Ross Barkley had an eventful opening 15 minutes on his Chelsea debut. In his first game since May, having overcome a hamstring injury, he was shouted at by Antonio Conte, his head coach, for dawdling in his tracksuit on the touchline and not being ready to come on when Willian limped off. Barkley was shoved into the advertising boards by Laurent Koscielny, was scythed down by Jack Wilshere, and then slid from behind to upend Koscielny. He finished the first half by misplacing a pass, allowing Arsenal to counter.
Dzeko’s timely goal
Antonio Conte started without a frontline striker while Edin Dzeko, his main target, scored in Roma’s 1-1 draw with Sampdoria last night. Dzeko, 31, is yet to agree a deal with Chelsea, who have reservations about his age, and Roma say that a transfer fee has not been agreed. Conte’s selection and touchline histrionics make it clear that he has no time for Michy Batshuayi, who is expected to leave on loan. Conte overlooked Batshuayi when Willian was injured after half an hour and brought on the Belgium striker for only the last 25 minutes.
Aubameyang needed
Arsenal’s lack of depth was highlighted by a threadbare bench that included four youngsters and Aaron Ramsey returning from a hamstring injury. With Olivier Giroud likely to follow Theo Walcott and Alexis Sánchez out of the club, Danny Welbeck injured and Henrikh Mkhitaryan ineligible in the Carabao Cup, Arsenal’s need to finalise a deal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, right, is apparent. A second offer worth more than £50 million was rejected last night, with Borussia Dortmund holding out for £61 million. Officials from Arsenal have been in Germany since Saturday.
Defensive struggles
Arsène Wenger has long shown flaws in buying a reliable centre back and as a medium-term solution he is increasingly confident of signing Jonny Evans from West Bromwich Albion, though Manchester City have also shown an interest in the 30-year-old. Last night Koscielny was ponderous when trying to stop Hazard, while Shkodran Mustafi, who cost £35 million and was supposed to be the answer to Arsenal’s trouble at the back, also suffered. They were both let off lightly after the break when Hazard fell over.
Cazorla targets 2019
Santi Cazorla hopes to return to playing in 2019 after the tenth operation of his career. The midfielder, left, has not featured for Arsenal since October 2016 and has lost 8cm of his achilles tendon as a result of an infection in his right ankle. He first hurt his ankle in 2013, had left-knee surgery in December 2015 and needed another operation a year later because of a tendon injury in his right foot. Since then, Cazorla, who is out of contract in the summer, has had surgery eight times because the wound kept opening and became infected.
