Arsenal’s Transfer Mistake Covered by Bigger Chelsea Blunder

LONDON — There can scarcely be two Premier League managers more acutely aware of the intangible importance of winning the midfield battle than Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso.

As one or two people may have mentioned this week, Arsenal and Chelsea’s managers are both graduates of the same tiny kids team in San Sebastián and spent years of their shared youth battling each other. Those hours scrapping on the sands of Antiguo were effectively one elongated midfield duel.

With that background, Arteta’s quest to construct the deepest collection of physical passers makes complete sense. It’s been drilled into him by a youth club, Antiguoko, where “everything was about the ball.” That quote came from Alonso, yet the Chelsea boss—deliberately or otherwise—has found himself short-staffed in the position which sees most of the ball.

Alonso ended the game with two natural right backs in midfield, while Arteta brought two World Cup winners off the bench to bolster that central slice of the pitch. Bruno Guimarães, Arsenal’s $101 million marquee midfield summer signing, wasn’t even needed in Sunday’s 2–1 victory. Everyone at the Emirates brielfy forgot to be angry about missing out on a new forward.

Arsenal Punish Chelsea’s Soft Center

Still running this town. pic.twitter.com/svX6z11STU
— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) September 6, 2026

Misfortune, “honor” and a former Arsenal striker all conspired to leave Alonso with this unwanted midfield configuration. Moisés Caicedo’s injury-riddled start to the new season has prompted the former Real Madrid manager to start Reece James and Roméo Lavia next to each. Prior to this season, they had never once played together in midfield.

Monaco’s wonderfully-talented Lamine Camara had been earmarked as a shrewd Deadline Day buy only for the French club to rip up the terms of their agreement late on Tuesday night when Folarin Balogun, the Gunners’ academy graduate, looked to be heading to Everton. Chelsea had the chance to pull Enzo Fernández’s move to Manchester City once Camara was taken off the table, but the Blues stuck to their word, out of “honor.” Alonso perhaps would have preferred an extra man rather than being the bigger man.

There’s a school of thought that Chelsea are deliberately subverting the traditional acceptance of possession dominance this season. This was the third straight match in which the Blues averaged fewer passes than their opponents—it never happened more than twice on the spin last season. However, each game has been completely distorted by an early goal: Morgan Rogers’s trundling volley in the second minute on Sunday fit a pattern of fast starts. With a lead to defend, sitting back and striking in transition makes plenty of sense.

Chelsea’s Passing Stats Under Xabi Alonso

Possession: 36.5% (19th in the league)
Accurate passes per game: 262.0 (17th)
Accurate long balls per game: 21.3 (9th)

Stats via FotMob

It was the first time Arsenal had a deficit to attack since traveling to Manchester City in mid-April. They reacted with a sense of furious disdain, taking the ball away from the Blues whether they wanted it or not. Emiliano Martínez had five shots to save all from within six yards of his goal line. The one that he really should have got a bigger glove on came from Kai Havertz on the edge of box and scuttled into the bottom corner. “We suffered,” Alonso admitted.

Chelsea should take credit for shaking Arsenal into a briefly-chaotic encounter. The team which plays with a hand constantly hovering over the handbrake pressed down on the throttle, letting Declan Rice spear into the space where Chelsea’s midfield should theoretically have been with staggering ease.

As Manchester United fans who haven’t yet subdued all memories of Ruben Amorim’s tenure can attest, the two-man midfield of a 3-4-2-1 can get easily overloaded. Lavia and James were constantly dragged apart by Arsenal’s quick flings out to the wing, with Rogers and Cole Palmer all too slow to plug the gaps.

Arsenal’s winning goal. — Arsenal’s winning goal came from a breakdown in midfield. | X/SkySportsPL

Martin Ødegaard’s winning goal (above) was a simple case of overloading and overlooking. Lavia (left blue circle) was dragged towards Christos Tzolis, taking the gamble of leaving Martin Lewis-Skelly unmarked. Maxence Lacroix was busy tracking the onrushing Riccardo Calafiori while Wesley Fofana fretted over Havertz (two red circles). James should have been keeping on eye on Ødegaard (in yellow) but let him dart into the box unmarked as he steadied himself before rifling the ball into the roof of the net.

Alonso lamented the errors of that goal, but what can he really expect when he is relying upon at least one player making do while out of position? Malo Gusto’s second-half substitution ensured that there were two fullbacks moonlighting in midfield as Arsenal shut the contest down.

“We want to be protagonists,” Alonso fretted. Perhaps he should have bought some leading men.

Arteta Forced to Tweak After Lack of Transfers

Declan Rice, Martin Ødegaard — Arsenal claimed a 2–1 victory over London rivals Chelsea. | John Walton/PA Images/Getty Images

It was not a faultless window for Arsenal. Arteta may have insisted that the boxes had been “100% ticked” but the bullet point demanding a new marquee forward was quite clearly lacking a check mark. Not only had the Gunners failed to sign any of Julián Alvarez, Vinícius Júnior or Chelsea’s Rogers, but they had actually weakened their attacking reserves with the exodus of the Brazilian Gabriels.

In the face of no major personnel changes, Arteta was forced to devise some tactical tweaks.

Ødegaard made his way onto the unfamiliar left-hand side at times, left back Calafiori played everywhere apart from on the left and at the back, while Havertz wandered out to the right wing to allow Bukayo Saka to curve his runs like a center forward straight through the middle of Chelsea’s back three. It was this interplay on the right which created space for Havertz to chop infield and catch Martínez out at his near post for Arsenal’s equalizer.

When constantly confronted with a lack of new attacking impetus heading into Sunday’s derby, Arteta pointed toward the cabal of forwards who won him last season’s league title: “What I have to say is that I love the players that we have.” That affection was only deepened by this weekend’s performance, although only time will tell if it can last for the full season.

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