Arsenal v Chelsea Preview

Arsenal v Chelsea, Monday 23rd December 8pm, Premier League, Emirates Stadium, Sky Sports 1



Premier League

1. Liverpool 36pts
2. Man City 35pts
3. Arsenal 35pts
4. Everton 34pts
--------
5. Chelsea 33pts


Wenger looks to end hoodoo & put Gunners top at Christmas

"It's not a personal battle." Arsène Wenger was cool, calm, yet adamant, on Friday afternoon during his pre-match press conference. Reminded of his poor record against 'the Happy One', José Mourinho, the Frenchman simply stated: "What is important for me is that I am completely focused on Arsenal Football Club."

Yet to defeat the Portuguese coach in 9 meetings (P9 L5 D4), Wenger knows victory on Monday night at the Emirates against Chelsea would be, arguably, worth the wait. Three points would leave Arsenal top at Christmas - the perfect present for gooners across the World.

After two league games without a win, Arsenal could potentially be 4th come 10pm on Monday night, despite being 5pts clear last Saturday morning. Wenger is not worried, though. "I don't feel the doubts have crept in. We have been in much more difficult situations. Playing Everton on Sunday, Naples on Wednesday night, at City on Saturday at 12.45… I knew that somewhere, at City, we were in trouble."


Mourinho starts the mindgames as he looks to overtake Arsenal

Much has been made, since Mourinho returned to England in the summer, that the Chelsea coach is a different man. More composed, less eccentric, in control. Bar the last-minute dash into the crowd to cuddle his Son, after Fernando Torres' late goal against Manchester City, it's probably been a fair assumption. Though, his team, too, are not what they once were. The likes of Ricardo Carvalho, Claude Makelele and Didier Drogba have been replaced with 'lesser' talents, Gary Cahill, Ramires and Torres, amongst others. Not that Chelsea's squad isn't good. Their roster remains one of England's strongest, and Inter's energetic midfielder Fredy Guarin is set to join the Stamford Bridge club next month for £15m, according to Italian reports.

And though a win in north London on Monday would take the Blues joint-top with Liverpool, Mourinho knows the deficiencies of his current group of players. Following their League Cup loss at Sunderland, the former Real Madrid coach berated his forwards: "It keeps repeating itself (not finishing chances) against Stoke, Everton, Newcastle and now against Sunderland. Maybe the way to rectify this is to have a different approach in attack." Mourinho said at his press conference this week he would like "two clinical" signings next summer - a striker will undoubtedly be top of his shortlist.

On Arsenal, Mourinho was more positive; "Ozil is phenomenol, he is the last piece in the puzzle for Arsenal." Compliments for Ramsey & Walcott, too, suggest that the Chelsea coach has begun the mindgames.

Match Facts

* Arsenal won 9 and lost 0 of their first 13 Premier League home games against Chelsea but have won just 2 and lost 4 of the last 8.

* Chelsea have won 8 and lost just 2 of the last 11 meetings with Arsenal in all competitions.

* Chelsea have taken 11 points away from the Emirates Stadium, the joint-best haul of any team in the Premier League since the Gunners moved from Highbury (along with Aston Villa).

* Chelsea have had 11 different managers since Wenger was appointed and 12 in total with Mourinho’s second spell.

* Arsenal have not gone three Premier League fixtures without a win since January 2013; the third of those games was against Chelsea.

* The Gunners have conceded as many goals in their last two Premier League games (7) as they had in the previous 13.


Team News

Arsenal

Wilshere (suspension), Koscielny (knee), Diaby (knee), Chamberlain (knee) & Sanogo (back) are all unavailable, but Podolski (hamstring) returns after 3 months out.

Chelsea

Essien (suspended) & van Ginkel (knee) are both out, but Ivanovic returns from a 1-match ban.


 

Great Job Sam.

No excuses, must win the game. Giroud has a big task, with Podolski coming back this could be his last chance to prove himself. 10 days rest, no EXCUSE for Giroud to miss his easy chances.

Sunderland 2 - Chelsea FC 1
Chelsea FC 2 - Crystal Palace 1
Chelsea FC 1 - Steaua Bucureşti 0
Stoke 3 - Chelsea FC 2
Sunderland 3 - Chelsea FC 4

I'm not confident about this game at all. Chelsea are certainly beatable, but Mourinho seems to have us worked out and can get his sides playing in a way that won't lose to us. On top of that, I worry that we'll be too timid in a big game yet again.

