I was hoping to get through this morning’s epistle without mention of Chelsea’s erstwhile manager. Not the interim incumbent, I don’t mean him, I mean the one in charge when they started their title defence last season. I told myself that he is no longer there and is therefore no longer relevant and is the subject of so much journalistic and blogging hot air that it doesn’t need me to blow any more up his skirt.
There is a problem though. I simply can’t decide if Chelsea with him means the same as it does without him. In terms of rivalry it is of course a London derby between two of the capital’s biggest teams and as such will always carry more weight than a more humdrum fixture. Even without the Graceless One in the dugout or prowling the touchline there are still players likely to pull on the blue jersey for whom we can feel no love. There is one in particular who has built a reputation for scoring goals when many observers wonder how he is still on the pitch to score them such is his otherworldly ingenuity for unpunished foul play.
Despite the presence of such malevolent incarnations of footballing villainy the fixture has, for me, lost a little of its sting. I never hated Chelsea for being another London club. Neither living in nor hailing from the Big Smoke I shan’t add that hypocrisy to my list of faults. I disliked them for their association with the sudden jarring influx of unearned dirty money which so distorted the competitiveness of the league. I disliked many of their players in that pantomime way we fans have of caricaturing certain footballers from other teams. But mainly I didn’t like that oafish, pestilential sore of a man who so utterly epitomises all that is abhorrent in the modern game.
And now he’s gone. From Stamford Bridge at least. And with him a whiff of corruption has been lifted from today’s opponents. I don’t know a great deal about signore Conte except what I saw on the touchline at the recent European championships. His CV is pretty impressive though and we’d all do well to be wary of any side he manages, especially one which, along with the notable scoundrels, contains some extremely talented footballers.
They’ve started in a remarkably similar vein to us this season. Losing to Liverpool, picking up one away draw and winning the rest. Apart from beating Burnley by three their victories and defeat have been decided by the odd goal. What little we can deduce from these early season stats suggests they aren’t scoring by the bucket load but neither are they leaking many at the other end. A gambling man might think a draw the likely result.
I’m not a gambler. I have an inelegant sufficiency of other vices thank you very much, but were I to fancy a flutter I must confess to a certain bullish premonition on this fine autumnal morning. I think we’re due a bit of an upturn in our fortunes against Fulham’s finest. There is something about Arsenal this season which might give other sides pause for thought. A certain irascible refusal to bow to injurious destiny even in the face of such shockingly adverse circumstances as going a goal behind in the first minute in Paris.
Call it the silly superstitions of a foolish old man but I have a good feeling about Arsenal right now, a feeling which extends beyond the usual wishful thinking. The last time I had this positive tingle we went on to win the FA Cup so who knows? Of course come seven thirty this evening my upbeat mood may have taken a dent, sport is anything but an exact science, but win lose or draw today I can’t help thinking this squad has all the necessary elements to achieve something special.
The potential return of our Gallic heartthrob up front will give Arsène the kind of selection headache managers are reputed to enjoy, but we are in such a position of strength right now that he could easily decide to leave his number one striker on the bench rather than risk him from the start. Alexis has shown he is more than capable of playing up front. As the team adjusts to the more fluid style of a central striker who drifts around the line, he looks like an increasingly lethal option. Theo especially dovetails well with him, coming in off the wing when our Chilean dynamo leaves space in the middle. The other option, now his dreaded first goal is out of the way, is our new signing. Alexis, Pérez, Walcott would be a scarily fast front three, if a little on the diminutive side.
Of course which striker we choose won’t matter a hoot if Granit Xhaka gets a game. Just give him the ball anywhere on the pitch and if you’re stood in front of him for goodness sake duck. Should he start though? To my mind Santi hasn’t done anything to get himself dropped but with a European game on the horizon and with his understudy in compelling, goal scoring form maybe he gets a rest today. Maybe not. Whoever starts I’m happy to trust the judgement of those with the plan. As we say every week, second guessing the boss is a mugs game so let’s be content to wait and see.
