Chelsea are facing a crunch time in their race for the title, with their next two matches coming against their nearest rivals for the Premier League, Liverpool and Arsenal. The Merseyside team are in a dismal run of form but they are playing at Anfield and will surely be up for a big game against the leaders. Arsenal have the disadvantage of having to go to Stamford Bridge, but have the psychlogical boost of having destroyed Conte’s team at the Emirates.
The Arsenal legend Ray Parlour is confident that Arsene Wenger’s men are still in the race for the title at this stage, but that hope will only be realised if the Gunners can beat their top 6 rivals, starting with Chelsea. ‘Arsenal are eight points behind Chelsea now, but Chelsea have got Liverpool coming up, they’ve got Arsenal coming up, they win those two games or get good results in those two games then it’s all over,’ Parlour said.
‘But if Arsenal can win their big games then that’s when you claw back the points in the title race.
‘It will basically come down to those games when the teams at the top play each other because they are the big games that generally decide the title race.’
Arsenal record in the first half of the season against the Top 6 has been abysmal other than the victory over Chelsea, so it may be a tall order to expect them to beat all our rivals, but we do still have hope.
Can we get another last minute winner at Chelsea on Saturday week?
Admin
In the PL anything can happen in any one game. But Chelsea have been looking the part and have the advantage that it is blatantly obvious we have to beat them. This will help them because they can set us up for some counter-attacks, something we have been susceptible against.
I don’t think our win against them earlier this season is any indication of what to expect. They changed their system after that game and have not looked back.
A greater concern to me is that we have not played that well this year. I hope we revert back to Sanchez in the center with Iwobi and Walcott or Perez flanking him. Chelsea would have no problem defending against Giroud.
hope this would be possible this time, coz we’ve been chasing shadows for so long. always behind somebody and failure to use any advantage presented to us, last year LC were just up there and we couldn’t dare come close.. always slipping up when a win is what really matters
COYG
I BELIEVE!
Well I have to, the other possibilities are just too scary to consider!
Believe what you like but as Parlour said: ‘Arsenal are eight points behind Chelsea now, but Chelsea have got Liverpool coming up, they’ve got Arsenal coming up, they win those two games or get good results in those two games then it’s all over,’
If Chelsea win those its all over. This is the likely scenario yes?
If liv can do the business at home against Che well then I feel we could draw ours and it not being too bad. Six points behind is allot better than the nine it was a couple weeks back. One slip up here after and we’d be right in this race. Whereas if Che sweep liv aside it will make our job harder, more pressure for us but less pressure for them.
Sorry, 5pts.
What worries me is, it’s an early kick off and an away game…We have to come out gunz blazin and defend as a unit. We do this, 3p is ours…
This title is just a reflection of what almost all Arsenal fans around the world think. While it is not wrong at all, we seem to have totally forgotten that there’s a game to be played before Chelsea. Lets take one game at a time, shall we? Watford, please don’t pull off a shocker!
I hope Wenger would utilize rather congested fixtures (3 matches in a week) and try something new and rest some players at the same time for Southampton and Watford matches before choosing the best and balanced starting eleven for the Chelsea match.
I know we can’t lose any of these matches, but still we need to improve and strenghten our squad for upcoming CL and toward the final period of BPL by giving subs more playing time .
Here’s my thought;
Southampton
Ospina
Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny Monreal
Ramsey Coquelin
Iwobi Ozil Alexis
Giroud
Substitute Ozil, Alexis and Giroud if possible and play Welbeck, Lucas and Ox.
Watford
Cech
Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny Gibbs
Ramsey Coquelin
Welbeck Ozil Lucas
Alexis
Bring Ox, Giroud and Iwobi if necessary.
I would love to see what the attacking four of Welbeck, Ozil, Lucas and Alexis can produce. They can switch positions in creative ways. It seems to me Alexis and Lucas have good understanding.
Then, Wenger would have more options to chooose the best squad to beat Chelsea.
we really cant play Chelsea with giroud…he cant score against them even if hes facing an empty post…giroud is just giroud…lacks vital knowledge of what to do with the ball than pass it on to the other player….m sorry but I don’t see Liverpool stopping Chelsea at all..y…because conte is not a sentimental coach,he doesn’t wait till things get worse before making changes…hes ready to take off players that aren’t turning up unlike our manager whos love for a certain few became our downfall..i ask again y isn’t sanchez leading the front line