Andre Schurrle is too fast for Arsenal's Bacary Sagna in a 6-0 demolition

Published: 22 March, 2014
By RICHARD OSLEY at STAMFORD BRIDGE

FA Barclay's Premier League
CHELSEA 6, ARSENAL 0

JOURNALISTS sat waiting and waiting in the Stamford Bridge press room but Arsene Wenger did not appear. Eventually, with the tea going cold, the Arsenal press team explained that while Jose Mourinho had been waxing lyrical about his team's performace in front of the microphones, 'the bus had gone' and Wenger needed to be on it. After 1,000 matches in charge of Arsenal, this kind of escape from Wenger is pretty much unheard of. It didn't sit well after a thumping 6-0 defeat.

There were, naturally, tough questions to face about why the Gunners seemingly always fold when up against the rivals ahead of them. Wenger is rarely critical of his team in public, even if that loyalty has not been repaid in kind with the numbers of key players who have walked out of his unfinished project. Maybe today was the day to break with that habit of keeping it in the changing room. Instead, the red and white bus was halfway down the Fulham Broadway, leaving Mourinho to crow and taunt as only he can. The questions might have started with why was the combative star of Arsenal's midfield this season, Mathieu Flamini, was left out, and gone on to the weighty issue of why his team have lost so heavily in major matches this season. The latter issue has undone the good work of Autumn and that sparkling dream of an unlikely championship title.

Beforehand, Wenger had been far more chatty, enthusing about the most important match of the season for Arsenal, where defeat would effectively end any remaining hope of finishing first but victory would propel them back into the mix. The team he chose, admittedly without its four best players in Ozil, Wilshere, Ramsey and Walcott, however appeared to be treating it more like a meaningless training match. There was no urgency, no threat and, as has been their problem since Theo Walcott's January injury, no pace.

Sensing that lethargy, Chelsea ensured the game was over inside ten minutes. Samuel Eto'o turned in a short cameo, but still managed to curl in the opener with just four minutes gone, capping the home side's lightning counter attack move which had ripped through Arsenal's midfield. He left the pitch soon afterwards with a hamstring injury, but not before assisting the hit-and-miss Andre Schurrle to a quick second. Easy passing, simple finishing.

Arsenal were poor all over the pitch, perhaps most noticeably captain Mikkel Arteta was chasing shadows around the centre circles, while Olivier Giroud was a laughably weak frontman. He looked a carbon copy of Maraoune Chamakh today. Referee Andre Marriner, however, provided a point of distraction from this second rate show when he sent off Kieran Gibbs on 19 minutes for a diving goal-line handball. The culprit was actually Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who despite confessing to the crime was told to stay on the pitch while Gibbs, understandably furious, was ordered to the changing rooms. Eden Hazard rolled his spot-kick down the middle for the fast 3-0 lead.

Down to ten, Arsenal were gasping for breath and Chelsea showed no mercy. Oscar bundled in Fernando Torres' cross just before the break and added another in a dull second half – dull because what the final outcome was already obvious. New Chelsea man Mohamed Salah raced clear to kick in the sixth. If they had really, really wanted more, they could have probably scored again but there was almost a sign that Chelsea were not prepared to invest another ounce of energy on the Gunners, if they weren't going to have the deceny to make a game of it.

Wenger's 1,000th match had been an unmitigating disaster and when he finally resurfaces, he'll find his team are now 50-1 to win the league and clinging to the hope of an FA Cup success to salvage the season. 

ARSENAL: Szcesny, Sagna, Gibbs, Koscielny (Jenkinson HT), Mertesacker, Arteta (Captain), Cazorla, Podolski (Vermaelen 24), Oxlade-Chamberlain (Flamini HT) Rosicky, Giroud

Subs not used: Fabianski, Sanogo, Gnabry, Kallstrom

Attendance: 41,614