Closed Chelsea v Arsenal

[Special Juan 27,103]

Can see him coming in alongside Cahill. Azpi to RB and keep Baba at LB

[manpe 10,855]

I have a feeling we may see Mr Ivanovic come into the CB position.

Has he actually ever played there under Mourinho? I can't recall. Somewhy he is seen exclusively as a RB, which defies all logic because he doesn't have the pace to play the wing simple as that.

[stroey 2,525]

prematch press con

https://youtu.be/IvrVZHyqH10

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

I don't like the idea of Azpi on the left and Zouma on the right. I know it's better than playing Ivanovic but Zouma offers absolutely nothing going forward. He won't even be able to press with his average mobility.

I want to see Baba and Azpi start the match. Baba and Hazard can cause Havoc on Bellerin. It's finally time for natural full-backs in our starting 11.

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

Has he actually ever played there under Mourinho? I can't recall. Somewhy he is seen exclusively as a RB, which defies all logic because he doesn't have the pace to play the wing simple as that.

Liverpool away in 2014 when we denied them the title he played CB with Kalas, other then that i cant remember him playing there under José.

[bethos1 802]

Has he actually ever played there under Mourinho? I can't recall. Somewhy he is seen exclusively as a RB, which defies all logic because he doesn't have the pace to play the wing simple as that.

Iva also doesn't offer anything in going forward. I never understood why our managers keep playing him on the right.

[Last Sicarius 610]

He didnt saw that one game without Iva and we had clean sheet? Shit c'mon Iva is our biggest issue and we have cure for it and i call it BABA...

[Jase 43,479]

[Stats 6,980]

Iva also doesn't offer anything in going forward. I never understood why our managers keep playing him on the right.

Well he does tbh. It is just his defending. I know he has regressed from last season but he did score 6 goals and make 5 assists last season. Better than the majroity of most fullback's stats probably. There are better attacking fullbacks out there but to say he offers nothing going forward is not true. That being said we do need an upgrade in that department.

[bethos1 802]

Well he does tbh. It is just his defending. I know he has regressed from last season but he did score 6 goals and make 5 assists last season. Better than the majroity of most fullback's stats probably. There are better attacking fullbacks out there but to say he offers nothing going forward is not true. That being said we do need an upgrade in that department.

I know his stats are pretty good but everytime I see him playing he always annoys me. His crossing is shit, he doesn't link up that great, he's pretty slow and he has bad positioning. I never liked him at RB and I doubt I ever will, even if he scores 20 goals I'll still think he isn't a fullback and he never will be.

If it's up to me he'd never start a game at RB again, I would've dropped him as soon as we bought Azpi.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

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.

I hope you're 100% wrong here. All year long Brana has made average attackers look like world beaters, I can only imagine what the likes of Ramsey, Ox, Sanchez, Walcott will do to him... He's struggling with confidence and needs to be taken out of the line of fire. Baba was very good against Tel Aviv, I liked how he and Hazard linked up and he provided good safety against counters with his pace. Did he make mistakes? yes but not anywhere near as many has Brana has averaged per match since the beginning of the season. Bring him back against Walsall and have him build on that...

[ZOS 580]

COME ON CHELSEA!!!!!!!!

:blue scalf: :blue scalf: :blue scalf: :blue scalf:

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Yeah, but thing is it's never that simple as you always have hope in the possibility that Iva will improve because you know he's better than what you've seen while with Baba you don't know if he can do better because you've never seen him do for Chelsea. So in a crucial game like Arsenal Jose tends to go with players he knows and I tend to agree with him on that. Even if Iva returns to his form of last season (which was still not good enough for me) it would be worth the risk of playing him.

A player lacking confidence going in vs. a player buoyed from a good performance in his first start... I think the choice is obvious. Arsenal isn't the type of game you use to rebuild a guys confidence, if Brana starts I will be very upset.

[iceboy 992]

According to Guardian.

[Azul 1,615]

According to Guardian.

If Ramires starts over RLC ..... roflmao TalkChelsea will go in a total meltdown XD

[ZOS 580]

According to Guardian.

with this, we will loose the game

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Lets face it, Maccabi Tel Aviv played the game to our strengths. They gave us space to get into the channels and loads of time on the ball! Its no wonder Cesc looked like his former self, he had acres of space and loads of time on the ball. The goal he set up to Costa perfectly illustrates how much time he had to pick out passes. If Arsenal are smart they will do what every other team in the Prem have done to us so far which is put our midfield under pressure to make quick passes and force mistakes.

I'm feeling much more confident about this game because we actually found the back of the net midweek and looked ready to dictate the tempo by defending from the front. Oscar had a monster game midweek, not because of his play offensively, but because of the pressure he put them under when they tried to build from the back. He also covered for Cesc numerous times and gave us more balance in the middle of the pitch. Oscar is crucial to our pressing game and with him back in the squad I feel the active zones for the press will be much higher and effectiveness of the press will look more like it did last year where we looked like a pack of wolves hunting the ball down together.

Getting tight to the opposition is crucial! And for that reason this is the game where Brana must be rested. He is lacking confidence and surrendering too much space to the opposition mainly because he doesn't want to be done for pace. If we want an aggressive ball pursuing team everyone has to play on the front foot and for me, the reason teams have targeted Brana is because he is less likely to press to win the ball. Baba is willing, able and needs to be played for us to be successful in the pressing aspect of the game.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek was the MotM against Tel Aviv and I'd love to see him continue to build on that performance, I just can't find a viable reason to keep Matic on the bench... We can't take Cesc out and pile on the immense pressure to create on a 19 yr old in a must win game so for me its got to be Cesc - Matic. Ruben gets another game against Walsall and if that goes well he has more of a chance to get in the team against Newcastle.

This game will be won and lost by our best players, if Hazard is the best player on the pitch we will win, if he is invisible again we will fall back even further. He simply has to have a positive influence on the game.

Begovic

Azpi - Zouma - Terry - Baba

Matic - Fabregas

Pedro - Oscar - Hazard

Costa

[Blue_Fox_ 2,086]

Picture this, 90 minutes have gone, Arsenal is leading 2-1 and are in our half, one of ours recovers the ball and sets up a counter, Hazard gets the ball in their box but Mertesacker fouls him. We get a penalty...Hazard vs Cech....