How badly has Chelsea loss hit Arsenal title challenge?

So after two draws in a row for Arsenal, we failed to get that elusive win over Chelsea that would have seen Arsenal come through a tough month of fixtures on top of the Premier League. And what is worse, we even failed to get the point that would have taken us back above Man City after they dropped points away to West Ham.

So instead of top spot we are down in third place because of our worse goal difference and out north London rivals Tottenham are looking horribly close, just two points and one place below us. Arsene Wenger was asked after this latest setback how important it was, both points wise and how it could knock the confidence of the team and although he did not seem concerned about the effect on our morale he did admit that getting no points was a big blow.

As reported by Sky Sports, the pundit and former Gunner Thierry Henry admits that he is a bit worried about the spuds and was clearly disappointed about the result against Chelsea but he was also quick to remind us that none of the title chasing teams has been able to really take advantage of the others’ slip ups.

Henry said, “It’s always the same thing. There’s always big expectation when Arsenal play Chelsea.Can they finally beat them? And again it’s Diego Costa and Chelsea having the last laugh. It’s difficult to point to things after the sending off because it’s always difficult, but they didn’t start the game well enough to be able to get on top.

“Is this defeat going to have a massive impact on the title race? Yes, it is in a way because you still didn’t beat Chelsea but on the other side no-one is really capitalising on mistakes from other teams.

“Tottenham, coming from nowehere, are two points behind Arsenal and nobody has been talking about them winning the title.

“Now, they are well in it. It’s a four team race for the title.”

I really have no idea how this will affect our title hopes but at least the players have showed that they are strong enough to bounce back from a bad result and perform under extreme pressure. But our next Premier League game, at home to the Southampton side that put four past us on Boxing Day, now takes on massive importance and I think we can say that another defeat in that will be a hammer blow to the chances of Arsenal being crowned champions in May.

What do you think Gooners?

Tags Henry Southampton Wenger

44 Comments

  1. It’s so hard to not get mad after reading the garbage that you people spew and it’s not just garbage its all emotional illogical rants you people act like we’re in 13th like Chelsea. Smh I hope none of you become fans again when we win the title.

    Were 3 points back we just got Ozil and sanchez back, Le Coq is back in training, bellerin is back to his best you people wanted gabriel well now we got him let’s see if he can step up.

        1. 1. when teams play versus us, they’re up for it, so chelsea v arsenal is different than chelsea v bournemouth, etc.
          2. like someone else said, our losses to chelsea are 110% mental,
          3. yes its a setback, but a bigger setback would be to allow it to knock on to our mentality – losing 3 pts to chelsea is the same as the 3 we lost to west ham in our 1st game of the season.
          4. wenger should put AFC before himself, and get ready to hand over reigns to guardiola

      1. @ gooner lad

        Ahhh yes I forgot we lost a point because Chelsea lose to teams in the bottom half. O wait the rules say nothing about that 3 points lost is 3 points lost I don’t care who they win or lose to at the end of the day all the games are the same

    1. And it’s a matter of pride, Chelsea are a worse club than Tottenham and represent everything that is anti-Arsenal, not beating them for 3 seasons in a row is simply put, embarrassing, humiliating, degrading to our image and outright unacceptable.

    2. the same way u cry like a lil girl about fans reactions….
      its an emotive response to a passion we all share.
      we all have different perspectives an yes admitedly some are more eloquent than others, some sound adolescent ,
      but if comin on here an moanin vents there frustrations for something that means alot to them you should welcome it , it lessens the chance of them doing something stupid in real life .

      why not persuade them. show them a different perspective , dont demand it , dont use there anger to fuel your own…that just makes you hypocritical.

      i welcome all perspectives…just dislike the personal insults towards wenger etc .

      we have to show tolerance through understanding.
      – david bowie

      1. Hahah I “cry like a little girl” how contradictory can 1 post be? Those arent fans you actually think these people support arsenal? Waiting for our club to fail so they can say I told you so. No1 is crying me calling it how I see it is crying? Or is that you being sensistive cause I don’t confrom to the bull **** that crawls out after each loss? Did I not mention why we shouldn’t be so upset after the loss

        1. @Goonsquad8
          Thats the ish that burns me up. Muppets that pop up every time we lose or draw spouting the same old recycled negativity against the club and manager.

