CLASH OF THE TITANS by HA
Dear Gooners!
Good day. Hopefully we all are ready for the Super Sunday. First vs Second! Arsenal finally are in a good shape and have a complete team. Only time can tell whether Arsenal will have one last shot at the title or not.
Let’s consider the scenario first. Arsenal is the closest competitor of Chelsea for the league title. But they are still 10 points ahead of us with six games to play for. They will definitely play for a draw. A draw would leave Arsenal 10 points behind Chelsea with five games to play. Then Chelsea will need only two wins from the remaining fixtures. I am quite sure Mourinho has done the math already.
But if Arsenal can win the match, then Arsenal can cut the deficit to seven points and then Chelsea has to win three matches out of five, which is still very easy for a team like them. But if we can get a win, obviously it will disrupt their balance and mental state a bit. So, who knows what might happen if we can manage a win. But only a win would do that.
Predicted Lineup
Chelsea (4-2-3-1)
Courtois
Ivanovic-Terry-Cahill-Azpilicueta
Zouma-Matic
Willian-Fabregas-Hazard
Oscar
Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Ospina
Debuchy-Gabriel-Koscielny-Monreal
Coquelin-Cazorla
Ramsey-Ozil-Sanchez
Giroud
With Chelsea’s all three forwards out injured, I think Oscar will play as a forward and Willian and Hazard will play as the wingers. This give them a pacy frontline of three with Fabregas as the CAM. In the central midfield, I think Zouma and Matic will partner with the back four and goalkeeper remaining same.
The strength of this Chelsea lineup is the pacy front trio with Fabregas providing the supply. And in defense, it’s arguably the best defensive line up in the league. So we will have to prepared for some parked buses. I could find only two weaknesses in this lineup.
1. Front passing from Matic and Zouma. Less creativity compared to the Fabregas-Matic partnership
2. No real strikers. Strikers like Sterling and Oscar win matches against the smaller teams, but in a big match they don’t work, mostly.
Now, let’s discuss our lineup. Ospina is the clear first choice goalkeeper. The back four should be Debuchy, Gabriel, Koscielny and Nacho. Debuchy and Monreal are defensively more disciplined than Bellerin and Gibbs. So with Hazard and Willian in the opposition, they are first choice full backs I think. Mertesacker is not 100% fit yet. So, I think we will witness a Gabriel – Koscielny partnership. The fullbacks should not burst forward at the same time. Against Hazard and Willian’s pace, Debuchy and Monreal are no match. They have to have a perfect game.
In the center, Coquelin and Cazorla are obviously the better choices where Coquelin does the dirty work and Cazorla does the creative work.
Then comes our attack. Sanchez- Ozil- Ramsey has become a very solid three for us in our 4-2-3-1 formation. Sanchez will be guarded by Ivanovic and Ramsey by Azpilicueta. Ozil will be marked by Zouma. Now here comes the tricky part. We have to play out of our normal game play. We have to shoot long and from outside the box. We can’t rely on our passing the ball to the net to find the perfect goal. Ozil, Ramsey, Sanchez all three can shoot from outside the box. We can only hope that one of those shots will end up in the back of the net. And finally comes Giroud. The fullbacks have to cross the ball to him to find some headers for him in the Chelsea box.
So I think, these two should be our strategies while attacking. Shooting from distance, and crossing the ball to Giroud to find a header. One goal for us, and then they will start attacking to keep Mourinho’s streak against Wenger alive. Then we can play our natural game, the beautiful game in the most beautiful way.
We are in a great run of form and have a strong team but breaking Chelsea’s defense is no easy task given the fact of our lack of ability to score against tight defenses. Hopefully, we will win tomorrow. A win tomorrow will definitely prove us as contenders in the next season. Arsene has a story to complete in the next season.
Thanks for reading!
COYG!
Hasib Ahmed