Chelsea supremely confident ahead of Arsenal visit – Pride comes before a fall!

Chelsea started their Champions League campaign on Tuesday with a 6-0 drubbing of Qarabag and will have ample time to recover for Sunday, and ominously that game saw the return of both captain Gary Cahill and a run out for Eden Hazard. Their new hitman Alvaro Morata was given a rest, but his replacement Batshuayi scored, plus new signings Bakayoko and Zappacosta opened their accounts.

They are looking back to their very best and their keeper Thibault Courtois thinks they are in the perfect mood to take on Arsenal this weekend. ‘It is good to face Arsenal now,’ he said.

‘Everybody is healthy and things are going well. We won at Leicester, won comfortably (on Tuesday night) and will go into the Arsenal game with a good feeling.

‘We are doing well. After the bad first half against Burnley, I think all our performances have been good. We have shown good spirit, good football and good wins most importantly of all.’

‘Do we feel like we are in a good place? Yes,’ Courtois continued.

‘Sometimes it is good to face a big team early. Last year it didn’t work out against Liverpool and Arsenal, but this season we have already won at Tottenham.

‘Arsenal had a few bad matches, but won comfortably (against Bournemouth) last weekend.

‘For us and for them it’s a big game because we are third in the table.

‘Obviously we want to close the gap (to Manchester United and Manchester City) and take points off Arsenal as well.’

Gary Cahill, who has just returned from a 3-match ban, echoed Courtois’ confidence when he said: ‘It’s about building the momentum. Last season we were successful because we had that momentum going.

‘Winning games is the best feeling ever. We’ve managed to do that the last four games and now we’re heading into a big game. Everyone’s ready to go.’

So we cannot expect an easy game at all at the Bridge, but we also know that Arsenal can surprise us all on occasions and everything clicks at the same time. Chelsea may be in form, but we looked back to our best last week and really need to start moving back up towards the Top Four again. Let’s shoot down the Champions and prove we mean business this season…

Onwards and Upwards!

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16 Comments

  1. Usually I have zero confidence going into a tough away game with Wenger at the helm, but he has won 3 out of 4 against Conte, which does give me some hope. Although there are a lot of other factors: Will Wenger FINALLY pick his best eleven (hasn’t even done it once, so far this season)? Will players be in their correct positions? Will Wenger FINALLY change his tactics to suit an opponent?

    Given the shambolic performances away from home at Stoke, and Liverpool, I can only see one winner, but hopefully I’ll be surprised!

  2. If Arsenal do not improve the way they play, they could be trashed like the Sackbags. Conte would have prepared another strategy against Arsenal’s 3-4-2-1, because his team has succumbed to it twice.

    Arsenal have to suppress Chelsea’s quick counterattacks and the threats from Chelsea’s fast inverted forwards, Hazard and Pedro. Arsenal are very prone of these fast counterattacks.

    Especially when they leave only two central defenders at the back, as seen when they faced Jese Rodriguez in Stroke City’s stadium. If they opt to play with only two central defenders in the back, they should have a very disciplined defensive midfielder to protect the defenders.

    That is why a flexible formation is needed. A 3-5-2 formation could seamlessly be swapped to 4-1-3-2 when attacking, giving Arsenal more central midfielders to win the midfield battle.

    1. We have no midfield control with Xhakha and Ramsey. Over and over again they expose the defence to counter attack, they must be dropped.,, Jeff Raine Adelaide Maitland Niles and Jack Wilshire or Elneny or Ozil with Wellbeck Sanchez and Lacazette upfront in a 4-3-3 formation. Ozil is a luxury when played with Ramsey and Xhakha as it means there is very little ball winning and no control of the game going on in the midfield area thus exposing the backline. Until this is understood we will be courting with the same disaster as came upon us in the Liverpool game . Question is will the light be turned on in Wenger’s head

