Chelsea. It wasn’t ever thus. There was once a time when the word evoked a different series of meanings, conjured other images. Fashionable clothes, big side burns, walking down the Kings Road, colourfully clad pensioners with shining medals and long memories, Charlie Cooke, John Hollins, Alan Hudson, the Chelsea Drugstore (architecture meeting modern art on the corner of Royal Avenue and Kings Road), students and the Chelsea Flower Show. Everyone thinks their memories are embedded in a time of greater innocence, a halcyon era of a more simple, happier way of life, and I know I’m no different. However I do sometimes hanker for a time when there wasn’t this bitter loathing of other clubs. Did I despise Revie in the same way that Ferguson, Mourinho and Pulis make my lip curl today? Didn’t I used to look forward to a match, any match, regardless of the opposition? Maybe, maybe not, perhaps this is no more than an old man pining for his lost youth.
One thing not shrouded in a nostalgic rose tint is the fact that I was nearly a Chelsea fan. I know I’ve told you this before but it comes back to me each time their name appears on the fixture list. They played the hated Leeds United in the first FA Cup final I ever saw and I found I rather liked David Webb for putting away the winning header. Coupled with my first league game as a spectator being at the Dell where Southampton entertained Chopper Harris & co. and it is always possible I might have decided that Peter Osgood was better looking than John Radford, west was better than north and blue was better than red. Had the planets aligned in this way then these words would appear on Positively Chelsea and I wouldn’t be on speaking terms with any of you. Makes you think.
In any event I was never, not in a million years going to decide blue was better than red was I? While the papers shrieked about Chelsea Headhunters and bovver boot boys stalked the streets of West London my dad was quietly filling my head with talk of a different club, a club famous for innovation (under soil heating, son) class (marble, son, the halls were built of marble) and getting Bob Wilson’s autograph for me. When it came down to it Charlie Cooke was pretty cool but Charlie George was the single coolest footballer in the land. George Best? Not for me. When the other boys at school sang about Charlie being a superstar, they may have gone on to suggest he wears women’s clothes and a see through bra but I only heard the first line of their song.
So even though he was a Portsmouth fan, and even though he went to the Valley to watch Charlton Athletic when he moved to London, my dad steered me towards a life of vicarious voyeurism and masochistic joy as an Arsenal supporter. After the early seventies Chelsea never really showed up on my radar screen. It wasn’t until the silly money came along and put an end to the Ken Bates pantomime years that they surfaced as first a threat and later more of a torment. Their current manager is either trying to deflect media attention away from his troubled players or is genuinely coming unglued. I can’t tell which and frankly I can’t be arsed to give it much thought. He may be obsessed with Arsène but I’m not obsessed with him so let’s leave him to stew in his own juice and move on.
We have to travel to Stamford Bridge exhausted, dispirited and with our excellent return to form halted in Zagreb. The players had to complete much of Wednesday’s game with only ten men and our main striker Olivier Giroud is having a wretched start to the season. Replaced in the pecking order by Theo Walcott who is scoring goals for club and country with some regularity, our debonair French forward with the fine first touch and fluid passing skills was repeatedly fouled before being sent off for nothing in Croatia. Even here on what is supposed to be a positive supporters blog people prefer to blame our man rather than the referee. Honestly when a player loses the unflinching backing of the most one eyed, shamelessly partisan blog on the planet you know he is in trouble. What can be done? Well, personally I’d like to see him score a hat trick at lunchtime today but as he may not even start one wonders what he can do. Booed by sections of French support, wrongly castigated on-line at every turn by people who don’t deserve the eyesight with which they can’t see his strengths and the subject of endless transfer tattle as to who will replace him I struggle to remember a man less deserving of such opprobrium.
But football of course is a team game and the tribulations of one of our best players cannot derail the purpose of the whole squad. Per is still recovering from whatever evil spirit entered him but Aaron and ‘Ector should be fresh after putting their feet up while everyone else toiled and ultimately despaired in midweek. I don’t know how footballers do it but they have proved in the past that they can mentally compartmentalise different competitions. The Invincibles had a torrid time in the FA Cup and Champions league being knocked out of both by their two closest rivals but picked up where they’d left off in the league thrashing Liverpool in their next game. Can the current squad put the disappointment of Zagreb behind them and continue the progress they’ve been making in the league? Will Chelsea lift themselves for the big occasion in the way they’ve been unable to against so called lesser teams? These are the questions the answers to which should determine the outcome of today’s match.
