Gary Neville has shared that Chelsea showed a ‘different level of desire’ without Romelu Lukaku on Sunday, as he compared the situation to Arsenal under Mikel Arteta ’18 months ago’, as he told Sky Sports.
The Sky pundit stated that when Arsenal had ‘a few players missing’ against Chelsea over a year ago, Arteta brought in the likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli and they played in a similar way.
Thomas Tuchel axed Lukaku from his matchday squad that recorded a 2-2 draw against Liverpool on Sunday following a pretty forthright interview he did with Sky Italy.
It clearly didn’t go down well in the Stamford Bridge camp and it remains to be seen what happens next with the Belgian striker.
But in his absence, Kai Havertz, Mason Mount and one of the goalscorers, Christian Pulisic, played in the forward areas.
Whilst they won’t be able to score the volume of goals Lukaku can produce, the performance without him was far, far higher and much better.
That was touched upon by Neville and how Arsenal also produced a ‘different level of desire’ when their three young stars were brought into the fold after having players missing.
“They didn’t deserve to be 2-0 down,” said Neville. “But to come back against Liverpool, from 2-0 down, is a fantastic performance.
“They just didn’t have that cutting edge. I thought not having Lukaku maybe off the bench or available probably in some ways cost them.
“But they wouldn’t (have got that performance). That was my issue with him at Man United. I never thought he could give Man United what they could get without him. I know he will score more goals than those players that played against Liverpool.
“But what we witnessed is a bit like what we witnessed with Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal about 18 months ago in a game against Chelsea. When there are a few players missing, then Martinelli came in, Saka came in, Smith Rowe came in. All of a sudden, you looked at it and thought ‘that’s a different level of desire’.”
It could be argued that Chelsea produce better team performances without Lukaku, but they still need his killer instinct in front of goal, as he proved during their comeback win at Villa Park on Boxing Day.
Whereas Arsenal, after stripping Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of the captain’s armband, have proven that they are far better without their experienced forward.
But both Aubameyang and Lukaku are far different players, with one past his best and the other at the peak of his powers.
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