Arsenal News Arsenal previews

Official Arsenal line up to face Chelsea – Arteta going for the win

Official Arsenal line up – Mikel Arteta taking a very positive attitude selecting an attacking team.

First massive London derby for Mikel Arteta and he looks determined to walk away with all three points against Chelsea this afternoon.

This is Arteta’s first home game and you can be 100% certain that the fans will be behind him and the team to the max today at the Emirates.

There are not too many changes from the team that drew at Bournemouth, though injuries have forced the Spaniard’s hands to some degree.

These players are more than good enough to beat Frank Lampard’s men. All they have to do is get the basics right, stay organised and disciplined. In better words, there is every reason to be positive about the game today.

Links to streams will be put in the comments where to watch the game live and free so keep checking in.

Also, if you go to the you will be able to get live commentary text and Arsenal radio.

JustArsenal match preview here

Posted by

151 Comments

  3. Lacazette should have been replaced by Martinelli!
    Also Chambers will struggle with the pace of Chelsea’s team!

      2. I hear ya, Joe. Bloody allow it. Let’s see what happens. Pepe not starting either means he’s not trying enough on the training ground or MA is saving him for the next fixture.

    3. So who should play instead of Chambers seeing as Sokratis is suspended (Thank goodness)

      I don’t think there is much Arteta can do right now, the team picks itself for now.
      Bellerin and Martinelli are probably not fit eneogh, what’s most important is our desire, hard-work, confidence and commitment….Coyg!!!

    4. Arteta has to give the players their second chances as a fair treatment

      They can be benched if they don’t step up today

    5. So your logic is an injured martenelli should replace lacazette, thank God you aren’t our coach. Only option is putting aubameyang in the middle and pepe wide. We have mostly kids on the bench.

    1. With Martinelli not fit and Saka having to deputies at LB, Laca will probably play the full 90 minutes. He won’t play as badly 2 games in a row.
      My bigger worry is that Nelson has a repeat of his (non)performance. He’s probably given preference to Pepe due to his modestly better defensive contribution.

      Defence pretty much picked itself. Chambers and Luiz are crap, but so are Sokratis and Mustafi, so not much to complain there.
      With the players avaiable, the only question was basically Nelson or Pepe.

    1. My thoughts exactly. There was no coming back from the altercation he had with fans seeing as some useless people threatened his family. I’m far from sad though.

        2. No Sue it’s struck down BY Hertha Berlin. She’s a big, strong woman and far too tough for Xhaka. Hope she hasn’t damaged him too much and ruined the transfer. I was looking forward to a very happy, Xhaka-less, New Year.

  6. Today we have extra protection for defence as Guendouzi is playing….
    Now front 4 need to create and score…

    2. Guendouzi epitomizes everything wrong with our midfield. Chaka has his faults but Guendouzi is not his replacement.

    1. Reddb10,

      It scares me to see Saka there, we should used Mustafi at RB and Niles LB….

      Arteta still does not know the players well enough imo…lets hope Saka does well, coyg!!!

    3. I just hope Saka and Maitland-Niles would be fit enough to withstand the pressure from Chelsea’s attackers, because they worked hard in Bournemouth

  11. Arteta is sticking to a particular team, the only changes were forced, Sokratis and Xhaka
    It’s been long we saw that….

  13. So much positivity yet again! Don’t know anything about jules so that’s interesting if he gets any minutes on the pitch. Looking forward to seeing how the players step up today and if Artetas ideas translate yet to the team. Coyg

  14. We are the only club who will pay 72million for a player and always put him on the bench. I don’t care what anyone says about Pepe, his worst performance is still way better than Nelson good performance.

    3. Pepe was awful offensively at his last match and Nelson’s attacking contribution is on par with that display

      But Nelson clicked better with the others and his defending work is much better than Pepe’s

      We need good team players to dominate the ball possession and Pepe is still too individualistic

    4. You’re right in the attacking sense.
      My view is that Arteta is playing him to help the defense better than Pepe.

  15. Should be a good game. Chelsea are inconsistent so we have a chance especially at home, but i would be pleased with another draw.

  17. Our passing from the back looks improved because players have short, middle, long options. More options in attacking also. the arteta effect

  21. Torreira at CDM is a beast. WTF was Unai Emery thinking!
    And those that say Torreira is shit, hahaha.

  26. Ghendouzi is playing like an idiot every tackle is clumsy. Issues down the left with Saka losing possession too often. Torreira looking brilliant in his natural position though and in general the lads looking a lot more lively than what we have seen fir quite a while.

