Cole, once a player of similarly precocious gifts. Yesterday the Chelsea man demonstrated Mourinho's success in persuading him to blend his exquisite technique with a ravenous appetite for hard work.
The harsh words over the incidents involving Essien and Philippe Senderos will make the headlines, adding a new chapter to the short but lurid story of the relationship between these two managers. But the real story of the day was that of the extent of Arsenal's decline. Three defeats in a row may not constitute a crisis, but a 20-point gap to the leaders, even with a game in hand, will make this an unusually reflective Christmas at Highbury.
Guardian Service