Andy Nic’s friend with the whistle needs to have a good game today. The result may be unpredictable but what we can know for certain is one Chelsea player will be trying to get someone sent off from the moment the first ball is kicked. It is the kind of childish, odious approach to the game which deserves a disrepute charge, but no matter how unjust and no matter how righteous their cause our players simply cannot afford to react to his sly, niggling provocation. The rules of the game do not allow for self imposed justice, we have no choice but to hope that for once the officials are actually equal to the task and can prevent him from ruining what ought to be an excellent sporting contest.
Right, that’s enough from me, I have hash browns to prepare. If you’re at the game today I hope you’re in good voice, if not I’ll see you here at five thirty. Salut!
Positively Arsenal 
Nice vittles to keep us going before the game!Where is Muttley?Off buying or begging for meals somewhere?
Thanks Stew, and a fair morning to you, and hope the Arsenal flagon was drunk from today? Salus!
COYG!
LikeLike
Yes indeed. A fine organic loose leaf green tea.
LikeLike
Do you like a drop of the Rooibos?
LikeLike
I do indeed.
LikeLike
Oolong? Although Gunpowder should be more appropriate!
LikeLike
I buy gunpowder tea from a Chinese supermarket in Bristol when someone is kind enough to take me in there. it is ace!
LikeLike
Good morning Stew and Mills,
Great prospects today and we go into the game with a markedly better team, player for player, than we have for a decade. Our bench oozes quality. It is really just up to the crowd to roar us on to a long overdue home win.
Regarding CFC managers other than the Vile One they have been a fairly reasonable lot. Ancelotti was probably the best of the lot and Abramovich a fool to sack him.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Morning Andy. Who has the whistle and cards today then? What can we expect?
LikeLike
Good morning A5, Im with you on your thoughts re our team and Abramovich’s managerial choices!
COYG!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Brilliant again Steww,
Gambling men however would undoubtably bet against us. Only two wins against chelski in the last ten at home, more players sent off against chelski than any other club, never winning a game with this particular ref and well that other thing luck that just seems to desert us in these games oh and they have some very good players who will sit and try and catch us on the break, quick in transition Arsene called it and our defence and midfield will have to respond quickly wherever we lose the ball.
I may sound extremly negative today because the facts are there staring us in the face shouting defeat however like Steww I too have got that sneeking feeling about the growth of this side It looks like building into a very good one. The 2004 side struggled early on before growing into the untouchables and these are the type of games you just have to struggle past to grow into a beast of a side. COYG
LikeLiked by 1 person
5.30 PM seems a long way away.
LikeLike
George you have ManYoo/Leicester to amuse you in a couple of hours then we will all be cheering Middlesborough from 3. Time for a quick dog walk and the match will be with us. Crikey, not long at all really, I’d better get dressed.
LikeLike
Lovely stuff Steww. I fear my dislike of this crowd goes back much longer. Chopper Harris started raising the boil. Le Saux and Wise turned the boil to a carbuncle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Prior to Euro 2012, Conte was accused of failure to report attempted match-fixing during his time as manager of Siena
LikeLiked by 1 person
talking about match fixing
https://twitter.com/Vahooos/status/779340005240037376
LikeLiked by 1 person
Arsenal Fixture News @AFCFixtureNews 1h1 hour ago
The U16’s are playing Norwich, West Ham and Fulham today in a Premier League qualifying tournament at Bishams Abbey, behind closed doors.
LikeLike
My response to Chelsea games remains Pavlovian for now : pain.
Losing to them is unpleasant enough but it’s the injustices which are more painful. Last year’s first game was as bad as it gets : it was about to happen, had to, one of theirs was to be sent off for once (their last was 2006-7), with a full half to play…then the horrible realisation that he would get away with it, even as he still carried on with it, then, somehow, somehow, Dean, by biding his time and letting Costa continue his work unimpeded, gets his chance and it’s us who get the sending off.
