Arsenal destroy Chelsea leaving the Blues Manager and Todd Boehly and Hansjorg Wyss, the new co-owners of Chelsea, watched the disheartening loss for Chelsea, which dashed their optimism following their takeover.
This will increase their urgency to make new signings before the upcoming season, as Thomas Tuchel berated his players after they were destroyed by an outstanding Arsenal performance.
During a drink break midway through the first half, The Blues read his troops the riot act since he was obviously frustrated with how poorly they were playing.
Todd Boehly and Hansjorg Wyss, the new co-owners, saw the humiliating loss, which dashed their confidence after taking over, and it will increase their pressure to make fresh additions before the upcoming season.
After 16 minutes, Gabriel Jesus scored the opening goal for Arsenal with a beautiful lob. This was his fourth goal of preseason since joining Arsenal for £45 million from Manchester City.
Ten minutes prior to halftime, Martin Odegaard added a second goal with a diagonal finish to take advantage of shoddy defence.
After Edouard Mendy of the Blues had blocked attempts from Gabriel Martinelli and Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Saka smashed in a third goal for Mikel Arteta’s team in the 66th minute.
Midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga added a fantastic fourth goal from Cedric’s cross, heading in first-time across Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
Earlier, Mendy had to make an incredible, last-second stop to block a free kick from Nicolas Pepe.
The Blues’ Mason Mount also came the closest, hitting the post just before halftime.
Blues stranded
Chelsea put on a terrible display in this match that will worry fans heading into the new campaign.
Yes, you can point to Kalidou Koulibaly’s absence during the period when goals were pouring in. He was a late substitute.
N’Golo Kante, who is back in England, is another. However, this Chelsea team is much superior than they shown here.
Particularly the defense was all over the place for the first goal scored by Jesus, absent for the second goal scored by Odegaard, and again spectators for the third goal scored by Bukayo Saka.
To be fair, when Koulibaly did enter the game late on, it was clear where the £34 million had been spent.
When Nicolas Pepe was about to shoot with just Edouard Mendy to beat, he first appeared to be the road runner as he outran the opponent. Then, out of nowhere, he appeared to block the same player.
Still, this loss to a team that has spent the same amount of time in preseason practice will raise a lot of issues.
Despite the takeover and Chelsea’s hurried transfer business, Thomas Tuchel has made it clear that he doesn’t want any justifications from his players before the season opening against Everton.
Given the disparity in skill levels here, he might still be rowing back on that viewpoint.
Chelsea ought to have acquired a striker.
Theoretically, Thomas Tuchel’s assertion that he has several players who can succeed in the center-forward position only holds water if those players can harm the opposition.
No matter how you look at it, Chelsea does not own a center-forward with Gabriel Jesus’ level of creativity.
One instance of this was Reece James’ powerful pass across the six-yard box seven minutes before halftime, when no Chelsea player showed the irrational desire of Jesus to pursue the ball.
Also, early in the second half, Cesar Azpilicueta floated in a cross.
Even with Mount hitting the post, Arsenal handled Sterling and the wide areas with relative ease.
In fairness to Chelsea, there isn’t a striker of the caliber of a Kane, Lewandowski, Jota, Haaland, or Benzema on the market. Could that weaken their title challenge, despite their excellence in other areas?