The last time Arsenal beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was over 5 years
ago. That was a looong time ago.
So it’s no surprise that this, along with Arsenal rather dismal record
vs top 6 opposition last season, is the leading narrative used in the
media space building up to the game, while adding a bit of a twist to
the David and Goliath story, where David, who ran out of gummyberry
juice, is now left in total “shambles”… at Goliath’s mercy.
Fair enough! Going to the Bridge, or rather, leaving the Bridge hasn’t
exactly been a joyous exercise these last few years, not even with the
world-class talents of Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez in our ranks. But
then again, the Chelsea teams of then have been bus parkers
extraordinaire, their primary form of attack being the counter, and
with great success compared to the low-budget forces from elsewhere.
This Antonio Conte outfit however is different, he wants his team
playing the good stuff, and that suits our style better.
So last season vs top 6 opposition aside and looking at Chelsea in
isolation; the last 12 months we played them 4 times, beating them on
3 of those occasions. Granted none of those games won were at
Chelsea’s spiritual home, but it was recent and it should tell us that
there’s no need to be apprehensive about these pricks.
Arsenal players know they can beat Chelsea, Chelsea players are aware
our players know they can beat them. Stamford Bridge? Meh! We just
need to play to our potential.
We now also have Saed Kolašinac, an absolute beast that just wanna run
through players and with a left boot Podolski would be proud of, and
Alexandre Lacazette that looks extremely calm in front of goal.
With me touching on the last 5 years, and a little bit on the last 12
months, what does the last month tell me leading up to today’s
fixture:
Chelsea started their PL campaign in embarrassing fashion vs Burnley,
since then it look like they have pulled themselves together. Our
moment of embarrassment came at Anfield, so hopefully that was when
our lightbulb went on.
Following the international break Chelsea beat Leicester 2-1 in a
close contest, of cause with the help of a ref and lino, allowing a
Morata off-side goal, then their first team (scared much) wiped out
Azerbaijani giants, Qarabag. We beat Bournemouth pretty convincingly,
with a wonderful display of Wenger-ball, then comfortably in the end
dispose of Köln with an experimental team short of match fitness. So
we go into this game fairly even, the one advantage Chelsea could have
though is that they, well, have home advantage. But as I said; meh!
Make no mistake though, Chelsea might be suffering a fall from grace
in punditry circles as they are now only seen as the team-elect to
“put pressure on” – ahem, Spurs busy with some voodoo or whatever –
after they sold Matic to a rival to finance a replacement for a player
that is still part of their squad… they can be very destructive on
their day.
Team selection: I think with Oxlade now gone, and hopefully putting a
curse on Liverpool, selecting a matchday 11 became a bit easier for
Arsène Wenger, as it’s one less of those pamper type players. Leaving
Bellerín and Kolašinac first choice wing backs on their respective
sides and the rest pretty much selecting themselves if available.
A spot of bother could be Mesut Özil. Unconfirmed news going around is
that he could sit out today due to injury. I would like to think that
the manager will leave the decision up the last minutes with fixture
difficulty easing a bit over the next 4 weeks. If he can’t play, Mo
Elneny look very sharp on Thursday and had a near perfect successful
pass rate. He’s not a flamboyant player, but he does do the basics
right, even in games we seem to struggle. So he could have dibs coming
in for the German, with either Ramsey or Xhaka possibly making a
positional switch to compensate.
Here’s the selection conundrum…
Arsène’s one headache though could be whether to Alexis Sánchez or not
to Alexis Sánchez.
Welbeck might not be everybody’s cup of tea but he is a team player
first and thus vital in the application of the manager’s tactics. This
is the one area I feel a tough decision need to be made, because
Chelsea will exploit a not fully match fit yet Alexis Sánchez’s
weakness. It’s one thing carelessly giving away possession when we are
on the front foot vs sub-standard opposition, another doing so vs a
team filled with truly world-class attacking players.
In media circles they say Arsenal is only one defeat away from a
“crisis”, I say Arsenal is always one big victory away from going on
good run. Playing as “a team” today will be key.
“Alles van die beste” to all going to the Bridge and those watching
the game at home/pub today.
Let’s keep hope alive, because it’s the hope man, it’s the hope…
A guest post form @Labo_Goon
Positively Arsenal 
Good morning to you all, and good luck to the boys.
