Despite Mikel Arteta’s comments in the last few days, I am pretty sure that has just been playing mind games and he will have most of his Arsenal squad available.
I am desperately hopefull that Martin Odegaard is back to full fitness, but I don’t think he can be risked for the whole 90 minutes so I’m expecting him to start from the bench again.
So here is the team that I predicted earlier and some may say I’m choosing with my heart and not my head….
David Raya
Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel, Jurrien Timber
Thomas Partey, Declan Rice, Mikel Merino
Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli
So here is Arteta’s team. I’m glad Odegaard starts, but that was only error in my predicted line-up
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Delighted to see the return of Odegaard and a strong team available- and a decent bench.
COYG
This is a full strength line up. There should be no red cards. Hopefully Odegaard is not too rusty. Martinelli should improve in his end product.
I pray we get a win.
On the red cards, it depends whether the refs apply the law or not. Not expecting anything after the shocking decisions in Milan.
Maybe a full strength lineup, but we know Timber, Saka and White are not fully fit, Rice has a fractured toe, and Odegaard will be nowhere near match fitness.
Still a lot to worry about!
A lineup good enough to do the job any day.
Better not to get carried away though. It’s Odegaard’s first start in two months.
Hope the boys can keep their cool. A sending off is the last thing we need.
Finally, hope Arteta gets in game decisions right.
I predict a departure from what we’ve been served in recent weeks. 🤞
I’m just hoping and hoping…
too defensive, maybe Arteta is depending on set-pieces.
Too defensive ? How?
Anyway good to see Rice and Ødegaard starting.
Wat do you mean too defensive? This is our best lineup.
Trossard is finally benched, but I’d prefer Merino and Rice in midfield instead of Rice and Partey
But partey has been one of our best player?
You and your clownish comments
These days, I am beginning to see that we can do with an upgrade to Rice even
Merino doesn’t even seem to be at our levels he’s a downgrade compared to either Xhaka or Smith-Rowe
Us Aesenal will be playing, hopeful and wish to see our dear on Gunners brat the Blues today.
And if they beat them as us are hoping they will.
Arsenal will startclosing the gap between them and their 2 top Epl title win rival teams of Man City and Liverpool in the table before the international break.
I am feeling very nervous
Captain fantastic is back and will exponentially improve our creativity which was non existent in his absence.
So far we are on backfoot in early exchanges
I hope this situation changes
Chelsea are no longer the useless teams from years before, this will be a tough match
We might lose today
Ohh dear
It’s Micheal Oliver
Hopefully he’ll really be in the spotlight
Us Arsenal will be praying, hopeful and wish to see our dear own Gunners beat the Blues today.
And if they beat them as us are hoping they will.
Arsenal will start closing the gap between them and their 2 top Epl title win rival teams of Man City and Liverpool in the table before the international break.
Most of our ball is on the left side
And Martinelli is doing nothing so far
Why aren’t we doubling up on Chelsea’s wingers the way they are doing on Saka and Martinelli
Martinelli is soooo useless. What exactly he brings to the team?
He is offside
He was 😔
We played okay so far
We are very shaky at the back
We are looking but confident because of return of Odegaard but aren’t creating anything even though we are looking confident
Arteta needs to think something when opposing team double up on wingers
We just feel strangled when our wingers get doubling up
The wingers themselves need to change their play. Saka for instance continues to dribble even when he knows he’s outnumbered
Oliver is giving them cheap free kicks which they really deserve an Oscar for, and not giving us anything.
Cucurella remains Saka’s toughest marker
(whether Arsenal fans decide to agree or not, he’s been doing this to Saka since he was in Brighton)
He’s reduced the potency of our rightside or main creative side by at least 80%
Yes he is the only fullback who exactly knows how to stop Saka
No other fullback has done this again and again apart from Cucurella
Exactly
Malacia was also fantastic against Saka the one time they met, he’s been injured since then
Ake also silenced him one time
These are the fullbacks I’ve seen to be able to handle Saka on their own
Other teams have to double or triple-up on him
Both teams had a sitter
If I were Arteta, I’d replace the yellow-carded White after the sixtieth minute with Lewis-Skelly to play safe and to make through passes quickly on the left wing
I believe you perceive Real-Life football matches like PES or FM
You just mention any name, any how, any time, any match, any way
To be honest I think we need proper wingers . Martinelli has got nothing other pace he can’t even take on his marker and Saka has just been a shadow of himself.