  28. Ozil really look like the Ozil I know.
    The same problem regarding Lacazette, he seems to be ruining stuffs upfront.
    Good game, anyone else notice now we close players down quickly and give out little space?
    Torreira is a FVCKING DM!! Not an AM or B2B.
    Get that Emery!!

    1. Lacazette trying too hard to hold up instead of releasing the ball faster.
      Ozil has been great today. Torreira and Guendouzi are providing a GREAT combination of distribution and protection to facilitate Ozil.
      Torreira has always been a beast at DM. Whatever stupidity Emery was trying I have no clue.

  29. What a fantastic first half! The improvement is seriously night and day, so much more compact, composed and comfortable without possession and breaking chelsea down so well, and some of our counters have been excellent and we just look much more fluid with the ball, the scoreline still worries me a bit but we can see clear tactics from arteta great start COYG!!

      1. I know such a shame would of been an immense goal on the counter 🤬 but so far very little else to complain about, we’ve been better than I’ve seen ys in a long time!! 🥳🥳

    1. Arteta seems to know that Torreira’s ball control is excellent, hence he became the focal point in our deep midfield area like Cazorla

  34. dats some back 4 we now have,no fullback in youth set up lol,worst cb pairing since silvester &cygan

  35. Ozil was great in the first half. Arteta seems to have improved all first team players’ creativity, except Nelson. But Nelson worked hard for his teammates

    Guendouzi almost got red-carded and almost gave Chelsea a penalty. He made several wrong decisions and on yellow card, so it’s better to replace him with Willock

    Lacazette blew a golden chance again, but at least he worked his socks off to retrieve the ball. Torreira played like Cazorla now, being a focal point in our half

  36. We were supposed to have one of the deadliest offense in the PL. PAL were expected to be terrorising defenders and goalkeepers mercilessly. At the moment, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

  37. But since that change from Lampard has actually put Chelsea in game for last 10-15 mins…
    We need to do something…

  38. Arteta is serious I am telling you.
    If he brings Dominic Szoboslai in the midfield, and Dries Mertens on the left wing, gunners will be shinning.
    Please, remember to visit Rwanda!

  39. It is a best formation because Sokratis is not in our CB pair. Then Toreeira Gendouzi defending makes us more secured but still fragile, almost conceided penalty.

    To have two midfields focused in defending doesn’t allow us to play forward as much as we should. Game is all defensive, even Auba.

    Don’t want to be negative but not at all secured, we scored in set piece.

    Now clearly we are more solid, compact, fighting as a unit but we not playing forward to be dangerous enough.

    He should had Mustafi or Mav paired with Chambers and Luiz as DM sitting infront of them.

    He plays forward , passes and make all team able to play and for us forward! Not with 2 DMs!

    1. Torreria played possibly his best
      half in an Arsenal jersey @ DM and
      your still banging the annoying drum
      for Luiz or Chambers to replace him.

      Luiz DOESN’T possess positional
      awareness @ CB, let alone DM to excel
      @ the position and CC is FINALLY
      beginning to grow in confidence @ CB.

      If Partey or Sangare were brought in
      to partner LT AFC would physically
      DOMINATE the middle of the pitch for
      years to come.

  40. 13 fouls only 3 yellows shit referee. Probably looking for an excuse to red card guendouzi who has been pretty careless and clumsy.

      1. Agree he is playing nervously bordering on the red card which looks the only way for Chelsea to get back in this match.

  41. Lacazette always takes time to find form after being injured or not playing. When in bad form he has a heavy touch and is slow to release the ball probably because he second guess himself.

  59. Good that we’re not conceding shots. Not good that we concede the shots that matter. We can have 10 on target & still lose.

  64. Where were the midfielders? Too many towards the box left defenders for dead?

    You could see Saka pulling up limp like his hamstring bothering him.

    1. Arteta had no answer when Lampard changed his formation, maybe Pepe brought on earlier? Injuries played their part, but Torreria and Willock should not have been so far forward.

      Props to Chelsea, they took it away from us in the last 10 minutes

  66. Sadly my 1-2 prediction may become reality.

    We had the lead until over the 80th minute and may have blown it. Our defence is better but still not good enough

    Come on give us at least a draw

    1. We won’t. Not until the culture changes & that might even take relegation to put right. No winning team loses the lead in FOUR MINUTES, papers will say Chelsea were brilliant but that’s because we made them so!

