Arsenal 5-0 Chelsea
Having been dumped out of the FA Cup at the weekend, thereby missing out on European action for another season, Chelsea suffered the indignity of a 5-0 whitewash by Arsenal in midweek.
Sombre manager Mauricio Pochettino said he was disappointed, and admitted: "we didn’t compete from the beginning."
But the Blues have to somehow pick themselves up for the trip to Villa Park this weekend, followed by two quickfire London derbies at the Bridge against Spurs and West Ham.
Although Poch was anxious to stress before Tuesday night’s visit to the Emirates that the team are not ‘Cole Palmer FC’, the free-scoring midfielder’s absence through illness was keenly felt.
After the weekend’s tense, tight 1-0 Wembley cup semi-final defeat to Manchester City, striker Nico Jackson was low on confidence.
But after the drubbing by the Gunners, his stock is at a perilous low. Not only was it the Blues’ worst result of the season, it was the heaviest defeat by a rival London team for nearly four decades.
No one performed well for Chelsea at the Emirates, although the scoreline was contained to 1-0 at the break. Only Djordje Petrovic, in goal, emerged with any real credit. Despite shipping five goals, he made a string of vital saves to prevent a bad night getting worse.
Kai Havertz returned to haunt his old side, scoring twice in the second half, with Ben White adding a brace to send Arsenal back to the top of the table.
With 15 minutes remaining, most Chelsea fans had seen enough and slipped out to the tube before the home supporters’ gleeful chanting could make their evening any grimmer.
While Chelsea are emphatically not a one-player team, there’s no doubt that the name that the Stamford Bridge faithful most want to see on the teamsheet is Palmer’s.
What was really hard to take was the lack of fire after Chelsea had fallen behind. Even usually influential players such as captain Conor Gallagher and Noni Madueke seemed to lack the grit and vigour they normally display.
Perhaps Saturday’s defeat by City had knocked the stuffing out of the team. Having gone toe-to-toe with the league champions for most of that match, Bernardo Silva’s 84th-minute goal at Wembley ended the contest.
Is Pochettino the man to lead Chelsea into a fresh season?
Fans harbour real doubts, but the biggest issue is that too few of the current crop of overpaid time-servers are prepared to roll up their sleeves and put in a full shift.
Expect wholesale changes to the squad this summer as the club not only clears out the deadwood but also attempts to balance the books to head off any risk of points deductions for the free-spending of the past.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
