Closed Chelsea v Arsenal

[lucio 5,371]

GC is our best CB and should be one of the first names on the teamsheet.

Only if he partners zouma , he is horrible next to terry

[zolayes 14,489]

No chance Giroud starts. It is pace and movement our defence has struggled against this season and that is what Walcott offers. Furthermore, Giroud is awful when he plays against us. We know how to handle him and he has never scored a goal against us.

Im hoping Giroud starts .I worry about Walcotts pace ,, Wenger was an idiot not to get Walcott on last night when Girooud was red carded

[CHOULO19 24,332]

And that's how teams stagnate, we have witnessed it before, wasn't nice was it? Ivan's form has been bad long enough to be permanently dropped, not only rested in hope that maybe he can squeeze a few more decent performances out of himself. Ideally it would have been addressed during the summer and if Baba isn't good enough for us for that amount of money, then that's Jose's and the board's fault.

Problem is we don't have a very convincing replacement. That's why I said had Baba came up with a performance like RLC yesterday we wouldn't be even having this conversation. It's all a balance with A LOT of factors involved.

Of course Jose and the board are to blame. We've needed a top CB and another fullback from two seasons now. That's 4 transfer windows where we've failed to address that.

No it wouldn't. Iva starts, we lose.

Really? Regardless of what happens? What if all of Arsenal's keeper get into a huge fight and they all injure each other and Wenger has to goal himself?!

[Last Sicarius 610]

Just dont let Iva play. Baba played well tomorrow so he deserved to play.

[Miguelito 459]

Problem is we don't have a very convincing replacement. That's why I said had Baba came up with a performance like RLC yesterday we wouldn't be even having this conversation. It's all a balance with A LOT of factors involved.

Of course Jose and the board are to blame. We've needed a top CB and another fullback from two seasons now. That's 4 transfer windows where we've failed to address that.

Really? Regardless of what happens? What if all of Arsenal's keeper get into a huge fight and they all injure each other and Wenger has to goal himself?!

Truthfully, it doesn't make sense why we're having this conversation anyways. Maybe for Jose Baba needed to put in an RLC type performance to play, but that's not how it should work.

He performed much better than Iva has all season. It's clear as day that teams target him and he has lost all ability to defend. Iva has arguably been the worst player in the entire EPL this season. Clearly our weakest link.

I get that it was against a weaker opposition, but still, Baba performed much better. He's in better form, he should play. It's simple for me. It's not just that we all know he has more potential with our team and will be better in the future for us, he's better for our team right now as well.

[Viper22 2,418]

Ditch the god damn 4-2-3-1 and move to a 4-3-3.

-------------------Begovic---------------------

---Azpi------Terry------Cahill------Baba---

---------------------Matic----------------------

-------Oscar/Fabregas---------RLC--------

-Remy-------------------------------Hazard-

--------------------Costa----------------------

Subs: Blackman, Zouma, Ivan, Mikel, Oscar/Fabregas, Traore, Falcao/Kenedy.

[mccg 1,528]

Zouma Cb Terry lcb Cahill rcb Baba lwb Azpil rwb ,Matic Dm, Hazard Lm,

Ramires Rm, Oscar Am, Remy/Costa up front .

[Tomo 21,681]

No chance Giroud starts. It is pace and movement our defence has struggled against this season and that is what Walcott offers. Furthermore, Giroud is awful when he plays against us. We know how to handle him and he has never scored a goal against us.

You wouldn't think he would start but this is Wenger were talking about, logic has never been his strong point.

[Starman60 1,343]

I really dont want to see Ivanovich playing against Arsenal. I would like to see Baba and Loftus-Cheek getting a start and if we do lose playing them Mourinho can at least say he tried to change the side. But if we lose with the same side that went out against Everton we will all be thinking "What if?" We need to evolve and what better team to start against than Arsenal.

[Stats 6,980]

You wouldn't think he would start but this is Wenger were talking about, logic has never been his strong point.

True but I am 100% sure Walcott will start this. Wenger rested a lot of players who would be starting this. Cech, Bellerin, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey and Walcott.