Should we bring Nwaneri instead of Martinelli
Anyway there is hardly anything Martinelli is producing
Mr Oliver’s display so far anyone?
Overall, pretty good I’d say. Arsenal can’t have any real complaints.
Scrappy game. Apart from the Havertz offside goal Arsenal hasn’t done much in attack and Chelsea’s defence (while not in the Inter Milan league) is coping well so far.
Another unnecessary yellow by White. He or Neto may not survive the second-half.
Could go either way.
Pedro is an attacker, he can survive another 90 minutes while on a yellow card
White is the one that needs to be careful
Neto is also quite volatile, nevertheless.
For that offside goal KH should be blamed. Poor awareness of the surrounding in my opinion. Martinelli offers nothing when he has the ball as many have already observed. Looks like another reset season for Arsenal?
They are short of at least 2 very good creative goal scoring players..
It looks like we are concede soon
I hope I am wrong
We are not creating anything
We are not even keeping the ball properly
There’s something very wrong with our build up play nowadays. We look like 1 man less in attacks, went from overloading spaces to being in deficit in spaces.
That’s why we look so lethargic and out of ideas.
I do wish fans wouldn’t keep having a go at Martinelli – if he’s as useless as they say, why are chelsea putting two players on him every time he gets the ball?
But that’s what they do against Arsenal irrespective who are our Wingers
They will double up on Trossard
They will double up even on Nwaneri for sure
I won’t celebrate till VAR check
You can celebrate – close but clearly on
Yes
Finally
Finally a calm finish by Martinelli like he used to before.
Well what a timely post by yours truly!!
Now, perhaps, fans will get behind ALL our players?!?!?!
We shouldn’t sit back now
We should attack now
Poor goal to concede
What has happened to our defense of steel? We started this season with the best defense in the league and one of the best in the world.
How have they regressed so quickly?
Merino is playing much better today. His ability to receive the ball back to goal and turn is highly impressive.
Yes
He is doing well actually
His passing is looking sharp
The free kicks they are getting are ridiculous. It seems we have to be half massacred before we get one.
Honours even
Trouble is, Arsenal particularly (given their title aspirations) couldn’t really afford that.
I think title is gone
Because we are 9 points behind Liverpool
We just now have to concentrate on cup games
And winning matches because now we have played with every big team
City
Liverpool
Aston Villa
Tottenham
Chelsea
Newcastle
Trossard my dear! Two clear chances wasted!!!! Very bad luck at the end there!
Rather more bad finishing surely. I think Arteta’s reaction – on the ground banging the turf with his hands says it all.
Scrappy game. At least Arsenal got a point but what a last second (rather than minute) miss.
I expect Mr Slot has a very wide grin on his face. Nine points behind which is greater than the lead City had over Arsenal at any time in the previous two seasons, I think. Never say never but I suspect this will be a disappointing season in the league.
Trossard piss off to Saudi you tosser
We really should’ve won that given our chances. Saka, Rice Odergaard should not go to internationals
No, I don’t really agree with that. Arsenal posed some threat but the clinical finishing (look at Trossard’s last second miss – and Arteta’s reaction to it) wasn’t there again.
Against good sides (never mind very good ones) you’re only going to get a handful of real chances, and you’ve got to put as many of those away as possible. Arsenal just don’t (can’t) do that.
What does Jesus do in this team ?
Apart from collecting his £14m a season salary? Hmmm.
So now the blame game begins!!
Martinelli, Trossard, all the defence and Arteta of course are in the firing line for the normal abuse.
Let’s not take into account we’re playing Chelsea at their ground and while they’re in top form – that would be a silly thing to do.
What about Odegaard coming back from his awful injury in his first game? – No that would also be silly.
