Chelsea v Arsenal – burn the Bridge

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, football is back after dead, boring two weeks and we are up against another London rivals. Chelsea this time, at Stamford Bridge in an early kick off – perfect to set the mood for the remaining weekend. The fact that we are joint top with Spuds makes it a bit crucial for us, we need to win this and we need to win in style to get back to the top.

We have always hated Chelsea and it’s good to see them being sh*t from some time now. We are coming from a win against Man City, doesn’t matter if it was a boring affair because what it would have done is, instil that confidence in the boys that they can beat anyone if they have done so against the Champions. Plus a win today and a lot of records will be made.

We have beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in our last 3 visits, and it would be first time since modern day Premier League began that Chelsea will lose 4 in a row. We have been unbeaten in last 15 London derbies and we need to make it 16 today. The last time Chelsea lost 3 games at home in a row was in 1993, and the third game was against non other than Arsenal. They won’t be happy with playing Arsenal today.

In the team news, Arteta continued his confusing statements in press conference but if I have to guess, Saliba, Saka, Trossard and Martinelli are all available for today’s game. That ‘accessing before the game’ is just a fallacy. Reece James is back to fitness for Chelsea and that might be a bit of concern for our defenders. I would assume we will go with the usual – Saliba and Gabriel partnership in the middle, White and Zinchenko at RB,LB. In the midfield, we have both Partey and Rice available and it remains to be seen if Arteta succumbs to fan’s demand of seeing both Rice and Partey alongside Odegaard. I, for one, feel that we should keep the DM position in rotation and competitive and let Havertz / Vieira / ESR fight for the left-over position in midfield. If one of them gets injured again, we will have the same problem again with the amount of games we have.

Up top, Saka and Martinelli starts – no doubt about that. Whether it’s going to be Nketiah or Jesus depends on Mikel’s coin toss but I think Jesus will get the preference.

GK position is again a coin-toss but if the rumours are to be believed, Ramsdale might not be available for today due to personal reasons.

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It seems like the Arsenal.com admin has gone into a full banter mode and I’m loving it. In the match preview post, this is what they had to say –

Another unprecedented transfer expenditure of over £400 million this summer has yet to really reap rewards for new boss Pochettino, with the Blues in the bottom half of the table after their first eight matches.

souce:arsenal.com

-expenditure of over £400 million this summer
-in the bottom half of the table after first eight matches

Brilliant!

I am expecting a 3-1 win today, having Martinelli and Saka back in the team brings that spark and goal scoring options. One thing to appreciate about our defence is that, we hardly talk about it now, and that’s the best compliment for a defender. If your defender is in the news, it’s a not good thing. I would personally like more of Tomiyasu because he a machine and we have yet to unlock him. I might get a stick for this, but if a Tomiyasu + Martinelli partnership can cause havoc at the left side. Tomiyasu is also better in 1v1 defending, less error prone and track back better. Just a thought, if Mikel is reading this 😀

I have been bored to death with no football (cricket world cup didn’t help), and lots of work. A Saturday evening with Arsenal winning over the London rivals would be a perfect thing for me right now.

What’s your expected line up and how many goals do you see us scoring? Let us know in the comments. I will be back during games because the bridge needs to be burnt.

Hope you have a good weekend!