Arsenal take the short trip across the capital for their Premier League clash against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this evening; with Mikel Arteta looking for payback having suffered the only defeat in his short reign against the Blues.
Both sides come into this match on the back of disappointing results this past Saturday; the Gunners drew 1-1 with Sheffield United, with Newcastle United scoring in the last minute to run out 1-0 winners against Frank Lampard’s side.
It was always going to be a trying season for Lampard as his arm got forced by their transfer ban over the summer to bring in quite a few young players into the side.
But after just one point from their opening two league games they went on a decent run, winning eight of their following 10 (D1, L1), and things started to look on the ups. Then with fixture congestion after the November inter-break, the inexperience of his young side showed with them struggling to find consistency, losing six of their 11 matches since.
All things considered though, even with their ‘implosion’ thus far this winter months, they’re still in control of their own top-four ambitions, thanks to their strong start to the season.
In comparison the North London side have struggled all season, despite recent “improved performances”. Not because of matches lost per se, only three teams got less defeats than our current six, but largely due to a league high 11 draws from 23 matches.
Since the Spaniards arrival we drew four out of six league matches, including our last three away at Everton (watching from the stands), Bournemouth and Crystal Palace. Only one of our draws ended goalless and we surrendered the lead in seven of the other 10. This is such a frustrating stat because you’d expect us to do a better job seeing games out, especially with seven of those coming against sides outside the traditional top-six.
Another bit of info is that, despite our issues on the road, we haven’t lost an away match since that 2-0 loss at Leicester on November 9th. But once again, the draws are keeping us mired in midtable. If we are to claw our way up the table, we have to find a way to convert draws into wins so our results can start match our performances.
Just looking at our two recent fixtures; the Gunners looked on their way to wins against both Crystal Palace and the Blades after going 1-0 into the break, however, we failed to hold on. It’s true that we were let down by questionable officiating in both outings, but we also didn’t do ourselves any favours by being so off-colour in front of goal. These two results can be seen as wasted opportunities because if we had that four-point swing, we would be going into this game with a chance to close the gap on 4th-placed Chelsea to three points.
Which begs the question; are we really having a crap season that merits the term “relegation form”, or just an unfortunate one?
Team news
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is suspended, with Reiss Nelson and Sead Kolasinac only expected back after our trip to Burnley. Sokratis, who missed our last game due to illness, will be assessed ahead of the game.
Prediction
Chelsea have struggled at home in the league recently, winning only two of their last five at the Bridge. So Arsenal definitely got a chance here if we take the game to them, we have to put away our chances though, because that has been our biggest letdown since Boxing day.
Difficult games to call, especially with history not our side; we haven’t win there since the 5-3 back in October 2011, a game both head-coaches played in. I do fancy our chances though, with both teams to score. COYG!
@LaboGoon
Positively Arsenal 
Thanks Labo.
Hopeful rather than confident on this one, we just seem to have too many things happening against the team, although that has to change to something more positive at some point, doesnt it??
I suspect if we are there or thereabouts in the second half this game , the ref will prove decisive at some point… and not in our favour,again. So they will need to negate any possible unfavourable influence of the officials, which has been known to happen when we play at this venue!
“are we really having a crap season that merits the term “relegation form”, or just an unfortunate one?” – a bit of both I would say. Certainly unfortunate with refs and injuries. I dont think we will be relegated, but we have been flirting with a points total that could have made that a possibility. The fact is, a collapse like that suggests the club has been badly run, the transition from wenger has been appalling, Emery was the wrong man it turned out, and was kept on for far too long, thanks for that Raul, I am assuming.
We lost a talented scout in Sven. Good players let go, attempts to drive others out. A stupid captaincy vote, before a coward threw our skipper under a bus. Sir Chipps went public on how bad things had become. Players form and confidence so obviously dipped. A truly damning indictment on the likes of Raul of course, for Ivan cowardly moving against wenger behind the scenes, getting what he appeared to want, then scuttling off first chance he got, creating this awful power vacuum and giving the club hierarchy the impression of dithering and lack of leadership, which sticks. But, the true blame must go with those who have allowed this to happen while seemingly doing very little constructive, at least with any urgency.
Lets hope this eve, Arteta can inspire this team to start to rise again
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the PGMOL Game Changer tonight is Stuart Attwell
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Morning Mandy… I think the combination of two beta males:
1) an insecure little man that thought causing “friction” with star players will make the rest respect him, and
2) an insufferable narcissist who tried to hide his importer syndrome by pandering to the whims of the we-care-more-than-you and the boo boys lot..,
was always a recipe for disaster.
