Arsenal fans will have been hoping for a draw from the big Premier League match of the weekend earlier today, when Antonio Conte took his in form Chelsea team to face Man City, or if there was to be a winner I think we would all have preferred it to be Guardiola’s team, not just because they were not so far ahead of Arsenal but to halt the dangerous momentum the Blues are building.
It really should have been a win for Man City as well as Chelsea looked shaky at the back. Unfortunately the City players wasted a number of great chances both before and after their only goal and that allowed Chelsea to first get back on level terms after De Bruyne had missed an open goal from a few yards out, and then to punich them further with a second and a late third.
That result has certainly piled the pressure on the Arsenal players and made it even more crucial that they respond to the manager’s call for a fast start, reported on the Arsenal website.
The prof said, “It’s important to start well because that’s where you dictate your authority on the game, and because it’s our style. You want to be faithful to your style.
“You also get in a zone where you want to be straight away. It’s always difficult to get in the zone of playing with speed when you start slowly. It is important and it’s a kind of race.
“You cannot start to accelerate halfway through the race, you have to be strong from the start. That’s why we want to get used to not having any slow starts. We always want to be on the front foot from kick-off.
“That’s always the speech you have before the game. After that you face individual rituals. Every player has their own ritual to prepare for the game, and his own way of feeling, struggling with his doubts.
“As a unit, the team is not always on the same energy level and our job is to prepare the team to have the right energy level from the start.”
The big question now is whether the pressure from the Chelsea win will help Arsenal to start like the boss wants or whether it will affect the players in a negative way.
Bob.