There won't be any excuses for a sub-standard performance. We've had a nine day break since that freak game against City, so we should be well rested and prepared for this game. With everyone around us winning this weekend, and with three mores games to come in about 10 days, it is absolutely essential we win. I fear the damage a loss would do to us.

My doom-saying aside, I don't think Chelsea's defence is the strongest around, and if we can get the speed and precision back into our passing we'll create chances. With Walcott back, I'm more confident that we'll be more clinical in the final third, especially since he enjoys playing against Chelsea. Giroud should hopefully be better, too, now that he's had some rest. Chelsea were very good against us in the COC, but on that night our frontline was Cazorla, just coming back from injury, Miyaichi, young and also coming back from injury, and Bendtner, who didn't give a crap. I like to think that a line of Cazorla, Walcott and Giroud, backed-up by Ramsey and Ozil, will do a lot better.

I usually look at a game in terms of tactics, but on this occasion the main difference is going to be if we can get over this timidity we have in the big games and play to our maximum capabilities; the sort of performance we put in against Liverpool instead of the one we put in at Old Trafford.

I just hope Mata is not starting, he has hunted us ever since joining Chelsea. Chelsea and United are teams we cant figure out to beat, I am hoping this year we will take care of business. I can see us having a dominate game and lose 3-1, that's how we have always played against Chelsea Mourinho seems to dominate Wenger tactically.

This game will determine if we going to win the league or compete for top4. We must put a strong performance against top teams and get this monkey off our back against Mourinho.

In the last 24 competitive fixtures against chelsea we have only won 4.   

  COYG

Great work Sam https://2img.net/i/fa/i/smiles/icon_wink.gif

not sure how to feel anything can happen
lose and it might all falter
win and it will instill that confidence in us to go on and win next few games as well

would be devastated if we concede another shitty goal from set piece how many times in big games the opener has come from corners!

we should offer counter attacking threat and their defence is nowhere near good as it was in 1st Mou spell so as long as we dont shoot ourselves in the foot we should be capable

expect massive Performances  from Bac-Theo-Aaron and Mesut

lets do this COYG
https://31.media.tumblr.com/01baf65b65490f728f0e719575f02109/tumblr_my7l69suZK1r3p0vko1_500.gif

Great work Sam.

Hate playing against Chelsea. Probably my least favourite opposition.

They are playing really bad atm, but that is meaningless. However bad they do, they always have a gameplan against us. AVB was the only man who changed the system to play against us and we trashed them 5-3. Other than that, every Chelsea manager went with the same tried and tested method. Mourinho is the master of that method.

I don't know how we will fare. We have had a 9 day rest. We should be relatively fresh. Specially Giroud and Ramsey. Theo will start as well most probably. Ozil will be the key to break the wall.

Podolski on the bench will be good to see.

You have to "give" the ball away. You cant do like Man Utd and just dominate them. Obviously in every situation you want to control the game, but controlling the game against this type of team hurts more than helps, its doubly worse if you dont finish the chances.

Chelsea are really average at defending when they are forced to initiate the game because they are forced to open themselves up. If you dominate them, im sure they will revert to cowardice, close up the lines, drop deep and look to score from your mistakes or set peices. And they probably will.

Its funny that, if you start the game badly, it might help later on. Obviously the key to this is you have to defend properly, you cant not have the ball and defend badly.

I want to see Flamini and Arteta both starting to hold down the defense
As much as want to trust Verm, i can't, he hasn't played much for a while and his tendencies to jump into tackles and leaving the defense shorthanded is problem.

I think Santi should be dropped for Flamini

Worried about Hazard and Ramires and not sure about starting Arteta and Flamini together. I would go with Arteta and if we are winning bring on Flamini. Dont worry about Vermaelen he will do his job, one player I am worried about is Giroud, thank god Theo is back and will give us all 3 points. Dont be surprised if Bendtner starts tomorrow.  

Cazorla didn't play against City. He has had a very good rest. 13 days nearly. He is going to start for sure

Arteta-Ramsey midfield. Arteta-Flamini doesn't work that well.

If Ramires gets an early yellow, then life will be much simple.

I think you guys will win personally.

