Alvaro Morata endured a disappointing night and was received a huge chunk of the attention, as Chelsea dropped points in a 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates. It was one of the exciting matches of the season, but Arsenal were able to take the lead through Jack Wilshere’s first league goal in more than two years. However, the blues were able to spark a strong comeback with goals from Eden Hazard and Marcos Alonso. Just when it seemed that Chelsea had done enough to secure a victory, Arsenal fought back with an injury time equaliser through Hector Bellerin.
The game might not have witnessed just four goals in total, as both teams had several chances at either end. Alexis Sanchez and Alexandre Lacazette came close for Arsenal, but the chances that they received in the match were put to shame by the sheer quantity of excellent opportunities that came Morata’s way. The Spaniard was one-on-one with the goalkeeper on three occasions, but Petr Cech came out on top in each of those duels.
Even after Arsenal scored the equaliser through Hector Bellerin, Morata had a late chance to win the game deep in injury time. This was probably the Spaniard’s worst performance in a Chelsea shirt, as he has been relatively good so far this campaign. Since making the £70 million move from Real Madrid, the forward has come up with 10 goals in 19 league appearances. Yet, a striker of his quality should be putting away relatively easy chances more often than not. A huge Twitter backlash came as a surprise, but the latter had to face a torrent of trolls and abuse for his performance.
Unsurprisingly, Freebets.org sees Morata at 26.00 to win the Premier League Golden Boot award in the 2017-18 campaign. Harry Kane is the favourite to win the title once again with Mohamed Salah facing a spell on the sidelines.
Meanwhile, Antonio Conte has had to defend the striker, who has just completed his eight appearance of December. There was an element of tiredness about Morata and questions will be asked about Conte for the reluctance to use Michy Batshuayi, who has fared reasonably well when called upon. Conte said:
“He’s not lucky in this period. He has to continue to work and improve.
“In this case, it’s a pity because he had many chances to score. But at the same time, I am very happy for his effort and commitment.”
Either way, it is a major disappointment for Chelsea to drop points so late in the game. The result has put United back into the place, while demoting the blues to the third position. Liverpool are now just two points behind.