CHELSEA will have begun the new season with renewed confidence.
A brand new manager who would run shoulder to shoulder alongside Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho in the tactical marathon that is the Premier League.
Well Antonio Conte is three points off Mourinho and eight behind Guardiola after a second successive league defeat.
This one, the 3-0 loss at Arsenal, more alarming than the last at home to Liverpool.
If Roman Abramovich was having an emergency meeting after that 2-1 loss to Jurgen Klopp’s men he will have the whole board and management in a bunker after this.
The fact that the absence of a 35-year-old John Terry is causing them major concerns tells you where they are at.
To think they were happy to let him go at the end of last season.
He is sidelined after damaging ankle ligaments in a 2-2 draw with Swansea and the back four has fallen to pieces.
There is no way they are going to keep a clean sheet with David Luiz in the centre of a back four.
In the middle of a back three with more protection to play the ball, perhaps. But not how they are set up right now.
Mind you his nerves must be on edge with Gary Cahill next to him right now.
His mistake for the first goal on Saturday was not so different to the one at Swansea.
Yes he was clipped for that, but it was his poor first touch that caused the problem as it did on Saturday.
They were picked apart for the second and there was no tracking back for the third.
Up front Diego Costa looked an isolated and frustrated figure.
Often he won the ball but with nobody near him to lay it off to or work with.
As for Cesc Fabregas, well didn’t the Arsenal faithful love it when he was hooked after 55 minutes following a poor display.
It has been the very nature of Chelsea in the Abramovich era that the manager will now be under big pressure.
Sounds absurd when we are still in September but this is an owner with no patience. Even less now probably after they finished last season halfway down the table.
There is plenty of it at The Emirates of course with Arsene Wenger, in the boardroom at least.
He is celebrating 20 years at the club. The first ten brought three titles and four FA Cups, the second just two FA Cups.
On days like Saturday you wonder why the crowd is split about his continued position as manager of their club.
But we all know the expectation raised by such a stunning performance can equally be quashed very quickly.
Wenger says he has a ‘team of men ready to compete,’ one with ‘style and steel’ one which plays with ‘movement, technical quality and pace’ and he says there is still room for improvement.
Well if this is the case and he does not challenge for the title then he has to look at himself.
If they cannot produce consistently high performances he is not managing them correctly.
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They seem to have it all and in Alexis Sanchez down the middle a real fulcrum, a real player to look to like they had in Thierry Henry.
See Theo Walcott play like he did and you wonder why we are still waiting for potential to be fulfilled at the age of 27.
You have to reserve judgement on Arsenal because too often they falter.
Too many have been made to look daft by being carried away by days like Saturday.
It is for Wenger to prove the doubters wrong.
As he has made very clear, he has the team with the ability to do it.
Now he has to prove he’s still the manager to do it.
SHEAR CLASS
MANCHESTER UNITED were magnificent against Champions Leicester in their 4-1 win and there was no better goal all weekend than Juan Mata’s.
A great team goal ending with a stunning finish.
It was proof that after successive league defeats Jose Mourinho’s side is back.
SHEAR CALAMITY
As a Newcastle fan I don’t mean to rub salt into the wounds but blimey Sunderland! You are 2-0 up at home against a worthy but mid-table opponent and you cannot see the game out.
The late concession of goals suggests a real lack of concentration.
Three times they have conceded in the final five minutes this season costing them four points.
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