Arsenal were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea on Sunday afternoon, with Romelu Lukaku causing absolute mayhem for Pablo Mari in the Gunners back line.
After a 2-0 defeat to Brentford on the opening day of the season, Arsenal needed a response against Chelsea – but they didn’t get one.
Lukaku opened the scoring on his second debut for Chelsea, brushing aside Mari to finish off Reece James’ cross before James added the second goal himself.
Lukaku was a constant menace throughout, with Arsenal just unable to cope with the way he backed in and linked up play.
Mari particularly struggled with Lukaku, getting too tight to the Belgian star, meaning he was able to roll him and get Chelsea moving.
Gary Neville really wasn’t impressed with how Mari attempted to cope with Lukaku, stating on Sky Sports (19 mins) that defenders just shouldn’t be playing against Lukaku like that.
Neville felt that Mari had no chance of containing Lukaku with his chosen approach, adding that the Spaniard was getting messed around by the Chelsea striker.
“You just can’t play against Lukaku like this,” said Neville. “Mari is getting too close to him, thinking he can those types of challenges, he’s not got a chance. You’ve got to either get in front or stop off one or two yards and let him have it, there’s no in between. He’s just getting messed around a little bit,” he added.
Some felt that Ben White would get tormented by Lukaku, but he missed out with illness.
The seemingly bigger and stronger Mari had a nightmare with Lukaku too though, with the Chelsea striker set to strike fear into all Premier League defences.
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