Arsenal 4-0 Chelsea, friendly: Post-match reaction

Some might say it was refreshing to see Chelsea line up in a 4-2-3-1 instead of the usual 3-4-3 formation. But any goodwill from that would disappear as soon as we saw Chelsea at their best, even when weighed down by the usual pre-season rust.

Arsenal were the best team on the pitch from the start and continued their dominance in the first half. With sharper passing, better movement on and off the ball and the Blues unable to figure out how to plug gaps in the back four, the Gunners easily found scores through Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard in the 15th and 36th minutes respectively .

In the 3-4-3 in the second half, Chelsea were much better. Playing with familiar tactics helped the team just as much as Arsenal to keep them from trying to score as they were in the first half, with the Blues dominating possession but not doing enough to create chances against their opponents tonight.

And although Arsenal did little in the second half, enough pressure from the Gunners was enough to give them a third goal on the night. Bukayo Saka scored on the rebound after two successive saves by Mendy.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t all for us. After Cedric’s cross, Sambi Lokonga scored Arsenal’s fourth goal with a near-free header in the last minute of the game.

• First Half XI (4-2-3-1): Mendy | James, Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Emerson | Gallagher, Jorginho (c) | Mount, Stirling, Havertz | Werner
• Back to a 3-4-3 at the start of the first half, with Malang Sarr, Thiago and Cesar Azpilicueta at the back, and Reece James and Marcos Alonso on the wings. Christian Pulisic, Mateo Kovacic, Michy Batshuayi, Hakim Ziyech, Ethan Ampadu, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Kalidou Koulibaly were the second-half substitutes
• Timo Werner always gives his best, but some days his best just isn’t good enough for us
• Trevoh Chalobah had a torrid day on the pitch before leaving the pitch with an injury. Hope all is well with him!
• Conor Gallagher was (deservedly) the subject of much praise in our first pre-season game, but his brilliance faded against Charlotte and again today against Arsenal. Hope is not lost, but this was still pretty hard to accept
• Hello Kalidu!
• Up next: Udinese at Stadio Friuli in Udine, Italy as our final pre-season game
• KTBFFH!