Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-0 on Sunday, with the Blues’ former Gunners midfielder a particularly influential figure against his old club.
Much of the lead up to Sunday’s Premier League match was about one man, Cesc Fabregas.
It is quite enough for two of the best teams in the league facing off against each other to earn column inches, not least when it happens to be a local derby, but the presence of a player once synonymous with Arsenal and their manager Arsene Wenger yet now turning out in the blue of Chelsea under the Frenchman’s rival Jose Mourinho couldn’t help but make the game that little more feistier.
And so it turned out, with both managers stating in their post match interviews that they thought the opposition should have been reduced to eight (yes EIGHT) men. Fabregas was one of the few that nobody thought should have seen red, but that didn’t stop the Spaniard impressing enough to earn man of the match and also provide a wonderful assist for Diego Costa to score the goal that sealed the win.
The looping through ball by the former Barcelona star would have been something Wenger and Arsenal fans would have been used to seeing the 27-year-old pull off in the red and white of Arsenal, but his performance against them was doubly notable given the weaker outing of his replacement Mesut Ozil, who once again failed to affect a big game.
Fabregas’s assist was also his seventh in the Premier League this season, which amazingly has seen him draw level with the entire Arsenal squad.
Assist leaders Premier League 2014/15
| Team | Pos | Goal Assist | Apps | Mins | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cesc Fàbregas | Chelsea | MF | 7 | 7 | 621 |
| Gylfi Sigurdsson | Swansea | MF | 6 | 7 | 618 |
| Ángel Di María | Man Utd | MF | 3 | 5 | 407 |
| Victor Moses | Stoke | MF | 3 | 5 | 349 |
| Ramires | Chelsea | MF | 3 | 4 | 224 |
Combined, the Gunners players have only managed seven assists to the goals they have scored, with Ozil having managed just one. In fact, no Arsenal player has created more than one goal.
Arsenal team assists Premier League 2014/15
| Team | Pos | Goal Assist | Apps | Mins | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santiago Cazorla | Arsenal | MF | 1 | 6 | 387 |
| Nacho Monreal | Arsenal | DF | 1 | 4 | 307 |
| Aaron Ramsey | Arsenal | MF | 1 | 6 | 483 |
| Alexis Sánchez | Arsenal | FW | 1 | 6 | 421 |
| Danny Welbeck | Man Utd | FW | 1 | 4 | 346 |
| Jack Wilshere | Arsenal | MF | 1 | 6 | 391 |
| Mesut Özil | Arsenal | MF | 1 | 6 | 540 |
When you consider such statistics, it is hard to ignore that Wenger surely should have done whatever necessary to try and bring Fabregas to the Emirates this summer.
But he didn’t, and it is Chelsea and Jose Mourinho who are reaping the benefits, much to their satisfaction.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
