The Skipper

Very good goal. Has had a good half so far on his first start.

I believe he'll get time against Newcastle and Porto as well.

And in turn, Cesc creates chances for the team to score.

Thank you. On the not being pressed bit I wholeheartedly agree, but before he wasn't even playing well irregardless of that so I'm happy he's stepping it up. Are you reading DF? BlueLyon is probably Fabregas' biggest critic on here, yet he still sees what you can't.

I said that Oscar had a good game too, in the match thread I was even agreeing with how Oscar's selection seems to bring out the best in Fabregas. I really don't know what you're trying to say exactly.

There have literally only been about 3 members who have been defending Costa on the last few pages...

Not at all. Oscar's misplaced passes mostly actually happened in the centre of the game at around the half way line. Carry on hating Cesc for no reason though. Those not blinkered by unnecessary hate will appreciate that he had a good game today.

I think you'll find that the overwhelming majority of the posts here are actually slating Costa's performance and behaviour.

Last thing I'll say is that actually, our best passage of play came before Arsenal had their man sent off, and Fabregas was the center piece who orchestrated it all. He was pulling the strings in that passage of play.

So you're willing to overlook Oscar's several sloppy passes (he finished with 78% in passing accuracy - he had a good game though) but not Fabregas' (who finished with 87%)? And don't think Zouma had a good enough game today to be named MOTM? Okay then, I'm done debating.

You are letting your hate for Fabregas blinker your thoughts. Okay, he failed on that counter attack but he immediately won the ball back and the chance was still alive but Pedro decided to shoot instead of giving it to Costa who was in acres of space. He provided the game winning assist and was the catalyst for our best period of play, dictating the temp very well. Do you remember him creating a very good opportunity from deep when he spotted Pedro's run? The fact that so many people are calling you out for saying Cesc's performance was shit should tell you that you're wrong. Or go to his player thread now. You're the only one that's saying that Cesc was awful.

In what sense was Fabregas atrocious? I know you don't like the man but come on, must've been watching a different game.He created our best chances in the game by far. A few sloppy passes but overall a good performance, more like it.

Yeah, he's been playing well recently. Hopefully it continues, we need him to be at his best form.

It does matter. He's always been walking on a fine line, and he'll get punished severely for it sooner rather than later.

He'll get plenty of game time in the following games.

Side note though, how often was Walcott offside? Zouma and Cahill marshalled the defence well, I must say. Arsenal didn't really threaten once.

Yeah, spot on. Our best patch of play came when Cesc was in his true element, dictating the pace of the game and showcasing his vision again. If we ever want to see the CFC of early last season again he needs to continue like this. Very good from Cesc today.

Future captain. Well done Happy.

Congratulations on becoming one of the most hated players in premier league history Diego.

I'll take the win but we're still a long way off to top form. We did well in bits today though (even before the red card).

Can't score vs. 9 men. Nice.

Mourinho never really urges his team to get that secured 2nd after a team goes down to 10 unfortunately.

I think Ramires on confirms it for me that Mourinho sees RLC as Matic's understudy.

He's been awful today tbh.