Arsenal desperately need to drag themselves out of their slump, which has seen them go 4 games without a win to their name and has practically ended their chances of beating Man City to the EPL title.
And, on paper, you couldn’t hope for a better time to face Chelsea, who have lost all 5 games under new caretaker coach Frank Lampard. You couldn’t find an opponent with less confidence than the Blues at the moment!
So the big question tonight is whether Mikel Arteta is going to finally make changes to his starting line-up to try and restart their needed winning run, or if he is going to stick with his usual formula, which as he said after the Man City defeat, has been the ones that got us to the top of the League in the first place.
Personally, I think he will stick to his favourites in the hope that they will get a confidence boost ahead of the last four games that will at least cement our second place if we win them all (including tonight of course).
So this is what I predict….
Aaron Ramsdale,
Ben White, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhaes and Oleksandr Zinchenko
Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka (of course)
Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Martinelli
Gabriel Jesus
Whatever happens I’m sure it’s going to be a nail-biter!
So let’s see if Arteta will stick to his tried and trusted or not…..
Here is Arteta’s confirmed choice
🔴 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 ⚪️
🧱 Kiwior at the back
⚖️ Jorginho in the middle
🪄 Trossard on the wing
Three changes from our last game – let's do this, Gunners! pic.twitter.com/J5tVFLhaZF— Arsenal (@Arsenal) May 2, 2023
Arteta’s Arsenal v Chelsea Preview – Arteta says we are happy where we are but admits that “We still have a lot to do”
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Glad the line up is finally refreshed. Coke on the boys. Massive 3 points needed
Wow, big changes!
—————————-Mad About Arsenal—————————-
Odds on Aubamayang to score.
Odds on Jorginho to score !
Auba couldn’t score in a brothel these days.
I personally think Arteta has fielded a weak team, loosing the title doesn’t mean we shouldn’t finish strong, I won’t be surprised if we loose tonight.
Odegaard should be out not Partey.
Yeah
I hope he’s not passing a wrong aura to the Boys
This looks like giving up to me
longbenark, I wonder if Arteta thinks that Chelsea will be a soft touch. Let’s hope Jorginho plays well against his old cub. We don’t have a good record of Chelsea old boys doing well for us do we..
Re: Williian,David Luiz, Peter Cech.
So far so good
I would have benched Jesus and start with Martinelli but that’s just me.
Crazy that saka is not dropped
To me : it’s Jesus
Walker absolutely silenced Martinelli last match – so I can understand Trossard getting the nod
So now that we’ve lost the top spot we see Arteta rotating
What I sense is the Gaffer has accepted that we’ve flopped winning the league
I hope that doesn’t transmit to the players to mean “Nothing To Fight For Anymore”
Have a feeling that Chelsea that cannot score other teams will find it easy scoring us today
Like many i wanted to see some changes,sadly they are not the ones I wanted or expected.
Finally some changes but not required one in books.
Can we have a change in set-up please? Tweak your tactical approach for God’s sake!
This weak back four with an inverted left-back and a single pivot, I’m tired of.
Just like their wives, we’ll get beaten today. Bunches of bottlers. Cannot waste my time watching this game knowing that we won’t win
Plastic fan…. Weren’t you one of those that applauded Tottenham at the start of the season and wrote Arsenal off? Now you people are crying for dropping to second position. Pathetic
Will Chelsea park the bus?
*in my book
Two left footed centre backs and an absentee left back, could be a recipe for disaster.With their individual talents you would think Chelsea are bound to click sometime and I sincerely hope it’s not tonight.I assume Xhaka will play as a double pivot with Jorginho, otherwise we will be extremely vulnerable to counter attacks.Martinelli has done well against Chelsea in the past and I am surprised he has been left out whilst Saka and Jesus retain their places despite failing to make any impression against Man City.I hope the players are feeling more confident than I am and can dig out a win.
GD I was waiting to hear from you. Let’s see Kiwior do the business. He’s supposed to be the highest jumper and quickest sprinter. That’s what I heard, so let’s wish him the very best.. With regard to Jesus, Arteta probably guarenteed him a regular game come what may in order for him to sign the contract. Let’s hope Jorginho remembers he’s wearing a red shirt now.
I am very worried about this Arsenal side against Chelsea.
I fear we will lose to Chelsea today.
