“They didn’t believe” – Glenn Hoddle delivers scathing assessment of Chelsea in Arsenal defeat | OneFootball

Former Chelsea boss Glenn Hoddle wasn’t impressed with the Blues in their performance against Arsenal and accused them of lacking belief.

Chelsea turned in another uninspiring performance as they fell to a 1-0 defeat the Emirates, with Mikel Merino scoring the only goal of the game.

The Blues offered nothing going forward, much to the frustration of supporters and could only manage eight touches in the Arsenal box.

Hoddle unimpressed by Chelsea

The defeat means the Blues are now winless in their last seven away games, and Enzo Maresca apologised to the fans at full time.

Despite defeat, Chelsea remain fourth because Manchester City dropped points against Brighton, although Newcastle can move into the top four if they win their game in hand.

The Blues never once looked like they would score and seemingly didn’t try to win the game, with fans becoming increasingly frustrated with Maresca’s style of play.

Chelsea haven’t beaten Arsenal since 2021. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Reece James was once again deployed in midfield, and Wayne Rooney felt he struggled in there, whilst Jadon Sancho and Christopher Nkunku offered nothing in the wide areas.

Chelsea’s biggest attacking threat was arguably Marc Cucurella, and with a lack of options on the bench there was very little Maresca could do to change things, but he didn’t even attempt to try something different.

The performance once again left a lot to be desired and Hoddle wasn’t impressed with what he saw from his former club.

“Chelsea were very passive,” he said as cited on X.com.

“There was no belief about them, they didn’t believe they could get anything out of the game.

“When you’re 1-0 down, last 20 minutes, throw bodies forward, put the opposition under pressure and they didn’t do any of that.”

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You can’t argue with Hoddle’s assessment and even with the clock ticking down the Blues still just stuck to their principles and lacked any urgency to try and get a result.

Chelsea will desperately hope the return of Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson breathes some life into them as they face a critical final nine games of the season.