          1. Ya man it’s unbelievable to read and hear the stuff our own “fans” say about our team. It honestly makes me wonder if other teams fans do the same and it pains me to say this but I think we are the worst. Even if we win the title the haters will still be out in full force. We just gotta stay behind the team we are in the thick of the title race and can make a run for the Fa cup again. COYG

            1. Maybe those fans who you dislike, have put alot of hard earned cash into the club and just maybe they usually only read the comment on here and they only posts their comments to vent their frustration and disappointments! ? So chew on that before you start blowing your own trumpet! ??
              Theres no Trophy For being “The Fan of the Year” on here mate! ???

              Common sense can’t be taught, no matter how intelligent you think you are!

    3. Finally someone who makes sense. It was pathetic what I was reading after the loss.
      Everyone complaining about Mertesacker starting – Normally a very good defender (yes slow, but usually positionally excellent). Gabriel is an excellent player and will become the starter eventually, but the last time he started against Chelsea he was a hot-head and got sent off. Can any of you really blame Wenger for starting Mertesacker??

      Then all of you who have the audacity to chew out our players like Ramsey and Walcott – who played well today despite being a man down FOR 72 MINUTES – sicken me. I hate Chelsea and obviously hate losing to them, but we can still win the title. 3 points behind, and we still have to play Liecester and Man city who we’ve already beat.

  2. Rationally speaking, we are still very much in it. I am willing to put this horrid January behind us, since traditionally we always suck at this very month. Next is Burnley at home in the FA cup. For that match we need to get it together. Time to look into mirror. Start the likes of Elneny, Chambers, Gabriel, possibly Rosicky. But keep the core of the regular starting XI in, because Burnley are no pushovers and we need to take this seriously.

    After this, we MUST start with a clean plate. Leave these disastrous performances we’ve had since Christmas, and start playing like CHAMPIONS. February should be much easier month. Let us remember Coquelin will be soon in the line up, Welbeck is back in training next week, and Cazorla is not far away. Oh and Sanchez is back!!

    Shampton HOME
    Bournemouth AWAY
    Leicester HOME
    United AWAY

    I expect at least 10 points from these fixtures and possibly leave Leicester 5-6 points behind us (look at their fixtures). This is very much possible, we’ve seen in the past seasons how well we usually fare in February-April, when it really matters. Mertesacker must dropped, Flamini as well. Bench Walcott as well as a reminder that he’s not an automatic starter. At least don’t play him at the same time with Giroud, it doesn’t seem to work.

    As I said, today’s result was unacceptable. But we can overcome this crisis. Saints and Foxes at home, both very much winnable games with the right starting XI. United are in shambles, we can very much go there and win it.

    Long post, sorry for that. And no, I am not trying to take the attention away from Wenger’s selection failures but to try keep us fans united as we are still in the title race. Wenger might or might not go in the summer, but summer is months away. Get our s**t together, we are ARSENAL.

    1. But WHY do we ALWAYS ?? Why can’t we suck once in August and go on strong until the end of the season ?? Why does December ALWAYS have to be the worst month ? Why do we ALWAYS concede at least 4 against a team EVERY SEASON ??! Why do we ALWAYS have injuries as soon as other players come back from fitness ?? WHY can’t we get OUR **** TOGETHER ??!?!

      1. I understand your frustration mate, it’s eating me up inside as well. But these are questions we MUST put aside for now and assess them at the end of May when the fat lady has sung her song and the season is over.

