The Chelsea versus Arsenal London derby is upon us this weekend. We, the Gunners, like the Blues, hope to be the ones who come out on top.
Former Chelsea and Scotland international Pat Nevin believes two players will decide which team wins this time around. He suggests how the fixture could well be won in midfield and how our Declan Rice or Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez plays could influence the final result.
“For their part Arsenal are in great shape, joint top of the league having just beaten the Champions Manchester City. They can also take heart from the statistics, having only lost one and drawn one of the last eight meetings against Chelsea.
Nevin told the BBC website: “I am looking forward to being at the game and seeing how Chelsea old boys Kai Havertz and Jorginho fare but the crucial battle should be for central midfield dominance.
“Declan Rice and Enzo Fernandez might not be directly up against each other all the time, but whoever shines brightest between those two could help control and decide the game.”
In our case as Gooners, hopefully Rice will prevail. We can be confident that he will shine, as he hasn’t let us down since he started playing for us, but for Chelsea Enzo is the main man. The World Cup winner has quickly become key to Chelsea’s set-up, ranking second for completed passes and third for final-third completed passes per 90 among all Premier League midfielders this season and he has excelled since Jorginho moved across to the Gunners.
But, as with the whole Chelsea team, there is still plenty of room for improvement in front of goal. Fernandez is yet to score in 26 Premier League games, while he has just two assists.
Let’s hope he doesn’t start scoring this weekend!
Darren N
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Oh yes! The battle will be won in midfield.
Most games are won in midfield but we need to stop Sterling and Mudryk as they are Chelsea’s most dangerous players.
👍 Similarly GB, Arsenal’s forward line and midfielders need to be clinical in front of goal and maximise opportunities from corners and free kicks to score.
Midfield will play a part of the victory, but it will be more down to our cohesiveness as a team,
This is a game that could explode with an early goal
I assume Rice will play, but I think, without Partey in the team, we might struggle in Midfield going forward.
I read that Newcastle might try to buy Phillips from Man City in January. If they get him, we might find playing them very tough in the future.
Again, I suspect Southgate might be right in playing Phillips and Rice together. It allows Maguire to play in defence, and Bellingham to play up front more.
Since we all worry about Partey and his possible injuries, snapping Phillips up might prove the ideal backup.
Just a thought
My other thought is, since we probably will not be able to sell Havertz for the $65m we paid, perhaps we could use him as trade bait
If we offer Inter, Jesus and Havertz, in exchange for Lautaro Martinez, Inter might just bite and do that trade. I think both players would flourish in Italy, where the pace is slightly slower.
Then we could also go for Toney, possibly adding Eddie in that deal along with some cash (say $30m).
If we include ESR in a player plus money deal with Villa, they might just sell us Ollie Watkins
Again, just a thought.
But we could start February with Toney, Martinez, Watkins and maybe Kalvin Phillips, in place of Jesus, Eddie, and ESR, having spent maybe $60m or so.
Again, since I have not A Woke, I can dream on!!!