Mikel is an alpha who, from the moment he stepped in clipped somebody’s wings as he immediately brought frequent targets Özil and Xhaka back in the fold, making them headline acts. He also gave Mustafi, who was told to find himself a new club, a clean slate to leave his future with the club in his hands.
For me, I think by end of this year, we will have a better idea how that working relationships will be. Because, to be honest, I’m getting sick from all the doom mongering currently going on from previous positive supporters.
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Really well put Labo, excellent summation of those two! Well, Emery got that friction thing wrong wrong didnt he!
Think you are absolutely right on Arteta as well, I can only see greatness coming his way at some point, I am also praying Edu is the real deal and works well with the manager/coaches, as we need such a figure these days, we shall see.
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Jerome Boateng rumors surfacing again, reports that we have opened talks on a loan deal for him.
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*Imposter syndrome, ofcos, not importer, but you got the gist.
I think Edu was initially brought in to hv excess to his network, and I think you’re right, with Arteta we may see his personality coming to the fore. And having the two of them developing a good working relationship can only be good for the club.
For me, we may decry the lost of talent over the last 20 months, but the team was always in need of freshening up with a few ageing players and others’ bodies not able to take the wear and tear from the PL anymore.
But as fans we need to move on and I think Mikel arrived at just the right time… and the pre-season nature of now till May can only be of benefit to him and us, especially with this his first managerial job.
I wouldn’t mind Boateng, for at least 2,5 seasons.
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Yes, realised that ref imposter, tho Raul does like his imports!
Dont know much about Boateng now, but if we do sign him, hes an experienced guy who will presumably be useful in his own right, and help Holding, Saliba, and Callum when he returns
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Could it possibly be true Barca want Aubameyang on loan??! Seems so far fetched. Red Bull Leipzig might struggle to persuade Red Bull Salzburg to loan them one of their best in similar situation.
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COYG.
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No idea what Boateng is like now but in latter rounds of World Cup win alongside Hummels he was nothing short of great.
Good few years ago now, but who knows, new challenge, vibrant young coach, old mate Mesut…I’d be intrigued and hopeful, if a little worried on injury front.
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Ed supplied that grim stat about our midfielders scoring rates- has me wondering if it’s part of wider trend. Can’t think of many high scoring midfields or midfielders off top of head.
Maddison (6), Grealish (7) scoring some , as ten-ish type attacking mids. De Bruyne (7) must be doing well. Bernardo (5) figures prob decent. Doubt Liverpool, Utd, Spurs get many from centre mid areas.
Just had look at top thirty and very few centre mids in there. Cantwell, Mount, Fleck, Shelvey on 5 each. Wonder what’s behind it if there’s been a big drop in midfielders getting goals.
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I don’t think there is anything to the rumor of auba going to Barcelona. He is without doubt our best player. But if it’s a swap with messi, then I can understand.
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I have been mostly a passive reader on here for a while now, and I can’t thank those responsible for providing such a platform enough.
One constant thing in our struggles has always been the referee factor. At a time when a great number of games usually end up being determined by fine margins, how a team gets refereed counts a great deal.
Almost always, we have been on the receiving end of atrocious decisions. At one point I even had to stop watching because what was the point anyway…but the draw of the beautiful game is just too much. I can only imagine the alternative histories we’d have had had things been different and fairer.
What worries me now is not so much the bending of the playing field occasioned by the one sided refereeing we still continue to receive as it is the almost hopeless acceptance of our lot. We are aware of it, we talk about it, we complain about it and even try to predict and factor referee behavior in game outcomes. I have friends who are fans of opposing teams who are even more aware of it than the majority of Arsenal fans, at least the ones I know of. I am sure opposing players are even much more aware of the fact and use it to their advantage. Good old Jack Wilshere once said when you play for the Arsenal, different set of rules get applied to you or something along those lines.
If those loud mouthed half-wits could just use their platform to highlight this and show what an important factor it is to the fortunes of any team, it might even unite a better part of the fan base…just the idea of having to face a common enemy could perhaps stop people from griping against one another and draw greater attention to an especially insidious form of injustice that had gone on for too long. Maybe this could force a change in behavior on the part of these so called ‘game managers’.
Now that we’re in transition, and seeing there isn’t much else fans can do
by way of selecting players, telling coaches what to do etc (which they don’t have much influence over anyway), we can at least bring attention to something that has been a mill around our neck for a long time.