[Kendrick 339]

Willian and Pedro not available, that only mean we're gonna see Ramires on the wing (because that always works, right Jose?)

If our right side will be Ivanovic-Ramires I won't even bother to open the TV.

[iceboy 992]

Wenger is also believed to be angry about tomorrow's early kick-off

But boss Wenger is worried after his side failed to get home until 4am yesterday following their shock Champions League defeat at Dinamo Zagreb.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/465320/Arsenal-Arsene-Wenger-slams-nightmare-journey-Chelsea-clash

[Jase 43,479]

You wouldn't think he would start but this is Wenger were talking about, logic has never been his strong point.

A fun fact - Walcott was the last Arsenal player to score against us in the Premier League, nearly 2 1/2 years or 5 matches ago.

Get the feeling that we would need to score at least twice on Saturday to get a result.

[dUMB 189]

I think that Mou will play with Ivanovic and Azpi on RB and LB. I'm not sure if Azpi - Baba would be a better solution but we'll never find out. And I'd like to see Cahill and Terry on CB spots, because Cahill is currently our best CB, and Terry because of experience in big games. Not that I have anything against Zouma, I just have a feeling that Cahill - Terry will do better this time.

In pivot I'd like to see RLC - Matic because that means strong defense and a lot of early interceptions, even if Ivanovic is on RB. Also, not a big fan of Cesc as #10 but this time I have a feeling (again) that it would be a good thing to do. Oscar - Cesc - Hazard would be perfect IMO. And not sure who should start up front... Remy or Costa, for me its 50 - 50, but Mou will start Costa.

[Tomo 21,681]

A fun fact - Walcott was the last Arsenal player to score against us in the Premier League, nearly 2 1/2 years or 4 matches ago.

Get the feeling that we would need to score at least twice on Saturday to get a result.

I always have confidence vs Arsenal due to their raging inferiority complex against us.

We have played them before on bad form (admittedly not as bad as this) and still beat them.

[samzilla 517]

Better than Ivanovic on current form is not really saying much. Still was rather average and got exposed against the worst side we've played against in years. If I were Jose I'd still start Iva in the hope he remembers that he's a defender for Chelsea FC. I'm actually pretty confident that that's what Jose will do.

Iva right now is playing like he's groundhog day'ing the 2013 league cup semi-final against swansea over and over and over again.

[Chelsea Buzz 487]

This is another big one for the Chels. Need to get the BPL ship righted now or never. Who better to beat than the Gooners.

Would not mind this line up, but probably not likely from Jose:

- - - - Costa - - - - -

Hazard - Cesc - Oscar

- - Matic - RLC - -

Dave - JT - Cahill - Baba

- - - - Begovic - - - -

Up with the Chels!! :blue scalf: :blue scalf:

[Johnnyeye 7,405]

I´m keeping my mouth shut, no more predictions, either we play and get the results or it´s back to drawing board again. I´m very glad we got back to winning ways in the Champions League, it´s good for the confidence, but playing Maccabi Tel Aviv is not the same as playing Arsenal or other Premier League opposition, so i´m not going to read to much into Wednesday´s result. The main priority is to get a run of good results and finding consistency in our play and results, Arsenal are going to attack us with pace, Walcott and Alexis will run riot if Ivanovic starts, i hope that Mourinho has finally realised that Ivan is a liability, and benches him the next games, please God. Baba has shown he is more than ready to start playing at LB and Azpi should play at RB for the next games, also Loftus Cheek should play a lot more, he deserves it.

My lineup for Saturday, minding injuries would be:

GK - Begovic

LB - Baba

CB - Terry / Cahill ( need to keep in mind we´re dealing with pacey players and Terry doesn´t cope very well )

CB - Zouma

RB - Azpi

DM - Matic

CM - Oscar

CM - Fabregas

LW - Hazard

RW - Kenedy / Remy / Ramires ? ( no Pedro, no William, unless we want to use Traore )

FW - Costa

4-3-3 or maybe a 4-3-2-1, i would much rather prefer the 4-3-3 wich brought us so much success in the past.

What do you think ? Cheers mates and let´s go for the win and get back to winning ways- KTBFFH