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  • By Charlie Stong

Arsenal restore some pride


Arsene Wenger Photo by Paul Lagan

That will do.

While nobody could claim this was a majestic performance from the Gunners, we’ll take what we can get at the moment.

For the second time this season we set up to frustrate Chelsea on their own patch and prevented them from scoring.

Our second 0-0 draw of the season at Stamford Bridge restored some pride after Sunday’sembarrassment and gives us an ever so slight advantage going into the second leg at the Emirates in two weeks’ time.

There were 10 frustrating minutes at the start of the second half when we did our best to give Chelsea a goal by constantly giving the ball back to them in dangerous areas - a trait this team just cannot get out of their system.

But other than that we fought hard, showed some character and got the draw which hopefully we can build on in the coming games.

There were a couple of decisions for VAR to make. My heart was in my mouth when the ref brought a Chelsea penalty call back for review at the death, but thankfully - and correctly - for once we didn't concede a spot kick. One for us in the first half probably also ended in the right call and no penalty.

So far there haven’t been any major controversies with VAR. And that's exactly what it’s there to do. To eliminate decisions made by refs such as Mike Dean. So far, it’s working. All us fans want is for the correct decisions to be made. We might not always like them, but as long as we don’t feel like we’re being cheated those calls are much easier to take.

So a good result. Hopefully Jack can recover from his knock on the ankle in time for the second leg, for he was the best player on the pitch for most of the game. If we’re to turn defensive displays like tonight into a more attacking one which we’ll want at home, we’ll need him.

Great support from the traveling Gooners tonight, too. They got the result they deserved.

Next up Bournemouth on Sunday back in the league.d

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