No outsider could even begin to comprehend this unless we tell the story on our terms, sth we have been poor at.
I just wonder what the high ups have been doing. No team worth it’s name can submissively accept such abuse.
What I have written may seem absurd to some but what the heck, this seemed a safe place to rant.
And finally, no day passes when my appreciation for our previous manager doesn’t grow more and more, considering what he had to face and overcome, till even he couldn’t anymore. He was a much gracious person that I am. Maybe too gracious.
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ARSENAL TEAM Leno, Bellerin, Mustafi, Luiz, Saka, Torreira, Xhaka, Pepe, Ozil, Martinelli, Lacazette.
Subs: Martinez, Ceballos, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Willock, Guendouzi, Nketiah
CHELSEA TEAM Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Christensen, Emerson, Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, Hudson-Odoi, Abraham, Willian.
Subs: Caballero, Alonso, Barkley, Pedro, Zouma, Mount, Batshuayi
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Bellerin is back in the starting 11 and is Captain tonight too
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u23 left back Tolaji Bola is 19th man again tonight as he was v sheffield utd, might he make the team for our FAC game v Bournemouth
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oh what a cock up, mustafi with an awful backpass, leno does not get to it, david luiz sent off as penalty is given
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jorigho scores the penalty
a goal down, a man down, and we’ve been second best up till now, so things could get very bad here
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xhaka is now playing cb
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it was stupid by David Luiz to commit that foul,
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seen the lead up to the penalty again, for me Leno should have taken the forward down outside the area, even if it meant him off, so we had bad back pass from mustafi, bad decision by leno, and another bad decision from david luiz, sums us up at the back
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HT: Chelsea 1-0 Arsenal
we were poor up to their goal, bad shit crazy for their goal, and then had a nice little spell after it.
major improvement needed in second half if we are to get anything out of this game, and being down to ten men it is hard to envisage us improving.
not been good enough from most of the team so far tonight
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as things stand we sit just 6pts off a relegation place
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I dunno Ed. Since that double jeopardy rule brought in been loads of times refs have gone yellow even though challenge was not one where player could realistically reach ball without making foul.
Literally no one made case Phil Jones should have gone in cup final when he took out Hazard from left side with ball on right of Hazard’s body. Pgmol were happy enough with decision to release footage afterwards in which you could hear officials checking decision (one was screaming ‘dogso’ as play developed)
It’s just the old pattern : almost never turn down a big call against us, especially in big games; almost never give one for us.
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true rich, but once again we shoot ourselves in the foot. I have a real dislike of players doing back passes for the very reason of how the goal came tonight, for me in that position when not under complete control of the ball, kick the damn thing down field
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my stream has gone down, anyone got a good stream for the second half
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What’s up?!
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ozil off, guendouzi on
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I see newcastle scored two injury time goals to draw away to everton 2-2
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as thing stand we now sit 13th in the table,
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Goooooooaaaaaalllll!
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Martinelli!
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Martinelliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 1-1
oh boy what a breakaway goal,
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it was a CFC corner, a headed clearance and martinelli got to it about 30 yards from our goal, and he just ran straight to their area, helped by kante falling over at the half way line, and he slotted home as cool as you like, oh boy what a goal
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Ed, seems like I’m watching ahead of you by a couple of minutes.
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it looked like it was Mustafi who headed the clearance that Martinelli got to so an assist for Mustafi
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pauln71 tell me when we take the lead
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Will do!
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lacca well offside so his goal is rightly disallowed
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Guendouzi trying to get sent off!!
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that was a nasty little foul by Guendouzi, got him a yellow
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80th minute, Pepe off, Holding on
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Bellerinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn 2-2
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Goooooaaaaaallll!!!!
Bellerin!!!!!!!
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willock coming on for martinelli in the 90th minute
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we are in 4 minutes of stoppage time
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That was brilliant all things considered.
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FT: Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal
Oh what a performance, from the ashes of ruin to come back from a man down, 1-0 down and 2-1 down to get a draw, really feels like a win
Martinelli with a great break away goal, and our captain, Hector Bellerin with a great left foot shot from edge of the area with out goals.
I must say that apart from his awful back pass that led to their penalty, Mustafi was outstanding, bur for the error, he would probably have been our man of the match, that is the conundrum of Mustafi.
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Arsenal 10th, just 7pts from relegation position, and 10pts off 4th.
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Martinelli with 10 goals so far this season in all competitions, not bad for an 18 year old
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