It’s the Derby day and it couldn’t have been anymore important than this. We are sitting on 6th position, tied up on points with Chelsea and whoever wins today at Stamford Bridge goes to third position behind Liverpool and City, with only 2 points difference to the latter. Liverpool are on a brilliant run but they will have their bad moments at some point, all we can do is play our best, accumulate as much points as possible and hope for the best.
Right, so what has happened which is favoring us? Man City lost to Brighton even after scoring first – that’s 3 very important points lost for them. Forest, which sits above us just lost to Newcastle. Aston Villa lost. And not that it’s important to talk about other small clubs but Tottenham just lost at home to Ipswich Town. All we have to do is win and we are back in the mix.
Line up is out. Odegaard is back and we have our strongest playing XI on the pitch against Chelsea. Timber and White on either side with Gabriel and Saliba in the center, a midfield of Partey, Rice and Odegaard with Martinelli, Havertz and Saka up top. That’s our best line up, may be Calafiori in place of White but there isn’t much drop in quality.
We will have to see whether Odegaard picks up his form after being side-lined with injury for couple of months now. We need him at his best though.
The only thing that’s wrong about today is Michael Oliver. After gifting City 9 extra minutes and a win against 10-men Arsenal, he has been rewarded to referee a London Derby which features Arsenal. Stay prepared to see some silly decisions.
Chelsea have improved massively under Maresca. Mikel, after our Champions League loss, said in the press conference that we can go and win at Stamford Bridge if we play the way we played against Inter Milan. I think it’s foolish to commit such statement against a rival for a Derby and when you are a visiting side. It just puts some un-needed pressure on the players, managers and everyone around the club. UNLESS you walk the talk.
Most importantly, we need to fix our basics and get back to the attacking football. That 10-men game against City has dented our confidence and we need to get out of it. We have failed to score against Inter, against Bournemouth and Newcastle and that’s not a good thing. Frankly, I love Marti but he should force his way to the middle and start contributing in terms of goals and assists. It’s not like he hasn’t got chances.
Right, a short one today. Game’s in 15 odd minutes and hopefully we paint the bridge red today. See you during the game.
Cheers
Ref is fishy. That was a legitimate push by Odegaard.
Their manager is a shade above El B. They could improve if Gusto is substituted because then Palmer might be utilised more.
Hoopah
The Chelsea manager is a different colour let alone shade above Arteta – he’s been in the job a couple of months and inherited a team that was a complete shambles.
finally some good numbers in the box, too bad White was a little late to get on the end of Mart’s cross
fortunate again…don’t know why we never have our defenders go hunting on occasion
Havertz is leaking again
what a moron
Some of our players really are thick as shit.
Who would anyone say we have on the bench who could change the game?
Ethan can pick a goal but I see no one except Jesus and Trossard who are hit and miss this season.
match is getting chippy…that could help us, as no team flops like ours nowadays
Rice’s dead ball skills have regressed
Tony
I think both managers are treating this as a must not lose rather than a must win game.
And then Martinelli scores so I’ll shut the fuck up!
Ethan or Tross, who seems more effective coming off the bench
as I’m writing this Marts puts us up by one…let’s hope he’s onside
Smash and grab what a big goal for us.
Sanchez bad positioning leaving too big a near post gap
Odegaard made the difference. He saw Martinelli totally uncovered which also speaks a lot about Chelsea coach
What will Enzo do now?
Tony—Rice wouldn’t be a set piece specialist on any other team…too much loft and not enough pace, just like his crossfield passes…he did look good a few games back, but as a general rule he’s a bang average set piece option
Enzo will likely bring his namesake on, plus some wide side pace, maybe Mudryk
🇳🇴 to 🇧🇷=gooooooool
so happy we didn’t overextend ourselves to get Neto…interesting how he’s not had a injury since arriving in London considering his paper mache past…of course now that I’ve mentioned his name he’ll surely punish us
a serious inury
That Timber run and shot was giving me Winterburn and Silvinho vibes.
Bang on TRVL mudflaps is on with Fernandez.
He’s a gobshite though Neto isn’t he.
RVL
Like an order in an Indian tea shop.
Ekh Enzo delivery !
Here we go again how many times do we give up a lead. Stunning strike, though.
fuck me I’m good at that jinxing shit…I should stick to just picking subs
Wish Havertz could do that
Soft goal. Everyone of the right side switches off.
What a swing and miss