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Long overdue a win there, but in reality, think they will give it a real go with a draw a possibility
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Thank you for the preview Labo
Hopefully if Sanchez is going to start he’s recovered from his niggle and has also shaken off his pre-season rust. Last time out against the gas guzzlers he played alright! Not a bad replacement for the efficient and reliable German* hah!
COYG!
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*Someone said to me if Ozil wanted to leave that they’d drive him to the airport. I replied that Ozil did the metaphorical equivalent for John Terry’s rep as a top flight footballer in 2010 (too many cortisone injections had left the skilled and passing CB as an immobile hulk, protected and indulged by Riley’s crows for some reason or other but exposed outside the PL thereafter).
To be fair and reasonable we should remember that we’ve seen some flagrant tilting from the officials at SB. TBF to Conte’s team they didn’t receive such obvious and undeniable assistance during this fixture last season.
Are City this season’s aniointed petrogarchy? they had some stinky calls last season as the decks were cleared for Gazcorp, young Pep was not amused.
Will the Mendez charitable eleven from the other side of Manchester get the waft of Riley’s favour as the season progresses? Is losing Pogba for six weeks a blessing or a curse?
Thank the football gods for the Arsenal
COYG!
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Eds and Shotta,
Follow the story surrounding the England’s women’s team at the moment for a measure of the FA’s quality, and of bigotry in English football (how does a three month long “enquiry” not interview key witnesses? We all know the answer to that one!)
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/sep/15/fa-mark-sampson-text-messages-investigation-england-women
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N.B.: Terry didn’t start the CL final in 2012 IBSF
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http://babagrumpy.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/arsenal-fans-do-you-know-club-you.html
I love Baba.
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I say Arsenal is always one big victory away from going on
good run. Playing as “a team” today will be key.
Absolutley, a 0-2 win sees us go third above Newcastle and the media favourites chelski,tinytotts,pool not a bad start if we can get it COYG.
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Very enjoyable piece Labo many thanks.
I’m far more confident of a victory against the chavs nowadays than in the recent past.
As long as we don’t lose concentration and perform self-inflicted mistakes we should be ok.
I expect a win.
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I love Alexis, I also feel while waiting for that moment of so brilliance so many other stuff happens in between. He got it right at the back end of last season though. If he start hopefully that’s who see.
This team need to get the Stamford Bridge monkey off their backs, next 3-5 PL fixtures is not that difficult, a win today could set us up nicely.
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Today’s game will depend
1 Ref turns up
2 No stupid mistakes i.e. early goal conceded or red card , sloppy passes,
3 winning the midfield battle , this will put pressure on their defence which is their weakest link
4 taking our chances with attack we have we will chances
We may lose the game but I never watch a game thinking we are going to lose
COYG
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Nice piece, tnx! indeed incredible nobody in the press gives any weight to the fact that we won 3 out of 4, and the FA cup previews are all the same now. we are sh*te, Chelsky gonna steamroll us. As nobody ever learns. Especially the so called ‘quality’ newspaper Guardian is a big disappointment. If they cannot get the basics right in footy journalism, how am I supposed to look at the rest of the Guardian news?
Lets turn the newsspeak. In light of recent results, Arsenal will probably get a win today! COYG!
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Best of luck to our team.
Don’t see why we can’t get 3 points @ the Bridge after going toe-to-toe with Chelski and winning 3 of 4.
No Mesut could mean Mo’Neny & Jack with a dash of Maitland-Niles or even Alexis as a 10.
The hope is that whatever team walks out delivers the spirit & effort.
COYG!!!!
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Not surprised Sanchez starts on the bench
Despite his excellent goal he in large part gave the ball away and slowed play too much against koln
He does not look fully much fit either
Interesting Iwobi starts in the Ozil role he certainly has it in him to suprise a few people
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Iwobi gets the keys to no.10 with Welbeck as the nominal second striker.
Alexis was chugging on Thursday night, so not really a surprise. No doubt the Groaners with the outstanding track records will be gibbering all over the gaff but for those of us who love watching the football and to see younger players and not just Mendez mules being given a crack, it’s exciting stuff. (The esteemed Groaners are against ‘modern football’ but bow down and more before the super agents: go figure!).