    1. I said it so many times that the coaches can’t control pepe so they rather sacrifice results to avoid their ego being challenged

    2. Simply don’t get it..
      Why benched pepe 4so long wen the game was still a bit in our favor…still don’t understand y pple rate d nelson guy ahead of pepe…🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

      1. Blaming the ref makes you weak? Really? What a daft thing to say, we should just be fine with the refs display even though it definitely cost us at least a point?

  71. They all put in so much effort
    Lacazette was knackered – they all look knackered
    Maybe too much too soon. Not used to Arteta’s intensity yet
    Lazy before his arrival
    Chelsea should have been down to 10 men

    1. which player arteta have now. Emery have sold all the senior player. Xhaka already excluded from the team. Guendouzi is shit can’t defend at all. Arteta have to field academy player Neilson, Saka, Niles, Willock bcoz no more player available. Pepe is worst than Iwobi. Emery have destroyed the team.

    2. Apart from leno error. Guendozi cost us the game. His positional play was rubbish. Arteta to keep tell him to get back in the first off. He was supposed to be covering torrira. And if u most go forward he had to win that second ball which he didn’t and then exposed the centre back for the 2nd goal. After loosing the ball He was gesturing to the defenders to come out, how can they in a 4v 2 situation when he was supposed to burst his gut to get back especially with the pass to william initially going wide. I honestly don’t rate him at all as a midfielder but then he his 19. he has got a bad habit of always wanting to join the party upfront. Many times he keeps coming into torriras space instead of just managing ur space cover ur partner and read the game. A football pitch is to wide for u to be everywhere u have to manage ur space and own that territory when the ball comes into it. Auba had to cover saka about 3 times in very dangerous situations when guendozi could have manged that space instead getting auba sucked into defending. Nelson ddint have to cover AMN because torerira was managing the space and so nelson focused on attacking and closing down. It was painfull to lose after the whole preaching arteta has been making to the players is positional awareness.
      Overall many positives from the game.

  73. Relegation form. For those who keep thinking we are not don’t know much about football. A new years defeat to Man United and we will be deep into trouble! This team is done, Arteta won’t change the rut we are in!

    1. Alternatively it could be said you don’t know much about football. Played well today and I hope it’s a sign of things to come. If you can be positive try not saying anything instead!

      1. Yess, definitely. A lot of improvement from team. Need reinforcement during Jan bcoz can’t rely on the academy kid. Need EPL material player. Wenger leave Emery with good player but emery sold them. Should never appoint emery at the 1st place.

      2. @Dan whats positive about losing? Be real ffs and stop sugar coating! I pay on average above £60 per game to watch this sh*t and you say stay positive?!! We lost to a poor Chelsea team who had over 60% possession in the 2nd half and players like Mount were bullying us off the ball. So Dan i suggest you stop accepting mediocracy coz its fans like you is the reason why Kroenke’s are getting away with murder at this club!

  74. The moment Arteta refused to take out Nelson and Lacazete , I knew chelsea were gonna score goals. Chelsea completely controlled the game and Arteta acted like everything was fine. Chelsea defenders were free no one to pressure them.What is wrong with Martinelli, he is way better than every one.

  75. This is what you get when you think Nelson is better than Pepe. As long as the coaches don’t realize than Guendouzi and Willock has nothing to offer we will continue in this abysmal performance.

  76. How I hate a defensive game. 1 goal up and defend till you concede. I actually waiting for a goal from Chelsea after second half.

  77. I think I need a break away from Arsenal… to think these guys are on 75k+ a week!! Laughable! Bottlers with no balls and Arteta played a blinder today, he just ran out of ideas. After all we should’ve been 2-0 up on q couple of occasions but Laca and Willok both guilty again of missing big chances. This actually makes me sick the loss today….

  78. We will struggle until we have midfielders who can keep the ball. After Jorginho came on the pitch, we could hardly keep the ball. Very poor.

  79. weak weak players these players will relegate the club,open ur eyes people,i would have caught dat awful cross……

  81. So true…nelson and guendouzi are championship player at best…
    Ds people need 2b shipped out asap…

  82. Second goal Saka’s fault. He was simply jogging back. First goal was Leno’s fault. He just took off racing without looking at the ball.
    This team has no stamina. They are easily shoved off the ball, and they cannot put two or three passes together without losing possession.

    1. Leno is known for mistakes even before he moved to Arsenal. Mistake can happen but that is a really bad one, completely misses the ball, at least get a good touch to a it.

      Its clear our tam is not fit enougth for 90 miutes. Every game we run out of steam at 60 minutes. Its a game we should’ve never lost, maybe draw.

      But that referee won them the game by not sending off.