        Calling Wenger out now, insults etc. won’t help the situation at all. Do note that no matter how sh**e we have been in the last 30 days, we are still only 3 points behind LEICESTER and on level with City (so we are fortunately not the only ones).

        We need to start scoring in big numbers, Özil’s chances have been wasted this season. Our biggest win this season is 3-1? That’s an issue needs to be fixed ASAP.

        1. That’s November, December and more likely January too, We are a fair weather team ? We play better when it’s warm and sunny ? and thats a fact!

      2. Why do we finish above 96% of every other team In the country !! Why oh why do we have to put up with players like Ozil and Sanchez !! Why oh why have we finished above the spuds for more years than I even care to remember !! Why oh why are soo many Arsenal fans such muppets !!!!! ????????? !!!!! !!! ??????

        1. Hahaha,
          Why oh why are some fans happy with a delusional 4th place trophie? ?

          Why oh why will Ozil and Sanchez move on when they are unhappy with the lack of real trophies? ?

          Why oh why are the spuds slowly creeping out of our shadow’s, with each passing year and they are in biting distance from our asses, at this moment in time?

          Why oh why is there so many muppet Arsenal fans?
          Maybe thats Because a Muppet has been running the show for the past 12 years! ???

    2. I don’t want to sound negative but it is highly unlikely we will get 10 points from our next four games. I’m just telling you so that you can brace yourself for disappointment. I love arsenal fc but I am a logical thinking person. AFC will not win the prem this season as much as I want them to they will not. Arsenal will battle fourth place with united. We don’t deserve to win prem the way we have played this season. I mean Leicester and spurs have shown more desire to achieve the prem and may the best team win it

      1. Brace myself for disappointment? We haven’t won the title in 12 years, I don’t think there is a single Arsenal fan out there who isn’t ready for a disappointment whenever we play.

        But now that we are 3 points behind Leicester with 15 games to go, you are ready to give up? Jesus Christ, aren’t you a team player. When you say you are a logically thinking person, what you mean is you have already given up based on the last 4-5 games in which we have been quite horrible. You are cushioning yourself for crushing defeat, and I don’t blame you. We have been left disappointed so many times before.

        I will not give up now. Not when we are 3 points behind the leaders. I am not saying I strongly believe we will win the title. I am saying we start showing that desire and fght that we lack, and see how far it will get us and if we fail, then we need to address why we failed. But I will not give up now, not with 15 matches to go.

        1. Hahaha
          Goodluck with that mate,
          I agree with what you said in the beginning of your comment!
          like you said it has been 12 years!.. Yes, most fans are anticipating the worse before each game but there is aso a good reason for some fans giving up on us winning the premier league already, because we have seen this movie tooooo many times!
          Basically, we need a new Director/Producer who can get our star’s to preform in such a way that would lead us to a more happier ending.

          Unfortunately, Wenger is not even a shadow of the manager, he used to be and just like player’s who come of age, he seriously needs to think about retiring.

          The sugar coated bull ? excuses, just don’t hack it anymore!

  3. Mathematically, it’s not a major blow. All the game has shown is that we if DO become champions, we would be one of the most uninspiring and toothless champions in recent years.

  4. And for the record, buying a forward this month wouldn’t hurt at all. Welbeck has been out almost a year, same as Rosicky so I wouldn’t count too much on them. Yarmolenko is available, so is Alex Teixeira. With the right price, even Milik from Ajax could be available. That boy is LETHAL.

    OX has been shooting planks all season, I wouldn’t count on him either. Unfortunately I reckon Wenger will count on OX, Welbeck, Rosicky and Wilshere. So on that front we can only pray one of them will return all guns blazing to give little extra boost on the bench when we need it.

      1. Oddly enough, I can recall OX hitting the post/crossbar at least 3 times this season. We also scored against Tottenham on his rebound. So he’s been little unlucky as well. However, what I want from his DESIRE and PASSION. His head drops the minute we concede. Chin the fudge up and start playing like men. Even if he wouldn’t score, he can create, assist or put in mean crosses for Giroud.

