Pizy

All true, good points. I'm just not sure I can imagine Wenger spending that much on an attacking player. He's got Cazorla back nowand he's got Walcott, Ox, and Iwobi who can all play that third attacking mid position alongside Sanchez and Özil. Wenger often refuses to reinforce areas he's in dire need of. Buying a marquee player in an area he's well stocked in would shock me.

When you look at it, Chelsea are really the only big team in the PL without a top class, creative #10 type. Arsenal have Özil, United now have Mkhitaryan and already had Mata, City have Silva and KDB can also play there, Spuds have Eriksen, and Liverpool have Coutinho. James could definitely be that for us but would likely mean a shift back to the tried and true 4-2-3-1 that we've been using for years.

Mourinho would sometimes give the media a bit when it came to transfers. If he was asked about specific names he would maybe say "he's a player I like or are interested in." Conte has clearly been told not to say a word about targets. Won't budge an inch from what I've seen in his pressers. It's smart, obviously, but makes me anxious and nervous.

Don't see where he'd fit in at Arsenal at all, actually. Mahrez made sense because he's a natural wide player with pace. James plays in Özil's position. Buying a player for £60m or whatever and then playing him out of his natural position would be dumb.

Are they without any of their important players?

How strange would it be to see an actual LB playing at LB for Chelsea again? RR + new CB will make a world of difference.

Unreal. Absolutely unreal.

Looks like he's about 50 years old.

If we sign him I hope we immediately then go and sign a fullback next. A new striker is the last thing we should worry about before the deadline. Even with Koulibaly I'd worry about the defense a bit with Ivanovic back there. Think about all the top class left sided wide players he'd have to go against. Martial, Sanchez, Sterling. Leicester would probably put Mahrez on him. He'll be ripped to shreds.

Bet my life that we won't pay near that for him. It'll be a huge sum but not that high. Don't care if he pans out. Hope he's got thick skin, though. The English media and supporters around the world will savage him with any little mistake he makes.

I've already reconciled that if this deal happens it'll be on deadline day so I've stopped getting my hopes up of a signing being announced before then.

It's truly starting to look like we won't be signing anyone else. We might seriously be done in the transfer window. Every target hits a brick wall or dies instantly.

He's about 5 levels above Oscar in an attacking sense.

Should be nicknamed The Recycler. Wins the ball back and immedietly gives it to a teammate. Never takes more than a touch or two it seems like. The booking he received was total bullshit and forced him to be a bit less aggressive but he was still excellent.

Not sure he does, tbh. But you can never really have too many quality players. A manager as good as Conte and a player as good as James can find a way to fit in. No chance this happens, of course.

Only way Cesc can regularly start games under Conte is if we sign Koulibaly and a new fullback. That way Kante wouldn't have to pick up so much slack. You want Fabregas as free as possible from defensive responsibility. Runners and legs next to him (Kante & Oscar) and enough pace and athleticism behind him (Koulibaly, new fullback, and eventually Zouma) to deal with anything that breaks through the midfield. Can't see a role for him as anything other than a squad player unless he's completely protected.

Absolutely no way he plays the whole season without at least 2 reds lol Easily the most hated player in the league for opposition fans I would think. Even more than Suarez was. Love it!

Was curious what fans of other clubs are saying about us and just had a look over on RAWK. Almost every one of those inbred Scouse mutants are saying how "average, boring and poor" we looked. Proof they don't know a thing about football. Guess they like conceding 3 to Arsenal's B team and nearly throwing away a 4-1 lead. Idiots.

He must push and push and push some more for just a couple more signings. He's tactically masterful and can motivate players like few others can, but we can't just trust that our back 4 will play like that all season. Just give him a couple more and we can do this. We can definitely finish in the top 4 if we sign Koulibaly and maybe one other player.

Nearly jumped through my ceiling when Diego scored. Tactically awesome match for Conte. Totally negated their biggest strengths and had our boys after them pressing. Gave away a 1 in a million, fluke goal that Collins would never score again. Very promising performance from our attacking players that was just missing the last little touch of quality at times. Hope the club don't get complacent by that performance and decide they don't need to bring more in. A couple of key signings and we can challenge for the league.

Thought we completely controlled and dominated them after the first 10 minutes. Just missing that final touch of quality. Great intensity, great movement. Hazard, Costa, and Oscar all great. Clearly we need a Matic upgrade, it must be said. Looked like a weak point of this lineup.

We'll probably see Cesc come on at some point today. Hopefully angry and eager to prove that he should start.

Looking at that West Ham team, there's no excuse not to win this. Shit defense or not.

I hate these late kickoffs so much. Feels like this day is going by so slowly...

Both Creswell and Lanzini are out for sure, right? That's two of their best and most important players. Ayew can't possibly be fully settled and gelled with his teammates. Payet is said to be not fully recovered yet. At home, opening day, everyone at 100%, and with all the energy and excitement there's really no excuse not to get the 3 points today. It would be great to get one of the tougher fixtures out of the way this early rather than later in the season when they'd be more settled. Again, I'm confident in our attack, shitting it about our defense.