Chelsea have problems, we all know that, they’ve made a shaky start to their league campaign but in the back of my mind there’s always the feeling of the beast cornered, never more dangerous than when wounded and underrated. Having said that we haven’t been riding a wave of perfect form, it’s been more a case of steady progress so I don’t think there is an air of over confidence. A draw would not be a surprise today as much as I’d rather see a few players add to an OG hat trick and give us a thumping victory, we need to temper our enthusiasm sometimes. The champions are not a crap team just because they have endured some crap results.
So two teams, both with points to prove to themselves and their fans after some unexpected reversals. Chelsea with home advantage Arsenal with the nicer fans, more intelligent manager and better looking players. Its in the balance really. They will kick us and dive and time waste and cheat as they always do, we will attempt to weave our magic patterns. It’s all a little predictable – all except the outcome. In total we’ve come away from Stamford Bridge having won 32 %, drawn 32% and lost 36% so history suggests we are more likely to get something than nothing. But as the famous football philosopher once said football is played on television not in the history books. Or something.
So, on that note I need to bugger off and leave you to your pre match routines while I start sticking pins in my Didier Drogba Diego Costa doll and polishing my lucky Arsenal mug. Not that I’m superstitious you understand, it’s just that, being entirely helpless to influence the result I feel a need to do something – anything – to appease the football Gods. I’ll be here to share the joys of victory with you, or should events unfold in confutation of this wholly desirable outcome then I shall retire gracefully into the shadows and pretend I never really liked football that much anyway.
Positively Arsenal 
I bet Gabriel will get charged by the FA for not leaving the field in a timely manner, an extra game or two ban for him.
I’d take off Cazorla and maybe Ozil, bring on Ox and Chambers, put Ramsey in the middle.
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Eddie – Gabriel had to stand up for his team mate there even if it meant a 1st yellow.
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I hate Chelsea, their players, their manager, their owner and their fans!!!
There, I said it!!
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As they were walking backwards he flicked his foot backwards DK , barely touched Costa but right in front on Dean and with the cheating fucker shrieking his head off
I am seriously getting pissed off with cheating cowardly footballers
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Per not on the bench shotta. Debuchy or Chambers.
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This will go by any other name but refereeing! Appalling doesn’t do any justice to the debacle on display by the whistle blowers. I’m so fuming here!!!
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shotta what I’m asking is what warranted the first yellow, I did not see Gabriel do anything that should have seen him get that yellow.
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If we are going to bunker down I would prefer Giroud on the field.
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Per is still sick Shotts
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I would not mind being a fly on the wall of the referee’s room at the moment
Bzzzzz
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thank god we are supporting Gabriel here!
Chelsea summed up in nutshell..what a disgraceful club.
Costa is such a nasty nasty player..so you can do whatever fuck you want behind the referees back and a mere touch with a boot warrants a card if made in front of the referee. what kind of fucked up world are we living in? seriously!
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Eddie – They were both pushing each other so yellow cards to both was justified. It happens all the time.
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I’m starting to feel the same way, Mickey Finn. This is descending into a farce. There is no other to put it. Sickening
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So it is Chambers.
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I love how Mike Dean thinks that he is being subtle.
Sorry Andrew you can’t defend this official please don’t waste your time attempting to do so.
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Le Coq Off and Chambo on !!
Injury or tactical ??
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Great now Coq is out. Unreal
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seemingly its chambers on for Coquelin, can only assume Coq did not get over that knee injury he picked up in first half
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Has to be an injury, Andy.
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Loomed – Hoping Coquelin is precautionary.
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I had a substantial criticism of Dean Fins for not red carding Diego Costa
I would probably tick him off for not awarding a penalty
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If not we are fucked, shotta. Coq is vital to the way we play.
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Come on Alexis.
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Come on Loomer. Are we fucked?
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2nd yellow indeed. Game over.
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I dont agree considering our midfield’s functionality in Zagreb, shotta. There is no denying we are far more dynamic with Coq in there. Arteta is a tidy player but he is not what we need there. Throws off the balance.
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Oh well…
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I blame Arsene Wenger (sic).