        He needs an end product, this is known. Show some goddamn fighting spirit.

        1. When I wrote ‘show some fighting spirit’, I was addressing Oxlade-Chamberlain who, of course, is an avid reader of this forum haha

        2. yes, ox has hit crossbar 3 times and so he’s been v.unlucky. i hope he doesnt let it get him down, but i fear it is. wenger putting him in means wenger has faith in ox. i do hope ox gets some luck soon.

    1. Wait wait wait we cant count on welbeck or rosicky but you assume yarmolenko, teixera, or milik is? Come on man I just complimented your previous posts. Yarmolenko has played in UKRAINE his whole life and is a wide player, teixera a Brazilian from Ukraine whose had 1.5 good years is someone we can count on? A kid from the Dutch league is someone who is gonna come in and make an immediate impact? Isn’t that what they said about Memphis?

      1. agree this flashpoint…oh we losing points..buy someone.

        depth is good but not as impulse. cultured buys.

  5. Play Bellerin, Ko, Gabriel, and Monreal in defense, Play El neny DM, play Sanchez as box to box, play Ozil as number 10, play Iwobi on the left, play Walcot/Chamberlain on the right and play Giroud as Striker. We need speed, technical play and creativity to win this league. This is the time we need to go back to quick, technical, possession football. ( e la Barcelona)

    1. dude we have sent homing pigeons to wengers jacuzzi.
      we have sent horses heads godfather style left it on his porto paedic 2000 mattress….nothing.

      if u know a way…share with the class homey

    2. wenger puts “playing right” above winning. playing right means letting his squad develop. i wish he was our U21 coach and for head coach we had someone who cares more about winning. not buying WC center forward is all about protecting giroud,walcott and welbeck. another psychoanalysis of wenger is that he’s timid so he does not play el-nenny or gabriel here. both those would have rocked. mert is only good for away games or when we’re sitting back. gabriel always gives 1000% and its embarassing that he’s not preferred over mert. hopefully, el nenny at cdm from now on; dont want to see flam. [and did u see how nervous koz was: i’d love to see what wenger says before matches to f**k things up so badly]

  6. Sanchez really needs to work on his passing, doesn’t he? I know he works hard and stuff, but he costs us possession several times a game. Mind you, I’m not just speaking about this Chelsea game. I felt the one player we really missed today was CAZORLA 🙁

    1. COQUELIN too dude. Rambo and Flamini axis can’t hold up any longer. Which one of them is CDM? Flamini rushing around the box like he’s false no.9, leave his main duty exposed.

  7. = with City, over our
    hardest run + with top
    players coming back
    Arsenal are now favourite.
    Burnley, Sotn, Bournmouth + Leicester are all wins for us.
    With EPL FA cup+ ECL its non stop from now on.
    Leicester with no cup football are our main rival.

    1. What difference would that make?
      There is something called “Winning the treble” you know?
      And that is achievable for the teams with quality squads.

  8. Diego Costa was clearly too smart for Clatenberg and the rest of the EPL refs. Per made no contact with him, he dived like having broken leg, and scored winning goal minutes later. Thanks a lot Mark!
    Mistaken strategy by Arsene to pulled out Giroud over Theo when we were going to have plenty corners specially at 2nd half. Theo couldn’t use his pace against well sitting Chelsea.
    The effect? Look at the table. We’re bit down but still close to the top. I concern more on tactical rather then psychological. The axes of Ramsey and Flamini are going spiral down. You tell me who’s the real CDM was, because Flamini rushed in the box very often when Rambo sat deep. Why we bought Elneny for? Learning naivety?

  9. Let’s be real and honest. Arsenal plays the same as ever, and all the title chasing teams are picking up pace now and soon we’ll be fighting for the fourth, third place. This year the spud leaves the shadow, and if that happens, I think Wenger should be man enough to step down.

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