The Blues came up against a superior opposition in Arsenal compared to previous opponents in the course of the ongoing pre-season game.

I was always looking up to this game against a side whose specialty is keeping possession. It’s no news that Arsenal is a side that knows how to keep the ball. Although their ruthlessness in attack leaves more to be desired.

Chelsea on the other hand, are side trying to get to grips with how possession football is played under Sarri, and it’s been promising as the last three games have shown.

However, against Arsenal, the Blues couldn’t replicate the performance against their last two previous opponents whom they dominated in terms of passes and possession.

Arsenal had the bulk of the passes and the possession in the course of the 90 minutes of the game.

It’s obviously still early days yet, and the Blues are still yet to get some key performers available. Therefore, in my books, they’ve been good enough in trying out the new manager’s style.

Arsenal bossed the possession stats and passes stats, but both sides were very close in terms of chances created, as Chelsea got the best chances in the game.



It’s a good thing, that irrespective of Arsenal’s dominance of the aforementioned stats, the Blues held their own in terms of chances created.

We’ve seen what Sarriball entails. It also requires some insane pressing high up the opposition half.

This means that the players must maintain 100% concentration and be positionally aware, as a side that knows how to keep the ball with eagle-eyed passers and are ruthless in attack can tear us to shreds.

That’s a threat that Pep Guardiola’s Man City offer in the upcoming community shield game on Sunday. They keep the ball excellently and are also ruthless in the opposition half.

We wait to see how Chelsea copes with their threat ahead of the new season. Guardiola will also be wary of the threat the Blues will provide on the day.

The Blues appear to have progressed from strong to stronger opponents in the pre-season, City is easily the toughest opponent amongst all.

SOURCE:-https://savechelsea.net/arsenal-provided-tough-test-for-sarriball/