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Official teams and preview of Chelsea v Arsenal

After the shocking way Arsenal were hammered at Stamford Bridge last season, today’s Premier League clash with Chelsea is a good chance to see if Arsene Wenger and the Gunners have learned their lessons – and whether we will have any more joy against the big clubs this season.

But the Frenchman’s starting selection is hampered by injuries, so he is unable to call on the likes of Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Debuchy and Olivier Giroud, but the biggest loss is surely our Welsh midfield star Aaron Ramsey. That is probably the reason why Wenger left Jack Wilshere out of his team for the Galatasaray game, as the Englishman comes back in with fresh legs today.

That means that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain drops to the bench while Santi Cazorla keeps his place. There is some good news for Arsenal in the return of our Spanish left back Nacho Monreal from his back injury, so we have some cover in the centre of defence as well.

Szczesny
Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs
Flamini, Wilshere
Alexis, Ozil, Cazorla
Welbeck

subs: Martinez, Monreal, Coquelin, Chamberlain, Rosicky, Campbell, Podolski

Chelsea make just one change from midweek at left back, so they have a very strong line-up with Costa, Fabregas, Hazard, Schurrle, Oscar and Matic. This is going to be tough, Gooners, and the Arsenal players need to be at it for 90 minutes, but the talent is there. COYG!!

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Tags Chamberlain Wilshere

324 Comments

  1. How many of you would have taken 0-1 at half time? Blow the whistle please so we can get in the dressing room.

  3. Why Oscar is holding his head-team of pricks starting from coach-that self-proclaiming super coach and just a demagogue in reality.

  6. On the balance of play we haven’t done that bad..one error and we are behind .. Typical!

    Don’t think we are that far away.. IF we get a chance and it falls to the right man..!?!?!?

    Keep it tight..

    2. Oooh my geeee, Wenger, Wenger, Wenger! why kill the right side when we are at Stanford bridge to kill Chelsea? Chambelain on the right, Ozil in the middle, Sanchez,…….pairing forward loving duo of Wilshire & Flamini sound appetizing but lacks positiveness. Why bring him in when all are tired to positively influence result?

      1. I said it… The stupid one does it again. Takes off Sanchez, brings in Podolski. Why did he not use the exact team used against Galatasary.

    1. Ozil is not the player to play on the wings in big matches..he is being pushed as if he is not there..
      Can’t be waiting for the killer pass to come over 90 mts…
      Bring OX and take off chambers he is will be sent off otherwise

      1. Yeah coz ozil has been playing well today! Hes been dreadful, get him off he cant hold his own…..get the ox on

        1. explain to me how he has been s**t all season. you deserve to get one of those flares from the pregame right to your face.

    2. Like any of our players have been playing well? Give the lad a break, he is having a decent game so far

  18. Besides from Jack and Chambers we have done well vs Chelsea.

    Based on first half a draw would be fair.

    Maybe Poldolski must come on, at least he shoots given half a chance

  19. Why does Wenger insist on our players trying to squeeze through tiny spaces to score goals? In front of the box or inside the box SHOOT THE DAMN BALLL!!!! It is so frustrating sometimes

    1. It must be practiced for that to happen. I feel that our shooters must take 100 shots each day training. I’m really not sure that happens but they should.

    1. spot on mate.
      A five year old could mark ozil. Every time its the same thing he will cut back and bring the ball on his left foot. so f###g predictabe its frustrating

    2. People like you amaze me. Are you not watching the game> What do you want Ozil to do??! He is one of the best passers in the world but such a player becomes useless when playing against a team like Chelsea. Have you not seen how compact Chelsea plays? There’s no space for anything!!! Learn how to read the game before commenting and hating on players.

  26. Keep it to 1 – 0 with 10 min and we may just get the goal, or concede 2

    Kos why didn’t you just leave Hazard, trust Schez to sweep it up

  27. 1. Only thing that seperates us is 1 moment of brilliance from Hazard and Hazard alone. We didn’t play badly.

    2. Shoot the fkin ball in/around the box. Useless extra passes and we lose the ball

    3. I am SCARED of the impending red. Chambers on a yellow because of Jacks BS… lucky to not get a second with that shove on Schurrle.

    1. The ref is a joke. Cahill’s challenge was a red no doubt. How the hell Chambers’ technical foul and that c*nt’s stomp on Sanchez’s leg were equally punishable?

      Atkinson shat his pants right in the beginning.

  29. Arsenal don’t shoot as they are scared of giving the ball back to the opposition. We are still in this with just one goal but fear chambers wont finiah the game.

    1. No only Alexis and welbeck can shoot..but if they don’t have the ball then we have to depend on the tap in

  32. Only watched the last 15mins of the 1st half.
    Whos been good and whos been poor.
    Ozil looked horrendous from what i saw has that been the case the whole 45mins?

  33. When you hoping someone like wilshere to become great on this type of match is like you playing Russia roulette. Everyone can see he can’t be no.10 , especially in the final 3rd.

  35. We haven’t played so bad, but the commentators are only all praise for chelsea.
    The only problem I see is that we take a touch too many near the penalty area(even when we are attacking with pace).
    Shoot the ball. Wilshere should have equalised. We should have easily got away with 3-4 shots on target.
    Get the ox on for ozil or wilshere.

