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!
I decided not to travel to see County they lost!) and am safely sat in front of the telly ready for the game. This comes between two suspected maulings at the hands of those white supremacist south African bastards in the cricket and rugby respectively.
Looking at the line-ups, I think we’re too good for them right now. On current form this game is akin to a Palace or West Ham away type fixture. High energy, calm finishing and the usual levels of technique should be enough. COYG. Ambarish – good piece and good to have you back.
Big chance to go top and stay there if we win handsomely. More often than not, we don’t tend to capitalise in situations like this these days.
Terrible fucking start. Just like the MC game.
I can’t quite believe Chelsea have a player called ‘Malo Gusto’ which means ‘bad taste’ in Spanish.
5 of their players surrounding ref trying to get Rice booked. Yuck!
A very poor start, and it should have been a red on Palmer for Jesus challenge. What a cunt Palmer is.
No way in hell was that a Penalty. It took a deflection of Mudryk’s head and that’s the second time in the game we are being robbed. First a no-red to Palmer and then this handball.
Fucking hell.
Hi KP
Kind of what I feared us to turn up with the usual international hangover and City game scrappy level.
Need to sort ourselves out and sharpish.
Palmer seems like an apt name for a complete fucking wanker!
Penalty after a handball by Saliba. Mudryk seems to have placed his header towards outstretched hand. Top level cuntery, but OK since name of the game is winning
We’re going to see a red card in this match – the conditions are pretty poor and Chelsea are getting stuck into us.
Only question is which was will the red go?
Jesus is a misfit in that place. Strikers do not have to think and do 2 taps to bury a chance.
But guess learning on the job is still learning. Problem with eating too much Catalan batata
Ben White looks like the dad (Wilfred Bramble) in ‘Steptoe and Son’.
Zinch is having a poor game.
Time for our wee bastard of a manager to earn his wages. We’ve looked very ordinary – error prone, disjointed and second to all the loose balls. Not good enough.
Kroenke
Poch has outthought Arteta – can Arteta change his tactics before the 75th minute?
Zinchenko out, Tomi is in.
But formation looks hotch potch
Shit
Pochettino put joy in Mudryk and the arsehole is delivering
Raya reminding us if Seaman at his very worst.
Shocking by the keeper.
The question of whether Ramsdale is good enough is a reasonable one – the answer however does not include Raya being the solution.
Another good question is where the fuck is Partey?
TP for Jorginho. I wonder how long it’ll take Tets to wake up and make more changes.
Can’t put a finger on what is choking up Saka. Is he not fit ?
But the run at 48 minutes showed he could do his thing , but running into a wall. Something tells me that the weird formation ,the team is so lost in was the last thing Arteta tried during last training session
I wonder if the fanboys are aware that unless Arteta pulls a rabbit out of his hat and the result remains the same Arteta is now 2 points down on the top team mini league table even after beating City.
As we’re playing so badly shouldn’t ESR come on, but we can expect Either of the 2 pets.
Now if I owned a football club and the manager had spent £65 odd million on an attacking player that most people thought was a bad idea and was then losing 2 nil I’d want to know why the fuck my £65 million wasn’t being brought on to get us back into the match.
This is a complete shit show of Arteta’s making. Pitch has got Arteta’s number.
Poch*
We miss Partey too much again.
Gifted a way back in.
What A GOAL
Score Level