@GeoffArsenal
Wow, hearing Kos trained over the weekend and "may" be fit for today. Remarkable recovery that would be

these it.ks can send 1001 wrong signals and we will still listen to them and never learn
shouldnt risk anything

RealGunner wrote:@GeoffArsenal
Wow, hearing Kos trained over the weekend and "may" be fit for today. Remarkable recovery that would be

Great news but cant see him starting, great to have him on the bench. I'm hoping we smash them, it has been a tough few weeks for us, a tie is not good enough playing at home.

Raptorgunner wrote:Worried about Hazard and Ramires and not sure about starting Arteta and Flamini together. I would go with Arteta and if we are winning bring on Flamini. Dont worry about Vermaelen he will do his job, one player I am worried about is Giroud, thank god Theo is back and will give us all 3 points. Dont be surprised if Bendtner starts tomorrow.  

Szcesny
Sagna Mert Verm Gibbs
Arteta Ramsey
Walcott Özil Rosicky/Santi
Giroud.

verm has to be solid, i hope he proves me wrong. if he doesnt i am bumping up my thread again, a 3rd cb should be solid and not make stupid mistakes, lets see what he does.

Wenger.Yes, people are right to question us.

"We haven't won it (the league) for a long time.

"That's why they question us. It is not nine years without winning a trophy, it's without winning the Premier League.

"If you win the League Cup, it doesn't change anything.

"It's the Premier League that is the most important thing and we haven't won it for nine years."  
"It adds pressure, but you cannot play in the Premier League without pressure.

"There are periods where the pressure is a bit bigger and periods where it is smaller.

"You have to live with that and resist that kind of stress.

"This is a period to prove people wrong, because at the moment everybody still questions us, even more after our (6-3) defeat at City."
"If you want to win the Premier League, you want to win the big games at home. It's as simple as that."
   

Wenger its time to get the right players to win a big game at home.

REWB wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:Worried about Hazard and Ramires and not sure about starting Arteta and Flamini together. I would go with Arteta and if we are winning bring on Flamini. Dont worry about Vermaelen he will do his job, one player I am worried about is Giroud, thank god Theo is back and will give us all 3 points. Dont be surprised if Bendtner starts tomorrow.  

Szcesny
Sagna Mert Verm Gibbs
Arteta Ramsey
Walcott Özil Rosicky/Santi
Giroud.

verm has to be solid, i hope he proves me wrong. if he doesnt i am bumping up my thread again, a 3rd cb should be solid and not make stupid mistakes, lets see what he does.

Better believe he will score a goal tomorrow, and will stop everything they throw at him.  

A draw will be a loss, a loss will be a disaster - COYG!

It is time for things to change. This "thing" that we can't play at our best against top teams and that we can't beat them is utter shit by now. We need to change things! And the time is now.

We need to show what we're capable of beating them. I know we have it in us, and the thing that every Arsenal fan knows is that we know that our team has it in them.

This supposed shit that teams like Chelsea and United have us figured out and know exactly how to play to not lose or to win against us is nonsense now. I won't accept this anymore and if we want to show that we really mean business and if we really want to win this league title, we better come out today, play the game of our lives, take the game to Chelsea and beat them, because we can ffs.

C'mon Arsenal!

RealGunner wrote:Cazorla didn't play against City. He has had a very good rest. 13 days nearly. He is going to start for sure

Arteta-Ramsey midfield. Arteta-Flamini doesn't work that well.

If Ramires gets an early yellow, then life will be much simple.

flamini-ramsey
we need defensive cover, and arteta doesn't bring that to the table like flamini does

"If Player X doesn't perform exceptionally well then I'm scapegoating him."

Sounds about right.

yup, you got it right

Sina wrote:these it.ks can send 1001 wrong signals and we will still listen to them and never learn
shouldnt risk anything

is it a risk? i thought he just had a cut?

Artilleristen wrote:

RealGunner wrote:Cazorla didn't play against City. He has had a very good rest. 13 days nearly. He is going to start for sure

Arteta-Ramsey midfield. Arteta-Flamini doesn't work that well.

If Ramires gets an early yellow, then life will be much simple.

flamini-ramsey
we need defensive cover, and arteta doesn't bring that to the table like flamini does

thats what we saw in 6-3..   
Arteta is still the most important player at Arsenal.. only player who brings experience, leadership, calmness and control of the tempo of our game..
hate it or admit it, he is better than Flamini in almost all aspects..