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for me I would suggest that this is the biggest game we have played for a very long time, bigger in many ways than even the FA Cup final, as it could very well set the tone for the rest of the season, a win away to the Champions, and it gets a monkey off our back, it gives the team the confidence to go on that winning run that “one good win away from” we are.
Lose and it reinforces, not only our awful record away to the other big clubs, but our awful away record last and this season, last year we won only one game against the team that finished in the top 10, we had 6 away defeats, 2 draws and 1 win (v Southamtpon), we have lost both away games so far this, and the performance at LFC was downright pathetic, any repeat of that today and another massive loss is on the cards.
Every pundit, every journos, even most AFC blogs, are forecasting a defeat for us today, some are forecasting a real thumping. Well its time for our players to stand up and be counted, show the world that they can do it, show their worth. What always really annoys me about so many of our away defeats is how passively our players accept it, far too often they just lie down and take it, fall apart once we go behind.
No doubt our players will have seen the forecasts, the predictions of a loss, even a big loss, its about time the maned up and went out there and rammed it down their throats. Will they, I don’t know, but I want to see them try, and not play like they too think its a fait accompli
Come on you Gooners, shut these fuckers up
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It will be interesting to what subs we make
Ramsey could move to 10 position and Elneny comes in to play with Xhaka
I like Elneny he has energy and he looks to get the ball forward
Such an intelligent player
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Welbeck really should have scored there
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good build up by ramsey and bellerin sees lacazette shoot straight at the keeper
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Two decent efforts. Close!
COYG!
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Lovely stuff from Ramsey carving open the space for Bellerin to pull back for Laca.
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kolasinac with a powerful shot from 30 yards
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Now the new LB goes close. Kalashnikov (?) firing in another decent effort.
Pedro? Meh the Spanish Theo has the better technique but the poorer record in front of goal.
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poor defending sees Pedro clear in on goal, think it was kos who got back to hinder him, Cech saves
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Really should ahead
We need to sort out the simple balls behind the defence
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xhaka close with a long range piledriver
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OMG Ramsey nearly scoring goal of the century
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oh so close, ramsey after a great run hits the post with his shot
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Great defending today so far, allowing Champs at home with only good chance so far *touch timber*
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We’ve rattled them and pretty gone toe to toe with em
Unfortunate not to have scored
Can’t fault the effort everyone is putting in a hell of a shift
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HT: 0-0
unadventurous first 15 then AFC the much better team, really should be ahead. Dominating the game, CFC causing us problems with the ball over the top.
We need a little more from Iwobi, Lacazette and Welbeck.
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Arsenal dominant. But need to make it count.
Why is Mesut out? Any idea?
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This next 5 mins could be season defining
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brilliant all around by the Arsenal.
these 11 players fully trust themselves.
The situational team press has been exceptional
Positional discipline top notch.
Making Chelski 2nd guess themselves all over the park
Heres to an even better 2nd half..COYG!!!
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Good solid performance. We are more than edging it. Chelsea have so much quality we could be punished but we are dominating almost everywhere. I like it so far.
This is also a very good performance without Özil and Sanchez!
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thankfully I had a poor stream for the first 15 minutes, it kept buffering, it was sky’s commentary, the anti afc bias was awful, I then tuned into a foreign language stream, I’ve no idea if they were bias in any manner, but just understanding the players names and the excitement in the commentary was so much more enjoyable than the bullshit that sky give us.
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Lacazette has found it very difficult today
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I wish we got freekicks as easy as CFC are getting them
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luiz booked for kicking koscielny in the face as kos heads clear, luiz doing an overhead kick.
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cfc are causing us more problems this half
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We are still on top
Pundits struggling to get Chelsea into the game
Another excellent move from Ramsey
You just feel he is destined to score in this game
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Eduardo to be honest I haven’t seen much from Chelsea this half
Almost as if they are in 2 minds on what to do
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65 minutes, Lacazette off, Alexis on. Its the sub I would have done too. Lacazette did not have a good game today.
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willian off, hazard on for cfc
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looks like welbeck has injured his groin
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Giroud on for Welbeck, come on ollie get your 100th today
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Mustafi goal ruled out for offside, looked correct call
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80 minutes – Elneny on for Iwobi
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It was offside unlucky
It will be a travesty if we don’t win this game
Lads have been brilliant
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