It bloody killed me. Cahill inexplicably only seeing yellow for a 100% red was nearly as bad.
I can’t think of Chelsea without those emotions coming back, so it’s not about playing well for me; it’s about playing well and somehow surviving their cheating intact, when the past suggests it is extremely unlikely
Perhaps one good win can help undo my conditioning (could that fucker Pavlov undo his work?). Oliver was certainly welcome and a massive surprise given Dean and Atkinson seemed to be permanent guardians of the fixture.
Stats since 2006-7 : Arsenal reds 4, Chelsea 0 ; Arsenal pens 1, Chelsea 5. For dirty bastards, they have been so clean. For soft bastards, we’ve been so dirty.
I’m taking no chances and have the beers ready for whatever may come.
LikeLiked by 7 people
Michael Gooner @MickTheGooner 54m54 minutes ago
Arsenal Home Record Premier League Era:
Emirates: 64.58% (Played 192, Won 124)
Highbury: 62.87% (Played 272, Won 171)
LikeLiked by 1 person
There’s no doubt that the most effective part of the Chavski team during our derby in recent years has been their referee. Without the skills of Atkinson, Dean et al, we wouldn’t be looking at such a long record. Unfortunately Michael Oliver doesn’t like us winning either but his favourite is a draw… which Is better than a loss.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Top, top quality from our boy Stew. We expect nothing less.
I noticed from the blog itself and in the comments a positive feeling about this squad and a feeling of optimism about this match. By now you know of my research on the role of greed and despair in creating irrational expectations about investments in general and football in particular. In this case we have grounds for optimism given the improvements in our football team over the past 4-5 years. For example Mustafi won’t be easily outrun by Diego Costa. But a note of caution, Chelsea no longer has the Odious One at the helm. He has definitely turned them around psychologically and they are a more business-like outfit. Nonetheless the recent 8 years of data as revealed in my opening day of season blog (Liverpool 3-6 Arsenal) suggests they are a trending lower than us in terms of average league position:
Man United: 2.88
Arsenal: 3.38
Man City: 3.38
Chelsea: 3.63
One game can by no means confirm a trend but win, lose or draw it will certainly go somewhere in confirming whether we are a top-2 or top-4 team.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Assuming we finish the game with a full quota of players on the pitch, think we can do rather well today, Wengers point about remaining ice cool was key, and may influence his selection.
But gut feeling, taking all into account , a score draw, perhaps a Desmond.
Hopefully, Costa behaves, but should he not……surely he cannot get away with it again?
LikeLiked by 3 people
No doubt Chelsea will be cheating furiously and make refereeing the game fairly as difficult as possible for Michael Oliver. We shall however remain patient and disciplined. As I said above and after the Saints game the crowd really do have a serious job of work to do in relation to the officials. I’d would place Oliver in my top three PL officials despite his relative inexperience.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hear hear Stew!
This is always one of those fixtures I go into a bit apprehensive, not because I think we are inferior to Chelsea but because whatever luck is sometimes needed to get over the line seems to desert us in this particular one. In recent fixtures though the designated Lady seem to smile upon us more often than not – refs are more aware of the rules when our players are fringed upon in the penalty area, Coquelin seem unfazed after his habitual early yellow, opposition strikers seem rather intimidated by the superior talents of our last line in defence when clear on goal and Xhaka…
Well, so on that I’ll go in with a bit more belief that this is the fixture why Arsenal got progressively better in each performance after the FIFA break.
Salut and COYG.
LikeLiked by 3 people
My plan today was to work, before our game obviously, but a lurid fascination is dragging me toward the 12.30 kick off at Trafford Park
LikeLike
Conte will look to stop Ozil and Santi while trying to hit us on the counter. This will be one of those games which will be defined by one mistake.
