Chelsea huffed and puffed but Arsenal blew Potter’s house in

Not sure there is much left to say after league-leaders Arsenal came to Stamford Bridge today and put in a performance worthy of potential champions, dominating a top-four wannabe side in just about every phase of the game — as they should.

The scoreboard might have read only 1-0, with that one goal coming off of some calamitous corner defending, but this was precisely the type of win we have seen from Chelsea during better days — calm, in control, never really looking like losing. Before the game it felt like we were on the cusp of a red-blue paradigm shift in London, and nothing that happened during these 90 minutes dissuaded that notion.

Obviously, a post-match press conference isn’t really the time for deep analysis and introspection, but we’re going to need a bit more than platitudes about being better at ... everything? Graham Potter is very good at saying a lot without really saying much, and here’s the latest in that line of interviews.

“We played against a team in a really good moment, a confident team and you can see the points they have so credit to them.

“The boys gave everything, it was huffing and puffing but missed that last bit. The goal was disappointing, but overall they deserved it. Arsenal are in a good moment and have been working together for a long time with a good understanding of what they want to do.

“We lacked a bit of quality. The effort was there, we were just beaten by the better team. It was not a great goal from our perspective. It’s an indication of where we are and what we need to do better. Mikel Arteta has done a good job, they are in a good place and we’re slightly different.”

-Graham Potter; source: BT Sport via BBC

Yeah, we’re definitely not in a good place. Certainly agree on that! But if this is actually our “everything”, giving us two points from our last four games, I’d hate to see our less than everything.

At the third-way point of the season, with 13 games in the books, Arsenal are in the midst of one of the best starts ever in the history of the league. Chelsea have work to do. Lots and lots of work. Who knows how much time and pain that might take. We can only hope there is an actual plan.