New York Times journalist, Rory Smith, reckons that some Arsenal players actually enjoyed playing without Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez against Chelsea on Sunday.

Smith believes that some Arsenal players, particularly Granit Xhaka, enjoyed playing against Chelsea on Sunday as they didn’t have the added pressure of having to play alongside Ozil or Alexis.

“It looked to me a little bit like some of the players maybe enjoyed not having Mesut Ozil or Alexis Sanchez in the team,” he said on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Not because they don’t like them, or they’re bad people, or they don’t share the same interests. 

“But because I think they feel, in different ways with both of them, under pressure when they’re in the team. 

“I think Alexis Sanchez is not always helpful in terms of chastising his team-mates.

“I think Ozil maybe, particularly with Xhaka, it seemed as if Xhaka enjoyed the fact that there wasn’t Ozil making whatever runs or movements that Ozil makes that doesn’t suit Xhaka. 

“I think Xhaka was really good yesterday and he seemed to thrive from the fact that neither Sanchez or Ozil were there.”

Ozil missed the trip to Stamford Bridge due to a suspected knee injury, while Alexis didn’t come on until the 66th minute.

Arsenal looked more cohesive against Antonio Conte’s side than they had done in a long time. Even though the match ended 0-0, the Gunners had 11 shots to Chelsea’s 13, two of which were on target. Considering this was against the current title-holders, it was an encouraging performance.

Xhaka had a good game, although not as good as Aaron Ramsey, who was a delight to watch against Arsenal’s London rivals.

While the Switzerland international only managed a pass completion rate of 77% – far below his average of 90% last season – he seemed far more lively and didn’t stop working.

Perhaps Smith has a point. It does feel as if Arsene Wenger is trying to shoe-horn certain players such as Alexis and Ozil in at times.

The same appeared to be happening with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and since he’s gone to Liverpool, Arsenal have looked far better.