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Another twist of the knife by Dean. Ffs this is comical
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just a pathetic joke.Dean what a…
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The commentators on my feed want us to be more offensive with 9 men! What crock!
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What the fuckity fuck.
Chelsea fans celebrating this is sickening.
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There goes the expertise of our pundits.
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Shot ourselves in the foot, again.
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This Chelsea team has nothing. Mourinho is a midget besides Arsene Wenger.
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Very disappointing result – lot of character shown by the players.
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This is what having Mourinho in the league means. Cheating, play acting and all around fuckery in order to win. What a fucking disgrace.
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I don’t understand that referees and linesmen haven’t woken up to Costa’s modus operandi. He is just so blatant – there’s no sublety in him at all and they let him get away with it. The two swipes with the arm plus the chest butt at Koscielny were worth a sending off on their own for violent conduct. Don’t they see these things? And all he gets is a yellow for a bit of argy-bargy with Gabriel.
I’d give him a yellow for running on the pitch and another for coming back after half-time.
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Not often Rio says anything useful but he pointed out that the reason Costa reverted to the scratching/arm swinging/ chest butting crap was Kosc and Gabriel had him in their pocket
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No subtlety in him either.
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I’m so angry and frustrated that I just want to cry. Credit to the boys for never, ever giving up. Shout out to Aaron harassing and chasing to the corner in the 85th minute. This was one of the most unfair matches I have ever seen. Should Gabriel have walked away? Yes. But there shouldn’t have been anything to walk away from, because Costa should already be off. And fucking Robbie Earle saying well maybe we weren’t “too nice” but we were “too naive”. Naive in thinking we will EVER be allowed to get away with the shit that other teams do, maybe. Fucking state of refereeing.
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And Bellerin had Hazard in His po ley as Well.
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In his pocket. S
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Kelly, you shouldn’t watch the analysis on that network. I learned that a while ago. Even if we win they find faults in how we play.
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As the cheerleader for Gabriel’s aggressiveness, I am disappointed he fell for Costa’s fuckery. Blame the refs and linesmen as much as you like but it is well known we are punished more than most for any indiscretion. Forget the bullshit from the pundits about being soft, we need to be smart, much smarter than our opponents.
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Any news re Le Coq?
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I’m really pissed off with Arsene Wenger, today was a real wasted chance to make a difference and turn the tide, and our manager let us down completely. He failed totally. A perfect opportunity to make a statement of intent, and the old goat let us down.
Why the fuck did he not walk into the post match press conference say
“Diego Costa, dirty, cheating, diving cunt.”
and walk out, what the fuck where you thinking Wenger.
By the way Arsenal can have no excuses for today, isn’t that this seasons soundbite.
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i think we actually played quite well today. These games are usually decieded by small margins and the many incidents seen, missed and ignored by the ref proved pivotal.
Le coq knock defenately slowed him down and the ten minutes before half time saw the chelski midfield take over. then after that dean having already missing an obvious booking for costa for waving the imaginary yellow then managed, along with his assistant, two miss about four sending off offences from costa only to contrive to send Gabriel off. I’ve watched it again and can’t quite see how he gets his first booking when in the context of the game many players were losing it and ignored. It looked to me as if dean had lost control and just felt he needed to book somebody.
So after losing our defensive midfield lynchpin, our CB and going down to ten men the second half was always going to be difficult but it was dissapointing how we conceeded. Alexis going to sleep on the back post after chelski had been running down blind alleys during open play.
So everything was going wrong that could go wrong (we thought) however we still defended well and one nil looked liked the final score. Santi then gets sent off and it gets yet more difficult. Still I thought we looked resonably comfortable at the back and was looking at the game fiseling out without any further incident. then a shot gets a wicked deflection off of Chambers and sends Cech the wrong way.
I dont know how many mirrors we smashed this week but if luck evens out at the end of the season as the pundits say then we are due a mega shit load between now and the end of May.
As the pundits continue to ignore these incidents and comment on the score they are forgeting how well we played in parts, I thought Hector was immence, and just how flat chelski were again. They will also ignore how the chelski players are immune every year from walking against us, just like they ignored the cahill and fabregas incidents last year. My own view, in all big business money changes hands!
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Le Cunt blaming Wenger for this loss.
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gains all the WOB are blaming Wenger, the whole arsenal web world are at it,
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