Good post, Stew.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too Andy – apart from the ‘w’ word of course.
Gainsy – let’s hope we don’t make that mistake then.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it’s important that Leicester win today. Given what we know of Mourinho he can win every prize in sport, as long as he has a bottomless purse, unqualified media support and ‘big’ players. The one thing he emphatically cannot do is halt a major slide. The great managers, ours included, can patiently and carefully reverse a bad run of results and get things back on track, he tends to unravel. So come on Leicester, pull at that loose thread.
LikeLike
Suicidal from Leicester. Multiple chances to get it back in the box and yet they wait patiently for Man U to come take the ball from them then nearly concede from the counter.
LikeLike
Pogba trying it but he’s no Xhaka.
LikeLike
I’ve got nothing against the corporation GazCorp
LikeLike
Don’t have to much to say about the refugee or sanction buster who invested in some property (a bus stop) in West London.
LikeLike
Problem with watching Man U is it’s no fun unless they’re losing. Waste of time otherwise
LikeLiked by 5 people
As for the goose stepping raised hand saluting, gurning gum mashers, I confess that I do enjoy a victory over them.
Come on the Arsenal.
LikeLike
Full Time: Arsenal U18’s 5 – 0 Leicester City 0
Nketiah hat-trick, McGuane and an og from the leicester keeper, a bad day all round for him as McGuane’s goal came when the keeper kicked the ball against McGuanes back and it went into the net.
LikeLike
Well that will teach me to dodge the column
LikeLike
Problem with Man U is that Mourinho might have figured out just in time that he (& previous) managers should and should’ve been playing Mata at AM for the last period (& the last few seasons), ahead of the unfit dude who was dropped by Fergus in his last season because he was unfit (and not training properly).
Fingers crossed the personal lationship between the two is beyond explain, but I doubt it after that goal just saved this squad from a potential slump.
Mata was Gazprom’s best player every season he was there, the F Word has been a poor replacement for the loss,though that won’t stop insane Groaners groaning about wanting the busted flush back at AFC.
LikeLiked by 1 person
F*ck me Leicester are shag-they seemed ok at null null! But can they come back? Mou will sneak off early before HT to look in the mirror,and weep a little?
LikeLiked by 2 people
LCFC doing everything they can to save Mourinho from getting sacked in the morning.
LikeLiked by 2 people
LOL fins!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mata, as he was in the last encounter with Utd, he is their Key player.
I was hoping that to see Mourinho burn all bridges and scupper his own boat as he tried to avoid picking the player that he had previously sold.
But he’d have to be properly crazy, completely goo goo ga ga, as opposed to being a specialist on behalf of the special agents, if he continued to ignore Mata. Then again he did sell him and KDB.
Hopefully this selection and performance is just a temporary blip.
(We have been spoiled by over 12 months of comedy football from the Specialist).
LikeLiked by 2 people
Leicester overrun in midfield, shit at set pieces. Yet Mourinho is glum. I suspect he knows he is hanging by a thread. The one thing United brass will not forgive is the damage to the “brand” and that book by Rob Beasly exposed him as totally radioactive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fins – I think the “specialist” is damned win, lose or draw. Just my opinion without a shred of data to back me up.
LikeLike
Hope so Shotts.
The dreams emanating from the special agents’ stable droppings have a different smell.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Come on LCFC make Mou sweat a bit.Couple of goals from them and theres still a chance…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fins – To keep milking the club the Glazers have to maintain a pristine brand. Without premier league or champions league titles the brand is suffering. Mourinho’s character and personality is needless damage.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I tweeted that money cannot save Mahrez and Vardy’s reputation. Minutes later Ranieri substitutes them at half-time. Prophet?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Chambers starts for middlesboro v spurs today
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wilshere starts for AFCB v everton
LikeLiked by 1 person
If only Mourinho had continued to listen to plundits like Danny Murphy…
LikeLike