I saw a squad of players out there, giving their all against a very good opponent and certainly deserving of a point, perhaps all three.
I asked what your thoughts were resting Mr Oliver, today’s referee – for me, he was, once again, completely one sided and was looking for every opportunity to penalise us… just as I expected.
I think Arsenal’s poor finishing (again) was their main fault.
I don’t agree with your estimate of the referee’s performance. No howlers as far as I could see.
I think we need to stop trying to find scapegoats and just admit that, generally speaking, the team – for a variety of reasons – is just not playing well enough to justify a real title push this season.
Bernie
The team overall has regressed from last year, so far; even Arteta has regressed.
I don’t see where they players have improved from last year.
The purple patch Havertz ended the season on is gone, Rice has regressed from last year, surprising really.
Our defense is a shadow of last year; undisciplined, unorganized, and not closing down space like last year.
Arteta has no answers, his only solution seems to be play slower, sit back defensively more, and static positioning over movement into space or creating gaps.
Simply not seeing tactics change to adapt and overcome adversity. We have too many players with like for like abilities. Defenders all CB’s, 4 midfielders that are DM types, and not a goal scorer between Havertz or Jesus.
The new director replacing Edu needs to be Arteta’s BOSS, not a PARTNER.
Squad is unbalanced, only has a couple creative players, needs to replace Jesus, Zinchenko, and Partey and Jorginho with 2 B2B midfielders.
Ken, I saw no problem with the ref. He didn’t lose us the game or get Chelsea the draw.
Reggie, there was a moment in the game that summed up Mr Oliver perfectly in my opinion.
I’ve sent it to Pat and, hopefully, you’ll see what I’m getting at.
Durand, I agree with you regarding our defence, along with Rice who really seems to be struggling.
The plus is Partey by the way.
I’m not as pessimistic as you though, as I feel the early games were on par with last season.
My take on the slump, is the run of injuries, especially in defence and Odegaard.
After watching the Chelsea game, I could see the way Odegaard was shaping things and our defence, with proper FB’s were a lot tighter.
Arteta’s hands have been tied because of the injuries, but I wish he would give our young players some relevant time on the pitch.
Of course, not buying a goalscorer is also down to him and this might come back to haunt him come the end of the season.
Ken1945
The anti Arteta feeling has made a resurgence in recent weeks without factoring in the injury list and red cards. One was self inflicted but the injuries were not and like City who are realising what an injury list looks like, losing Odegaard from the end of August was tough. Our right side lost its potency without White and Saka. Calafiori was in then he was out and it would be easy to forget that Tierney and Tomi are still Arsenal players.
Getting back to the red cards, Saliba and Rice are big players who were missing for part of a game and one game each. Generally, Trossard was an impact player but was drafted in full time and suffered in the absence of our captain as they all did. Rodri has shown how critical one player can be. Add a couple of injuries and losses and the confidence dips further. Of course, there is no belief that Arteta can revitalise the team again but Pep can. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
My only real criticism is like yours regarding giving more time to the youth which hasn’t been forthcoming sufficiently – although the Carabao Cup next round is in December. Arteta needs to overcome this reluctance or fear of them failing. You don’t know until you try
Trossard is terribly out of form! That should be the miss of the season. What?!!
I will forever blame Arteta. We lost this season from our transfer window. We have no striker; Merino is not a Premier League midfielder, and we still have no LB as Timber isn’t that. Neither Calliofori, Jesus, Zinchenko, nor Sterling should be on this team.We still have no backup for Saka, and Arteta would never give youth playing time.
The big big minus this session is the way we are playing. We play so careful and non risk football. We are looking for dead ball situations instead of dynamic forwards play. We are getting a lead and trying to defend it, instead of trying to actually win it. Our football is very very predictable and teams are sussing us out. I fear we have peaked under Arteta. I dont see us playing above our capabilities. We are nothing special and look just a good solidish side. We are missing a forward and we are over reliant on our right side. Im not excited by what I have seen so far and I think I should be. Are we stale and predictable? I think so.