    2. We were too eager to go ahead again quickly, which wasn’t a good idea because we didn’t really do anything in the second half anyway. There is no outlet after 60 minutes because everyone gets tired. We need to work on fitness and buy a powerful midfielder like Doucoure.

      Chelsea didn’t ask enough questions a nd still got 2 goals easy. I think we will lose aagainst manure as well,

    3. @ that goal was simply mustafi at his best. Saka has pulled a hamstring you don’t expect him to be sprinting like Usain bolt. Arsenal look better as a team Leno picked a bad day to be useless. Willock is not a footballer, Nelson put in a good shift but he is winger he offered nothing else. Lacazette good work rate nothing else, ozil looking better coming from me that’s like 10/10 rating. We need midfielders and defenders quickly. Only torreira should survive the purge in that midfield for the defense I think only chambers should survive. Leno and the ref lost us this game. Arteta is looking promising if given the right tools. A bit ironic everyone have won 2/2 now. Lol

  83. Arsenal right now is the only premier league team that the midfielder can not score goal. At some point in a game a midfielder should be able to salvage a point. Guendouzi and his mate has never. Why the coaches don’t see it surprised me.

    1. True. Kante, Fabinho, Sisoko, Debruyne, Joginho, Henderson, Mount, Dele Ali, Madison, all these midfielders shoot and scores. Why do we rely on Auba and Laca? Why cant Ozil, Nelson, Guendouzi shoot when close to 18yard?

  84. Anyone blaming arteta knows nothing about football.
    He is short of personnel. Gwen grew tired easily and make it easy for jorginho to dictate play. Bringing on Pepe will hv givie more space for them to play. Pepe can only play better when we have possession. Not wen we are under pressure.

    Willock is shit. He was the only option left. To try and battle it out with their midfield but he proofs to be a donkey again.

    Ozil best game for a while. He go tired because we didnt have someone like ndiddi beside torriera.

    1. I disagree with you on Pepe. He thrives on counter attacks and today’s game was the perfect game for him to have impacted had he come on earlier. Pepe might be woeful most part of the game but a moment of magic from him could win us games. Why cant Arteta see that these academy players are not ready? If Arteta continues playing Nelson, Willock and Guendouzi we will be in bottom 3 soon.

  86. Leno has been the reason why playing out the back don’t work, as he is no better than a poor man Cech at the end of his career.

    When will fans realise we have overpaid for crap players that no other clubs were after.

    Leno – was a mid table german league player at best (equivalent to Championship level in UK)
    Papa – Dortmund were not bothered about this 4th choice centre back
    Luiz – Chelsea also were not bothered about this 4th choice centre back
    Kolasenic – one season wonder and got too big for his boots and earned a big pay day to Arsenal (sign on fee plus £130k per week)
    Guendouzi – always in the wrong place at the wrong time – literally has nothing to offer
    Torreira – tries very hard but not suited to this league due to height and physical side
    Pepe – who scouted this guy? A poor purchase who surely We need to somehow offer him back to Lille at cut price?
    Lacazette – never hit it off in the premier league and wasnt Wengers choice in buying – i can see why now!

    Youth:
    Maitland Niles – 3rd season and cant get into his favoured position – thats a strong hint he wont make it
    Willock – being related to Linford Christie is all he has to offer. Just like his brother he will be maximum a Championship player!
    Smith-Rowe – the boat has sailed after all the promise
    Saka – how can he want to be a winger when he can’t dribble and struggles with pace?
    Nelson – a mid table German league team sent him home packing yet we think he is good lol

    In summary, dont expect miracles from this lot or Arteta. He is a yes man and will not turn anything around. In fact, expect a mid table premier league team at best buying championship level players at above market price as thats the only way we will convince anyone to join us!

    Happy new year 😭

    1. Pepe – 22 goals and 11 assists last season. Only other player with 20 plus goals and 10 plus assist was Messi that year

      He’s clearly not given a fair chance , but despite that , he showed his value in the limited playing time

  87. Same non sense, different game, to make up for excuse with jorghino not out is as penalty not awarded first half could had us behind.

    We scored from a lucky set piece. Then what? We can conceid same goals playing against 10 and not score.

    In any case, it is a mistake to not red card him but then what?

    The game went on, 11 men against 11, we did not kill the game but conceided 2! F the red card!

  88. After watching this game, it’s clear to see that Arsenal players lack fitness. They couldn’t keep up with Chelsea’s level for 90 mins.

    Sadly, there’s no hope for this lot against United. Except we have some fresh legs back.

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors