The Soccer Blog: Arsenal v Chelsea Preview: Once More Unto the Breach

Sunday, 26 December 2010

Arsenal v Chelsea Preview: Once More Unto the Breach

By: Sairax | December 26th, 2010
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Chelsea
Position: 4th, 9-4-4 (31 points, +19 goal differential)
Away Form: 3-3-3 (+5 goal differential)
Recent Form: LLDDD
Last Meeting: Chelsea 2 – Arsenal 0 (October 3, 2010)

Britain Soccer Premier League

It’s the most wonderful time of the year……and it’s about to be ruined by a visit from Chelsea. Ok, so it’s not for certain that we’ll lose, but let’s face it, we don’t beat Chelsea very often these days.

SOCCER-ENGLAND/ On the plus side, Chelsea seems to be going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment. They’ve picked up 6 points from 21 and are not scoring as regularly and rampantly as they were at the beginning of the season. They have suffered injuries to key players like Terry and Lampard, though I believe both are expected to play tomorrow. Our good friend Didier Drogba, who always has the courtesy to score against us whenever we meet, was ill with malaria and his form dipped as well. He has 8 goals in the league this season (same as Nasri) but has only scored twice since our game with them at Stanford Bridge in October. He also was benched by Ancelotti against Tottenham, which he did not like at all, though he went on to score when he was subbed on in the 2nd half. I’m just going to assume he’s going to score against us and say that if we are to win, then we’ll need 2 goals minimum.

There was also the issue of Roman Abramovich sacking Ray Wilkins out of the blue. This seemed to cause unrest within the squad and definitely was not a decision Ancelotti favoured. I don’t know how much of this actually affected the team, but it is quite possible that it had a negative effect that has contributed to their sudden loss of form. Chelsea are currently in 4th place, which is a surprise to many who thought they would be running away with the league by Christmas. That’s not to say they won’t win the league. They have the ability to go on a winning streak, especially with key players coming back and not having to rely on a bench of inexperienced youngsters. They still have the best home and away defense in the league, so even though some of their goals have dried up, they tend not to let in too many.

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SOCCER-ENGLAND/

Arsenal, on the other hand, are continuing a bit of a roller coaster of a season. Let’s look at the positive: we’re second in the league and have won more games than all the other teams. We don’t rely on just one goal scorer and we have important players coming back from injury. We lost to Manchester United in our last match but have been winning our other matches of late. The Stoke game was cancelled last week due to bad weather conditions in England, so it seems like it’s been forever since the game at Old Trafford. It’s a bit difficult to predict the lineup because of the huge gap between games, but I’ll give it my best shot:

Fabianski

Sagna-Koscielny-Squillaci-Clichy

Song-Wilshere

Nasri-Cesc-Arshavin

Chamakh

Bench: Wojo, Djourou, Eboue, Diaby, Bendtner, RvP, Theo

It’s not necessarily the team I would pick, but it’s my best attempt at reading Wenger’s mind. I’m assuming Fabianski is our #1, therefore if he’s fit he’ll play. The backline pretty much picks itself. I would like to see Djourou, as I know many of you would, but Wenger seems to be sticking with the Kos-Squizz combination. Song and Wilshere have been our starting holding mids for a while now. The most difficult part was selecting the front four. If Cesc is fit, which I believe he is, he will start. I’m sure the extra rest would have helped him recover so I’m not as hesitant to see him play as I was 3 or 4 weeks ago when he was still not completely ready to start. Arshavin is Wenger’s guy. If he’s fit, he’ll play. Nasri is in a rich vein of form so it would be crazy to leave him out. So, who starts up top? Chamakh or RvP? I went with Chamakh just because he’s been playing more regularly and has had a rest after looking quite knackered in the last couple of games. I wouldn’t be shocked if RvP started, but he hasn’t played much this season and has only started 1 game in the Premier League. Our bench looks very solid with Theo, Bendtner, and a welcome back for Diaby, who you might remember was on the end of a bad Essien tackle in the last fixture against Chelsea that set back his recovery yet again. Almunia, Vermaelen, Frimpong, and Gibbs are all still out with injury.

APTOPIX Britain Soccer Premier League

Why do we gooners have such little hope for a win? Simply, it’s because we haven’t walked the walk on the pitch. We all know that this team is capable of beating Chelsea. Britain Soccer Premier League They just have to actually execute the gameplan and do it. I could go on about how Chelsea are able to rip us open on the counter, or how we could do better at defending set pieces, but really I’d just be repeating what we already have been discussing ad nauseum all season. The biggest problem the players face is themselves. The confidence in this team is fragile and they need to find a way to focus on just playing their game and scoring no matter what. This mental hurdle in the big games is crippling us and we saw it again at Old Trafford a couple of weeks ago. In October, we went to Stamford Bridge and played a decent game, but we wasted chances and made little mistakes that Chelsea exploited. Drogba is always their main threat and he pushed Kos aside way too easily at times. Anelka, Malouda, Ca$hley, Essien, and Lampard are all players that can make a difference and will be well-rested for the game just like our players.

They are not afraid of us. Why should they be? They have had the upper hand in this fixture for a while now. What’s worse is that we haven’t been playing at our best recently. Our passing hasn’t been sharp and we’ve been sloppy defensively. Our players need to just forget about trying to look all tough in front of them and just go out there and find a way to win. Sounds simple enough, but can they finally do it? I wonder how another loss to Chelsea is going to affect the team and Wenger. If they win they will go 2 points above us, which isn’t bad at all. However, it could cripple the players’ confidence even more losing to Chelsea yet again. We have to start winning these at some point; we have to. Tomorrow is another golden opportunity for the team to show what they’ve got. The question is, how bad do they want it?

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Category: Chelsea, Premiership, Preview, Video

Tags: Chelsea, Premiership, Preview, Video
Tweet « 12 Days of Arsenal Christmas | Home | bapdumi dont think wenger's formation with wilshere and song as holding midfielders and taking turns to go up and help the attacking play is the best. honestly i rather just have song staying back and wilshere playing more advanced role instead of a holding midfielder but i think tactical skill pretty much sucks compared to wenger or any1 else but any1 care to tell me what they think?MartinWill be watching the match on DVR at home after my flght lands tomorrow, so I will be completely out of the loop until then. But here's hoping Arsenal gives us all a late Christmas present tomorrow, eh? Come on Arsenal.Body Jewelry OnlineReally good goals. In English Premier League Chelsea is the best.RedCapedWonderNot to nitpick, but I read that he has 7 goals for 72 shots while Nasri has 8 goals for 44 shots on ESPN Soccernet.SairaxI got mine off of The Guradian. Am checking now....

He got a hattrick against West Brom (3), plus goals against us, Stoke, Blackpool, Everton, and Tottenham. So that's 8. Maybe ESPN didn't update after the Spuds game or somethingblog comments powered by Disqus