Victor Moses: Why Chelsea star was booed by Arsenal fans

Moses was booed by Arsenal fans because of his dive during the the FA Cup final in May 2017.

Chelsea star Victor Moses was booed by Arsenal fans during their Premier League clash at the Emirate Stadium on Wednesday, January 3 which ended 2-2.

Moses who was on for 56 minutes in the game was booed by the home fans anytime he touched the ball during the game.

Arsenal fans clearly don’t forget easily as they still had Moses’ dive in the FA Cup final in May 2017 which led to his sending off.

FA Cup final red card

The Nigeria international was shown the second yellow card in Chelsea’s 2-1 loss to Arsenal in the FA Cup final for diving.

He received the first yellow card in the 57th minute and just about 10 minutes later, he fell in Arsenal’s penalty area without being touched or fouled.

 

A second yellow card and then a red ended his stay on the pitch.

Almost seven months later, Arsenal fans still had it in mind when Chelsea visited for a Premier League game on Wednesday.

Before he went off for Davide Zappacosta, the 27-year-old’s every touch was booed by the Arsenal fans.

How Moses fared against Arsenal

Playing in the right wing-back for Chelsea as usual, Moses was up against Ainsley Maitland-Niles, the youngster who played left wing-back for Arsenal and Alexis Sanchez.

Disappointingly, Moses could no come out tops in the battles with Sanchez and the inexperienced Maitland-Niles.

Sanchez and Mesut Ozil exploited the right side of Chelsea’s defence and threatened from that corner especially in the first half.

In attack, Moses could not get one over the inexperience Maitland-Niles who was a  make-shift left wing-back for Arsenal.

The Nigerian could not get crosses across from the right as Maitland-Niles covered well.

In defence, Moses was even more disappointing as Maitland-Niles came tops in several one-on-one situations.

One situation comes to mind when Moses was beaten by Maitland-Niles with a step-over. The Nigerian was substituted shortly after that.

 

His replacement Zappacosta did way better, beating Maitland-Niles before crossing into the Arsenal box for Marcos Alonso to score to give Chelsea a 2-1 lead late in the game.

Popular pundit Gary Neville was critical of Moses during the game, stating that he was not surprised to see the Nigerian taken off by Antonio Conte.

“I do think that he missed the opportunity to go up and hit Maitland-Niles one on one too many times, Victor Moses, “ the Manchester United legend said during Sky Sports coverage of the game.

 

“I’m not surprised at that one (Moses coming off for Zappacosta in the 56th minute).”

Jack Wilshere gave Arsenal the lead in the 63rd minute but Chelsea were level soon from an Eden Hazard penalty.

Alonso put Chelsea in the lead late on but Arsenal still had time to snatch a draw from a Hector Bellerin goal.