      1. Is Wilshere playing well in your opinion ? Canola has been good doing defense work so he should play as one of the 2 deep lying ones.

        1. Wilshere has been better than Ozil. Why take Wilshere off and have a midfield of Cazorla/Ozil/Flamini?Thats too lightweight. Wilshere at least adds some physicality and thats the reason we’ve been able to match with Chelsea’s midfield so far. Im not saying take Ozil off because im anti Ozil, its honestly just the obvious thing to do. He’s giving the ball away, making some poor passes and allowing Chelsea way too many countering opportunities.

          1. What I saw was Wishere losing possession more than anyone & as well as his touches were awful , not any better than Ozil, and Ozil is definitely a better no 10 given the chance so Wishere should b the one taken off.

  39. Man u winning, spurs winning us losing 🙁 one or two moments of magic is all it will take. Ox has to come on and ozil needs to start playing. Starting to think he’s toonsoft and weak for the pl, guy needs toneat some spinach, get on the weights and man up!

  40. I said before and say again , THIS 4-3-3 FORMATION IS SH*T, ours players become from good to sh*t…. sanchez is not for a possession game (didn’t work for barcelona); ozil from good to nothing, chambers is defending alone, and the worst thing is that chelsea play like sh*t …… and take off wilshere…. for god sake.

    1. if we played 4141 today the match wouldve already been over. Its only 1-0 and really only Hazard brilliance has been the difference. Our final balls have been poor, we couldve had a goal as well if we took our chances better. 433 i soo much better.

  43. Ozil is too lightweight.. He’s got all the skill but no desire and gets brushed aside when in promising positions.. Chamberlain would be the obvious swap but Wenger has been proven not to change things until it’s too late..?
    Currently Campbell would do better than Ozil.. Wenger plays the wrong players against the wrong opposition in the wrong positions ..
    You don’t want ozil in the trenches against powerful players..
    I’d rather Wenger in ozil’s position ‘there’s more fight’ !!!
    Get it right Wenger in the second half and we could get something here…

  46. The one thing Özil needs more than anything else is strength. He’s pushed off the ball a lot. He’s not a small player, he’s almost 6ft, he just needs more strength and power when he’s on the ball.

  47. Wenger will make substitutions at the 75th minute when we are 2 or 3 goals down… our great manager!

  48. Not a bad 1st half for us but we still like to make silly mistakes. It won’t be a penalty if we didn’t give away cheaply on our free kick. We still can looking for a draw but not wilshere as no.10. This is not a game to wait for him to excel.

  50. Looking at the penalty again. Costa is smart. He runs across the box pulling mertisacker with him, creates the space for hazard to run into

    That’s what we don’t have. When we are faced with the defence in front, it’s all trying to get the ball through the eye of a needle. Terry Cahill just sit and wait. We need someone pulling them out of shape, shifting there structure and opening the space for the cazrola ozil Wiltshire to work in!

  51. Oh yeah, that Özil guy completes the puzzle for a team… he’s good when doing A and B and C etc etc!
    Well, he’s ruining the fukkin’ puzzle now!

  52. Makes me mad that we played our best game of the season and then Wenger insists on changing it again…

    Same after the Aston Villa game..

  53. happy to see wenger shove moureen.
    hopefully a positive result on the pitch will back it up.
    but the problem is noone apart from alexis n welbeck want to score a goal.
    everyone else want to make an assist.
    wilshere need to be replaced, he s holding on to the ball for too long near both penalty areas and putting unnecessary pressure on others.
    he might end up scoring, but that won’t vindicate the while lot errors he has made so far

  55. Whenever we are playing against a big team in EPL,I hardly see a smile on people’s faces. Just Moans and disappointment,we must all be seeing something that Wenger isn’t or the other way round. Wonder what happened to the legs of our players to at least take a shot?

  57. SZNY is so annoying, he always tries to get us in trouble with his nervous over confident kicks.. smh

  60. Frankly we got a bit of luck. Normally we will got a red for the penalty and that reflection will be a goal.

  70. we have been playing for an hour and have yet to shoot on target.
    Hazard is doing whatever he wants because Chambers is afraid of that second yellow and Ozil is lost again.
    Get some subs on before the 77 minute for once Arsene.

  71. Didn’t Atkinson once give a similair decision against fabregas for handball when he played for us..?
    Atkinson is a twat!

    1. Youre right, fabregas was standing in the wall and the ball hit his elbow oh and Atkinson is a twat

  75. the commentators are sooo biased… only praising chelsea players.
    when they fall it’s legitimate red.
    when they put “hands in unnatural position”, the rules are not clear.
    idiots
    any guess who ll be off for ox.
    i bet its not gonna be wilshere

  83. really fear for ozil.
    he just seem so tired always.
    he s going to get a backlash for this performance.
    really hope he comes up with a goal

  86. The problem is our defender scared to start a attack. They either back pass or side pass. We are so slow in attack.

  91. Wtf… Words can’t describe how woeful mertesacker is ..

    Same old same old Wenger..!

  97. And costs scores his tradditonal goal per game. We are fooking rubbish and so is the manager! I give up 🙁

  98. did you see that pass from fabregas wenger? What was it you said, we have midfielders? What a load of Bull###t.

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