I have Both Fingers and Toes crossed, but that may not be enough.
My Knees are knocking already.
I asked for changes and got them. Not the ones I expected. But Hey Ho, let us get behind the manager and the boys regardless of resultand get ready for the rollercoaster ride.
Giving up top spot hit me really hard. I hope we win tonight.not even for the title but bragging rights. Chelsea have been sh*t all season can’t imagine the banter if we draw let alone loose!
We aint winning the title unless City blows it but aint no reason to give them an free run at it. Finish the season strong if only for the ego and pride.
Should have dropped saka before even considering dropping martenelli. Yes he was pocketed by walker but saka has been off form for the last 3 matches.
Well no goal conceded in the 1st min, that’s progress.
Xhaka, wasted chance!!
Penalty that
Let’s not waste the 2-0 now we need another one!
We need to go for more goals (without conceding)to kill the game off,no comeback!!
Chelsea’s fans leaving for half-time,will they come back for the 2nd half??
Don’t like the way we’ve been losing the 2nd ball in the last 5
Imagine Lampard had still been in charge of Everton before we played them, we’d be underdogs still but the title would be on. Still not impossible. Look at the money spent at Chelsea and look at this performance and our performances all season. Disappointing as it is missing out after finally believing the title is possible, we must appreciate how good a year this has been overall for the progression of our club. We’re in the conversation now which means shopping in a higher pool, we’re an extremely attractive proposition to players right now.
2nd half West Ham, Southampton and City deserve every condemnation they got particularly Southampton/City. Thought Arteta was spot on in his humble comments before this game in that way. We need to aim for the top, we need to take lessons from the past 3 games, we need to assess the squad and take tough decisions. Still, at the same time, we need to remember we are the youngest team in the league, the one that competes on age is Southampton and they are bottom. There is every reason to believe this will not be our last chance at the title particularly with good recruitment.
Let’s smash Chelsea and who knows maybe the stars align still but regardless we’ll be back next year!
No doubt about the progress Angus. Just a wasted opportunity on the title. Not yet over but it isn’t in our hands now
100 if we beat West Ham and Southampton, we’re still confident about the title so we wasted that but I don’t believe this is our best shot. Our best shot will be in the coming years.
Arsenal actually made many bad touches in the first ten minutes, but Chelsea were simply awful and caught ball-watching. Chelsea players seemed trying to get Lampard out
Odegaard made two great shots
Gai Chelsea are no team, just a collection of players playing a football. I hope they wake up and turn on vs city. Big dream!
Based on the way they played tonight, Man City would likely obliterate them
Finally an energetic performance fitting of a playing once a week club. I always sensed that we needed a defeat to slingshot into winning ways. It’s too bad we clinged on the draws for too long. Since the defeat to Manc, I’m hopeful we will smash our way to the end of the season.
Their was a terrible pass from Ramsdale when 3:0 up. Could have been costly just lucky Chelsea are really poor.
We’re 3-0 up and I’m still fearful of a Chelsea comeback.what does that say?
According to you the title is gone for Arsenal. I disagree.
Sean dyche still to play city now Big Sam has come from the heavens to revive arsenal title hopes😅
I’ll be there no matter what
Back to winning ways
Let’s not screw this up
COYG
On side
Slack
Unfortunately I missed most of the first half only to read here that there is still a fear that we can’t hold on to a 3-0 lead
Let’s hope the team keep their feet on the pedal and don’t wind down
Guilty as charged @suep. it’s more a reflection of how I feel than the game.i can’t see it happening,no comeback tonight!!
Oops Siamois
That was desperately slack defending 🙄
Indeed!I swear I don’t know what to think with this team at the minute.
Trossard can’t be too happy can he?I thought that Gabriel would get subbed off.i thought he might have got injured.
F****** no!!!
Zinchenko caught out again. Get Tierny on!
Get gabriel off before we end up with holding kiwior for the end of the season.
Saka has been terrible again, need to do a dna rivals must have abducted him and left us a defect clone.
I hope I’m wrong but I’m worried about Gabriel too.
@Ackshay , 😄 🤣 😂 😆
Connor whatisname should be embarrassed .. pathetic
Well he got his yellow card @SueP.
For me Saka was the worst player on the pitch today, I think he needs a rest. Zinchenko caught again today, his defensive frailties has been on display since Saliba’s injury…. A good win today.