Arsenal should feel very confident of beating Chelsea tomorrow.
Mikel Arteta will be looking for his first win as Arsenal manager when he sends out his team to take on the similarly inconsistent Chelsea Sunday afternoon.
We have had a tough season but there were signs of improvement when we faced Bournemouth in our last game, I look forward to an even better performance here.
Ahead of this game, we have one of the worse home records. We have no wins from our last six home games in all competitions and our last three home games have ended in losses, we need that win more than anything right now.
Chelsea is also on a bad run of form. The Blues have lost three of their last five games in all competitions.
Frank Lampard’s boys seem to do better on the road these days as their last league win at Tottenham showed, so they will be confident that they can get something here as well.
But for me, Chelsea have been treading water recently, they really should not be in the top-four at this time and I suspect they will not be come the end of the season.
If Arsenal is as organised and disciplined as they were against Bournemouth on Boxing day then I am very confident that we can beat Chelsea. Put it this way, they are as beatable as what we are, this is not the same as when Man City visited, this is not going to be a one-sided affair and I am convinced we will be far more competitive.
I don’t expect Mikel Arteta to make too many changes from the starting XI that he fielded against Bournemouth, however, I hope he will return Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the centre forward role.
Aubameyang is undoubtedly the hottest striker we have now, having him lead the line and getting on the end of Mesut Ozil’s passes could hurt Chelsea. So, Alexandre Lacazette really does need to be dropped.
I believe the time has come for Arsenal to end their winless run and I see us beating Chelsea in this game.
Prediction:
Predicted Score
Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea
1-2 to Chelsea
But hope we win obviously
I predict Arteta would give Lacazette, Nelson and the defenders their second chance, so he might go with the same line-up and formations
Chelsea would likely use a three-CB formation, hence Arsenal should win the ball possession again if they use the same strategy
I don’t think Xhaka would start, because he must be thinking of the Hertha BSC deal now. But he would be a great addition to the squad if he starts, due to his performance in Bournemouth
If record is anything to consider Chelsea in recent season have not beaten Arsenal at home. This record will not change 2moro its a derby and a lot is at stake. It’s either a win for Arsenal or a draw for Chelsea.
If Arsenal can keep William and Tammy quiet and Auba & other attackers are clinical we could win. But hope our defenders don’t make things difficult for us.
Chelsea is in a slump and Arsenal in a slump.
Both managers are former players of their respective teams.
Both Managers still have a lot to prove.
Chelsea is 8 points above Arsenal but the Gunners have home ground advantage.
What this means is there is no knowing how this will play out.
Anything could happen.
Chelsea’s humiliating home loss v Southampton may see a response
good enough to have Chelsea sneak a narrow away win.
But maybe Pepe will have one of his one in 6 cracking games scoring a hat trick?
Maybe…
I think the match will be decided by what the midfield and defence of both teams will do and to say the truth we are the worst of it all, our opponent are more lively and active. If only Xhaka & co will rise up do their job well, up their work rate, reduce their un-nneccessary back passes, understand that the strikers are eagerly waiting for the balls more than the defense and stop adding more pressure on their defense and keeper because the defense cannot and have not risen up to prevent any organized attack of their opponents from scoring no matter their standing in the table. It’s my prayers that we will be seeing a lively better organized, positively focused and success thirsty Arsenal come Sunday afternoon.
10 home games remaining = 9W 1D last season in same fixtures with wins vs manu, chelsea and draw vs pool
9 away games remaining = 2W 3D 4L last season with loss vs wolves, southampton draw vs brighton, palace
We finished with 70 pts last season which should be enough to finish top 4 with big 6 being so poor. we are 9 pts worse than last season right now in the same fixtures. If we manage to keep a steady record at home and improve THAT away form, we can still challenge for top 4.
Sadly I would focus on improving on our relegation form. We should completely forget about top 4. WE have been extremely poor since the beginning of the season, and our league position shows this. Any talk of top 4 is forgetting our horrendous record so far.
It’s undoubtly that my teams has been strugling when it comes in defending. Both socratics and luiz have not been in their form,
but with the addition of chambers in the central defend will be a better option. With auba, laca and pepe leading the frontline, ozil is now giving his best and if he wil be included in the starting. I thnk this combination will be enough to destoy chelsea
It seems in our modern era football clubs are slowly waking up to the understanding of ‘mindfulness’. The level of the ability to ‘notice’ what is happening all around….. and the sharp response to fast action play is now as important as the many other aspects of play. Arsenal are nearer to ‘mindless’ than being full of mind. Concentration, moment to moment awareness, and moment to moment response are critical in modern football. Arsenal under Emery have been left behind in mindfulness. Xhaka and Mustafi are cases in point of inability for quick accurate response. Fear affects mindfulness more than any other factor. Mindfulness can produce an acquired or natural feeling to dominate. I do not know if Arsenal players have any training in mindfulness, but if they do not there will be no way to change the mental awareness side of Arsenal’s game. I hope Arteta is alert to the cognitive side of sport and football especially.
Sean, An excellent post full of much overloooked truth. Being mindful -or properly aware of the current situation , as I prefer to call it – is almost totally absent all the time in such as Xhaka, Mustafi and Luiz. Sokratis is just a touch more aware of danger and uses “wrestling” as his way to combat it! Nuff said of all these clowns! Where I see a huge benefit from now onwards, under Arteta’s huge and obvious intelligence and professionalism, is in coaching CERTAIN players to be far more effective than hitherto. BUT only players with awareness in their souls and a good degree of talent are capable of such improvement. The clowns I list above are beyond hope, IMO.
Chelsea cant handle counter attacking football! Lampard has no clue when it comes to setting up his team for direct action. He prefers the slower ‘build from the back’ style. For THIS match I suggest we adopt BVB style(2011/12 season). Play fewer but accurate, direct forward passes that will catch 60% of Chelsea players in the opposition box. BVB did it to Bayern in the DFB final(2011/2012) and annihilated them 5-2.Real Madrid couldnt handle them either. Play Auba Martinelli and Pepe (Lewandowski, Grobkreutz, Blasczykowski) If Ozil turns up his Madrid self for this match then he would better Kagawa by a mile in the 10. Torreira could pull a Gundogan but i wouldnt trust xhaka to fully embrace Sebastian Kehl’s role for this particular game. I say let’s try this for this game playing 50 plus passes will give Lampard time to think and rethink! WE CANT AFFORD THAT.
Meant to say the opposition half not box.
By any sensible analysis , to predict a 2-1 win for us defies all logic. Chelsea has a much better team than us and they have a fine away record too, though they seem vulnerable at home of late. Yes, I think we will be up for it but we will still have to play some, probably most, of Xhaka, Luis, Sokratis, Mustafi and two fill in full backs because of injry. Only a supreme optimist or someone who is intent on stirring up debate on their site(perish that thought,even though it is clearly true!) could in HONESTY predict a 2-1 win. Football beong as it is almost any result COULD happen . But to say that a win for us is the most likely result is self foolery – or deliberate tactics, as I actually think it IS – on a grand scale. I predict a 1 -3 loss.
If some of our actual defenders are back and he drops Nelson and xhaka we stand a decent chance of winning … but if it’s starting 11 from last game I would expect a draw at best ….
I did watch the game against Bournemouth, and I really didn’t see us being organized and disciplined, so I hope we sooner or later will be. I did see an improvement in our tempo going forward.
Hope for a win, but how we can be favourites is beyond me.