Thomas Sorenson described the Gunners as spineless last week, although Arsenal showed plenty of backbone to beat Manchester United 2-1 on Saturday. Arsene Wenger chose to deploy five players in midfield, something which seemed to work a treat, although one member of the Chelsea squad remains unconvinced that their style of football will win them much this season.
Michael Essien has made some comments about Chelsea’s London rivals, which is sure to incense many Gooners and particularly Arsene Wenger who has been particularly quick-to-moan lately. The Ghanaian midfielder reckons that Arsenal are too much about playing pretty football, which comes at the cost of dropping points. The Guardian reports that he’s happy that the Blues can sometimes play ugly football if it means they pick up the three points.
“Everybody likes to watch beautiful football but to play beautiful football without points is … I don’t think it’s worth it,” Essien said. “Arsenal is one of those teams that just plays beautiful football but at the end of the day they don’t get the points that they want to.”
“For me, I don’t care,” he told tonight’s Inside Sport programme on BBC1. “To be rough and get three points or play well and get three points – win ugly or beautifully – I don’t care.”
Indeed, the jury is still out on whether Arsenal can sustain a title challenge in the Premier League this season, despite an impressive display on Saturday. United were guilty of missing a couple of gilt-edged chances to score, while the Gunners treated the match like something of a cup final. Is the Chelsea player right to make the above comments, or will Arsene Wenger’s team thrive in adversity?
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