Pedro’s Perfect Debut and a Goalkeeping Spectacle at the Emirates
The Premier League’s third week of matches produced some theatrical moments from West Brom/Chelsea and a flurry of chances from Arsenal/Liverpool
Pedro Rodríguez can finally exhale. He’s just undergone a turgid summer-long transfer saga that had him linked to Europe’s finest clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, and even Inter Milan. But, last week, the Catalan superpower Barcelona finally relented and accepted Chelsea’s transfer conditions, providing a proper ending to a rather turbulent past few months for Pedro.
Upon arriving in London, the speedy Spaniard was immediately inserted into the starting eleven that would take on West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns. From Chelsea’s standpoint, Pedro provides the necessary depth that the club has been lacking at critical attacking positions. Juan Cuadrado, who normally plays in Pedro’s role, has been A.W.O.L. this season. His growing ambition to become a human magnet for offside calls doesn’t help matters either. Radamel Falcao has continued the downward trend he had been on last season at Old Trafford, where, according to his former manager Louis van Gaal, he failed to “adapt to the culture of Manchester United.” And, in his first two Premier League appearances, star striker Diego Costa has engaged in about fifteen hand-to-hand combats against Chelsea opponents while netting zero goals.
Only Eden Hazard, Willian, and Oscar have shown some semblance of attacking intent during these first three matches, but even this trio has been lulled into Chelsea’s offensive impotency and defensive ineptitude from time to time. So, coming on the heels of a thoroughly humbling (but “completely fake”) 3–0 beatdown at the hands of Manchester City last weekend, José Mourinho had high hopes that Pedro’s addition would help jolt the dormant Chelsea attack wide awake.
And, the Spanish winger did not disappoint.
The rain was incessantly pelting down on the Hawthorns pitch right from the first whistle, which made for a few rough tackles from both sides early on. But, things came to a head during the 12th-minute when the usually reliable Nemanja Matic unleashed a studs-up challenge on a West Brom player cutting into the penalty box. The referee on hand, Mark Clattenburg, immediately awarded West Brom the penalty kick, which Albion’s James Morrison fired straight towards a diving Thibaut Courtois, who, despite launching in the wrong direction, had the preternatural awareness to stick his right leg out. Morrison’s striked ball somehow connected with Courtois’ flailing leg as the ball flew away from the goal.
Morrison and West Brom didn’t know it at this point, but they would come to rue this missed attempt on Chelsea’s goal.
Of course, after completely forgetting about the penalty he had just given up, Matic again launched himself into another Baggie rushing into the disorganized Chelsea defense, which was more than enough for Mark Clattenburg to now show Matic the yellow. This game could not have started more terribly for Chelsea, but in a moment of inspiration, the new signing, Pedro, opened his Chelsea account with a superb goal in the 19th-minute. Then, ten minutes later, César Azpilicueta initiated the Blues’ counterattack by delivering a perfect cross from the right flank to a sprinting Willian, who delivered a pass to Pedro, who launched a direct shot on goal that was just slow enough for a stampeding Diego Costa to latch onto for the easiest attempt on goal he’ll get this season.
After James Morrison slotted in Albion’s first goal from roughly the same spot that he missed the aforementioned penalty shot, Chelsea struck again in the 42nd-minute as a zooming Azpilicueta, sensing an opportunity on goal, kicked in the slow roller into the bottom left corner of the Albion goal. After obtaining three goals from three different Spanish internationals (Pedro, Diego Costa, and Azpilicueta) before half-time, Chelsea fans could begin to relax a bit and enjoy their side’s impending second-half victory.
But, unfortunately, channeling their inner-Tottenham, Chelsea began to hand the game away to the Baggies. In the 54th-minute, West Brom launched a perfect through-ball that split the Chelsea defense. Maligned Chelsea skipper John Terry reactively grabbed Salomón Rondón to prevent him from winning an uncontested shot attempt on the Chelsea goal. Rondón, in an Oscar Award winning dive, successfully got Terry sent off and left José Mourinho shouting a few well-chosen words into the TV mic.
After a brilliant 59th-minute headed-goal from Morrison, West Ham couldn’t find the necessary firepower needed to launch a proper attack on Courtois’ goal. Chelsea, as instructed by the risk-averse Mourinho, proceeded to park the bus after the Terry red card and did just about enough to hold on to their 3–2 lead.
While Pedro may be rejoicing from his enthralling Chelsea debut, you’d expect José Mourinho has yet to exhale.
“If we’re happy with four points from three games, we might as well all go home,” Mourinho said after the game. It’s a sign that he knows this team still needs fixing. But the character and quality shown against West Brom prove there is plenty to build on.
— Gabriele Marcotti, ESPN FC
Leaving the mercurial Portuguese tactician aside, we now turn to his arch-foe in Arsenal manager Arsène “very average” Wenger. Before the highly touted Monday Night Football match against Liverpool, Wenger, during his weekly press conference, told the media on hand that when he was a manager for the French side Monaco, the league had a rule that the “top” clubs couldn’t play one another until after the first seven games. Of course, the Premier League schedule makers, completely oblivious to Wenger’s dilemma, went ahead and put in a solid Liverpool side as Wenger’s third matchup of this new season.
The match turned out to be as good as advertised, though, the 0–0 scoreline would indicate otherwise. The new-signing Roberto Firmino impressed for Liverpool before being substituted for Jordan Ibe while Lucas, suddenly appearing out of seemingly nowhere, put in an excellent shift in the holding midfielder role.
On the other hand, Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud put in a decent performance showing fans that they can place their trust in him. Although, that trust is easy to buy when the biggest threat to steal your starting spot at Arsenal has decidedly pledged his allegiance to his current club over Twitter.
Wait, did I just use the words “trust” and “decent performance” while describing Olivier Giroud’s performance against Liverpool?? What am I saying??? Karim Benzema, we (still) need you! Now. Please.
While the Real Madrid star Benzema won’t be arriving to the Emirates any time soon, it would behoove Wenger to look into signing a solid center-back before the transfer window closes till next year. Since the Franco-German partnership of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker was ruled out just before the match began, Wenger turned to his youth talent in Calum Chambers and Gabriel. Both players started the game woefully and were mostly to blame for the ludicrous amounts of errant passes coming out of the Arsenal defense. At times, it seemed as if both Chambers and Gabriel needed to enroll in a “Passing 101” crash course.
But, the two gentlemen who did not need any crash courses whatsoever were the goalkeepers on hand. Petr Čech and Simon Mignolet were both superb for their respective sides and their many saves were the only thing keeping this game from turning into a shootout. While both Arsenal and Liverpool tested their opponent’s goal, the best chance came early in the match when Santi Cazorla pulled a surreal through-ball out of nowhere that slid in just behind the unaware Liverpool defense. Aaron Ramsey, who had made the corresponding run, slotted the ball into the Liverpool goal only to have the goal nullified due to a spurious offside call.
A nil-nil game it may have been, but it was more than enough to keep Arsenal atop Spurs in the table. And, at this point in the young Premier League season, you just have to embrace the little wins!
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