Chelsea vs Arsenal (16/17)

Team news:
Arsenal: For Arsenal, midfielder Aaron Ramsey (calf) is set to miss three weeks and Olivier Giroud will face a late fitness test, though Arsene Wenger says the striker should be fit. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's fitness will also be monitored but he is expected to be available. Granit Xhaka (suspension) and Mohamed Elneny (Africa Cup of Nations) are unavailable.

Chelsea: Chelsea have a fully-fit squad to pick from, Antonio Conte has confirmed.



THE MANAGER
Antonio Conte has been hugely successful since joining Chelsea last summer. An astute tactician and an impressive man-manager, the Blues’ performances were initially underwhelming, but since a change of formation in September they’ve proved almost unstoppable. In what seemed set to be one of the most unpredictable title races of recent years, Chelsea’s nine-point lead by this stage of the season is a huge surprise and Conte deserves great credit.

FORMATION
Chelsea’s pivotal match this season was the 3-0 defeat at the Emirates in September. They were outplayed in midfield and hugely vulnerable to Arsenal’s quick counter-attacking, and in the second half Conte switched dramatically from a 4-1-4-1 system to a 3-4-3 shape. Since then, the Blues’ results have been extraordinary: they immediately won 13 straight league games, of which 10 saw them keep a clean sheet too.

STRENGTHS
Almost every area of Chelsea’s side has functioned well in this 3-4-3 system, although the midfield duo of Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante probably haven’t received enough credit. Kante, in particular, has been sensational in his all-action midfield destroyer role – in the midweek 1-1 draw with Liverpool he made no fewer than 14 tackles – no-one else on the pitch made more than four.

It’s the highest figure from any player in any Premier League game this season. He and Matic remain solid and protect the back three well, which means the Blues are rarely prone to counter-attacking – unlike in the reverse fixture, when Mesut Ozil and Alexis combined for a superb goal on the break.

DANGERMAN
Eden Hazard is the man who gets Chelsea going. Drifting inside from his left-sided starting position, the Belgian can score, assist and dribble, and is capable of both breaking down deep defences and launching quick counter-attacks too. Diego Costa has been in excellent form – only Alexis can match his 15 league goals this season – and Pedro has rediscovered his Barcelona form from the right flank – but Hazard is generally the catalyst for the Blues’ best performances.

AREAS TO TARGET
Chelsea can be guilty of dropping a little too deep, allowing the opposition’s deep midfielders time in possession. Tottenham, meanwhile, exposed the limitations of the Blues’ wide defenders with two identical goals in a 2-0 victory earlier this month: Gary Cahill is less comfortable than David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta at moving high up the pitch to shut down opponents, while Azpilicueta lacks the height of a natural centre-back. Aside from these minor issues, however, Chelsea’s defensive organisation has been superb.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170203/scouting-report-chelsea-v-arsenal

We're going to get smashed.

I hope we play a three man midfield because Coquelin and Chamberlain will be over-run on their own. Either Manitland-Niles or Iwobi should form a trio with the pair of them. Play Ozil wide. Even if he has to track one of the wing backs, I don't think he's going to have much impact in the middle if we're not controlling the game.

Hopefully Giroud doesn't start. We need pace on the counter.

last time we did the double over chelsea was 03-04

We are never going to change our tactics or formation despite the number of injuries or who our opposition are.

How come Chelsea always have such a thin squad yet they are never short of players from injury or anything...?

I'm not prepared for this

I have a good feeling.

No Perez on the bench?

That midfield

Pls be gentle.

Iwobi playing CM, Ozil LW by the looks of things.

Good header by Alonso, not only a goal but also knocked out Bellerin.

You know, that wasn't a bad half. We haven't been convincing at the back, though Bellerin was fouled for the goal. We've pressed well and created some openings. Better final ball/finishing might yield some results. Gabriel definitely should have buried his chance.

Not out of this game by any means yet.

Expecting another goal from Costa early in the 2nd half. Nothing to see here.

Can't believe it's only 1-0. Chelsea underperforming here.

Well I suppose we are relieved from all the stress, dissapointment, hope & dream earlier than usual. FA cup & 4th place one more time here we go.

I'm not sure we will even get in the top 4, our fixture list is thr worst compared to the rest of the contenders.

Will need a big change to actually get there.

So we lost as expected. It makes no difference to the title race because we were never in it. I'm not even that disappointed about it

Let's move on quickly and see if we can make progress in the cups.

We set-up correctly in the first half, with the three man midfield and the high press. But the defending wasn't good enough. Second half was lost as soon as that Hazard goal went in. The defending, again, was terrible. Coquelin had an awful second half especially, as he missed so many crucial tackles.

Nothing to say about Ozil or Alexis. Both were ineffective, one will get considerably more criticism than the other.

Wenger:

“We had a strong start but didn’t take the opportunites and after half time the second goal was the killer for us.

“We were really naive and not clinical in our defending. Then Chelsea looked the better side. We took risks and they were well organised and played well on the counter attack and looked powerful.

“We lost ball the many times. In situations we lacked maturity and experience. Individually some of our players were not at their best today.”