Former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas made his first league start of the season, on the back of a brace in the midweek 4-2 EFL Cup win over Leicester City, but Arsenal swamped their opponents in central areas, while reverting to a back three early in the second period did nothing to restore Chelsea’s poise.
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Chelsea’s defensive woes once again bring to the fore the absence of John Terry, who was not declared fit enough to feature as he completes his recovery from an ankle ligament injury.
Antonio Conte’s Chelsea, whose side have now gone three league games without a win, slid to eighth, the optimism engendered by their three opening victories now nearly a distant memory.
“I must find the right solution for this team because in every game we are conceding two goals, at minimum”, he said.
“For this reason three at the back or two or four, I don’t care about it”.
“I think that it is always a team problem, not individual players”.
Antonio Conte was left frustrated with Gary Cahill after he presented Alexis Sanchez with the opening goal for Arsenal.
City, however, regained the lead with an Aguero penalty in the 65th minute after Mike van der Hoorn fouled Kevin de Bruyne in the box.
“Sergio is quality”, said Guardiola.
“Yes, it’s one of the best performances in recent years because it’s one of the games where what we wanted to do worked very well”.
Adam Lallana put Liverpool ahead in the 17th minute and Hull then found themselves down a man when Ahmed Elmohamady was sent off after blocking Philippe Coutinho’s goal-bound shot with his arm.
But with the visitors pushing forward, Arsenal hit them with a clinical counter-attack five minutes before half-time.
They have added a solitary point after three consecutive wins at the start of the campaign and are now down in eighth, below Crystal Palace on goal difference.
Jermain Defoe seized on a mistake by Joe Ledley as he fired Sunderland into a 39th-minute lead before doubling their lead on the hour mark only for Ledley to atone for his earlier error a minute earlier.
– This is the first time Conte has lost back-to-back league games since December 2009.
“They were that we couldn’t beat Chelsea for years”, a beaming Wenger, who this week marked 20 years in charge of Arsenal, told reporters.
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West Ham United play Southampton on Sunday and Monday sees Burnley at home to Watford.
