Our away fixture at Stamford Bridge on Sunday represents a pivotal moment in our development as team and will give us a good indication of what this season will hold for us. Arsenal are coming into the game on the back of a solid win in the Champions League, but a woeful showing against West Brom last Saturday means that six games into the new season we are under serious pressure. The main issue over the last few seasons is that when we have come up against one of our main rivals, we tend to fall drastically short. If one was being optimistic, it would be easy to write off our past failings as being exactly that – in the past. I worry that this is being too hopeful and thus I keep on asking myself just how much of an impact will last seasons results against Chelsea have on our performance on Sunday? Do the players really believe that they can go to Stamford Bridge and win? Unfortunately only the players and the manager can answer these questions and we can merely speculate. What we do know is that in order to win the game, the team will need to display something that we don’t tend to see from them which is giving 100% and fighting for each other in all areas of the pitch.
Once again injuries are playing havoc with our season, although I have a suspicion that Fabregas will play on Sunday, should he not be available then a lot of responsibility could fall on Jack Wilshere. I felt it took a couple of games for Jack to feel comfortable in the first eleven and to get used to playing for a top team rather a run of the mill club like Bolton. There is no doubting that at the age of 18, Wilshere is already a pivotal figure for our club and one that has to start at Chelsea. As I’ve remarked previously, I much prefer to see him play a deeper lying role where he can get on the ball and influence the play with his excellent range of passing. Having Fabregas alongside him will enable Jack to do this and could swing the game in Arsenal’s favour depending on how Song (or Denilson) deals with the powerhouse that is Michael Essien. Perhaps a key area for hope is the injury to Lampard which will keep him out of Sunday’s game; always a prominent figure against us, his absence does remove one of their major goal threats which can only be a positive. Whilst the midfield battle will be crucial in determining the outcome of the game, Chelsea will also look to play the ball over the top and into the channels for Drogba to use his pace and power. Drogba is a goal scoring machine and a truly fantastic player, 12 goals in 12 games against Arsenal tells its own story and he could well be the difference on Sunday. So how can we stop the inevitable? Although I’m not one of Djourou’s biggest fans, I think he has to start the game ahead of Koscielny based on the fact that he is far more capable to deal with Drogba’s physical strength and has experience of this fixture which could be absolutely vital - he was on the winning side in this encounter two seasons ago (although he scored an own goal, he actually played very well). Failure to deal with Drogba will lead to defeat and although I don’t advocate violence on the football pitch, we need to stop him by all means necessary!
In this fixture last season we dominated play but just couldn’t find a way through, I expect a similar sort of pattern to develop this time and thus it’s crucial that the likes of Arshavin and Nasri make the most of the chances that come their way. The importance of Sunday cannot be overestimated; a win would give us an enormous confidence boost going into an important part of the season and give the team the belief that they can mix it with the very best. Although I’m feeling pessimistic about our chances, it’s definitely a game that we can win and a draw would be by no means a bad result in the grand scheme of things. Let’s not forget that we went to the Bridge a couple of seasons ago in a game no one gave us much hope in and won thanks to an RVP double albeit the first goal was about 5 yards offside!
I think the team should line up something like this:
Almunia
Sagna
Djourou
Squillaci
Gibbs
Denilson
Fabregas
Wilshere
Arshavin
Nasri
Chamakh
All we can ask is that they fight for each other and put in a performance to make us proud.
Come on you gunners!
You can also follow me on Twitter
Once again injuries are playing havoc with our season, although I have a suspicion that Fabregas will play on Sunday, should he not be available then a lot of responsibility could fall on Jack Wilshere. I felt it took a couple of games for Jack to feel comfortable in the first eleven and to get used to playing for a top team rather a run of the mill club like Bolton. There is no doubting that at the age of 18, Wilshere is already a pivotal figure for our club and one that has to start at Chelsea. As I’ve remarked previously, I much prefer to see him play a deeper lying role where he can get on the ball and influence the play with his excellent range of passing. Having Fabregas alongside him will enable Jack to do this and could swing the game in Arsenal’s favour depending on how Song (or Denilson) deals with the powerhouse that is Michael Essien. Perhaps a key area for hope is the injury to Lampard which will keep him out of Sunday’s game; always a prominent figure against us, his absence does remove one of their major goal threats which can only be a positive. Whilst the midfield battle will be crucial in determining the outcome of the game, Chelsea will also look to play the ball over the top and into the channels for Drogba to use his pace and power. Drogba is a goal scoring machine and a truly fantastic player, 12 goals in 12 games against Arsenal tells its own story and he could well be the difference on Sunday. So how can we stop the inevitable? Although I’m not one of Djourou’s biggest fans, I think he has to start the game ahead of Koscielny based on the fact that he is far more capable to deal with Drogba’s physical strength and has experience of this fixture which could be absolutely vital - he was on the winning side in this encounter two seasons ago (although he scored an own goal, he actually played very well). Failure to deal with Drogba will lead to defeat and although I don’t advocate violence on the football pitch, we need to stop him by all means necessary!
In this fixture last season we dominated play but just couldn’t find a way through, I expect a similar sort of pattern to develop this time and thus it’s crucial that the likes of Arshavin and Nasri make the most of the chances that come their way. The importance of Sunday cannot be overestimated; a win would give us an enormous confidence boost going into an important part of the season and give the team the belief that they can mix it with the very best. Although I’m feeling pessimistic about our chances, it’s definitely a game that we can win and a draw would be by no means a bad result in the grand scheme of things. Let’s not forget that we went to the Bridge a couple of seasons ago in a game no one gave us much hope in and won thanks to an RVP double albeit the first goal was about 5 yards offside!
I think the team should line up something like this:
Almunia
Sagna
Djourou
Squillaci
Gibbs
Denilson
Fabregas
Wilshere
Arshavin
Nasri
Chamakh
All we can ask is that they fight for each other and put in a performance to make us proud.
Come on you gunners!
You can also follow me on Twitter
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