  3. Lol. “Supremely confident”.
    The battle for under dog status begins 🙂
    I think Chelsea are actually vulnerable.
    They will get better so Arsenal is
    lucky to strike them when they are so weak.
    Burnley totally destroyed them at the bridge earlier.
    Chelseaonly eat Qrubbishbags mid week.
    They have ample time to recover?
    Yes but Arsenal have 10 first team players who did not play midweek at all.
    Zapaccosta fluked a bad cross goal and certainly will not play.
    Matic replacement Bakayoko is a is a red card
    waiting to happen while Fabregas is over the hill.
    Hazard is 5 games away from full fitness.
    Batshuayi is only good v Minnows.
    Courtois Azpilicueta Kante Pedro and Willian will have to back up.
    Arsenal has the best chance of beating
    Chelsea at the bridge for years and in my
    opinion go in as favourite to win.
    1-3 Arsenal…
    Cech
    Bellerin Kocielny Monreal
    Ramsey Xhaka Kolasinac
    Wellbeck Ozil Iwobi/sanchez?
    Lacazette

  4. To get anything on Sunday I like see us play four at the back Cech, belli, Kos, Must and Mon, A diamond shape midfield with a discipline Xhaka at the back, Kola on the left and young Nelson on the right with Ozil behind Laca and Lex. Play everyone in their right positions and a good balanced side. Lets go for it

  5. Why shouldn’t they be confident? We’ve proven since the beginning of the season that we are still attempting to play the wrong formation and are playing people in improper positions. Game after game has proven that we shouldn’t play 3 in the back, but we still persist with it nonetheless.
    Every time we revert back to the 4231 we look more balanced, more comfortable, and create more chances going forward. Start with it.

    Hector, Koscielny, Monreal/Mustafi, Saed – that’s a solid back 4.

    Midfield 6 and 8 is our biggest problem in my opinion.
    Ramsey has proven since he’s been here that he is not disciplined enough and not technical enough to be our CM that’s going to lead us to glory. Santi showed what we needed there.
    Xhaka as the 6 is no different than the square-peg-round-hole that was Arteta trying to play as a CDM. He was never good enough. When Coquelin came in that showed the athleticism, tough-tackling, ground-covering CDM that we need. Arsene has taken us backwards by persisting with Xhaka.

    Our highest finishing midfield triangle was Coquelin, Sanit, Mesut. Technically gifted, combined well, created goals, covered ground, circulated possession, picked teams a part. Now we’re basically back to Ramsey/Arteta which = 4th place.

    Front 3 – Welbz, laca, Alexis.

    That lineup gives us a chance. We all know we are not likely to see a well-balanced side, so I don’t expect 3 points.

    1. uhhgh winning 8 of last 9 games last season plus FA Cup and Charity Shield with back 3 is why he is playing that formation… however he changed against Koln so that should be the idea.. chop and change so opposition dont know how to set up against us !

    2. Well said and nicely elaborated, Xhakha and Ramsey are a liability in midfield we have lacked control and look vulnerable with those two playing

  6. Its all about confidence if the players are disciplined, I hope they adopt an attitude of containing Chelsea for the first 30minutes which is crucial, we don’t have to go for a win straight from the start discipline is the key word everybody going on the attack is not going to work, on Sunday it’s not a sprint but a marathon because if we don’t arsenal could come a croper, we can match them in every department apart from our discipline

  7. ……………..Cech…………………
    ..Mustafi…..Koscielny…..Monreal..
    Bellerin…..Kolasinac…..Welbeck
    ……………..Ozil………………….
    ..Ramsey..Lacazette..Sanchez..

    Boss the middle and control the sides, then let the front four loose.

  8. Chech
    Bell – Kos – Mus – Kol
    El – Xha (unfortunately, most difficult spot to cover with current squad)
    San – Oz – Wel
    Lac

  9. Improvement in the last 10 years under Arsene Wenger is Bleak playing the top teams.

    Hope the Sunday special is not going to be a cow without a tail.

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