EPL #2: Super Lucky Drogba
Chelsea 1 - 0 Arsenal (Drogba Winner - 73′)
This was one of those matches where luck was the most important factor on the pitch. A match that could change the course of the entire season, like last season, when Drogba beat Manchester United on their first home game and buried them so that they could never come back to the title challenge. This season, there is a very big chance that Arsenal will drop to the third and Manchester United will rise to second, especially considering that while Arsenal have sold Vieira and bought no classed player, United have bought Edwin Van Der Sar and Park Ji-Sung, who have both played with great form for United. And to think that this kind of match had been won by luck, maybe it is kinda cruel…
But as Soccernet stated it, the goal did not come from luck only but also due to Arsenal’s lack of concentration, especially Senderos, making the same mistakes against Drogba as he did in Arsenal 1-2 loss to Chelsea in the Community Shield. The luck factor played when Drogba evaded Senderos, ran towards Lehmann, and the free-kick pass from Lampard hit his shin (he failed to control the ball, actually) to go slowly and helplessly towards goal. It was a very lucky goal, not even a lucky shot because it was not a shot, it was a deflection off his shin. This lack of discipline and concentration showed up again in the last minutes of the game, again by Senderos, whose missed back-pass almost granted Drogba his second goal, if it was not for his indecision who only managed to put the ball straight into Lehmann. Surely Arsenal would miss Vieira as captain now… there is clearly no more discipline in the Arsenal team play since he left (btw, Juventus lost 0-1 to Inter).
Now we will just have to wait and see how will Chelsea fare against Manchester United… As for the end of Matchday #2, there are currently 4 teams with 2 wins: Tottenham, Charlton, Manchester United and Chelsea. It will be interesting to see who among the four will be the first to fall on Matchday #3. Or will they be able to survive the next fixture? Arsenal have currently fell into 9th position after today’s loss against Chelsea, so let’s see if they will be able to bounce back, or be doomed like Manchester United last season.
