Jase

Mata's post-match interview with BBC.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QHgc7EroXM

That doesn't mean he can play out wide or in a deeper role, does it?

Even if he can play there, I don't think Mandzukic has that intelligence and technical ability to play as the 'False 9'. And when he has played on the wings or deeper, he hasn't been effective at all.

Ooh. Apologies. Suffering from morning blues. Saw the wrong column, rather than looking at the GD, was looking at the goals conceded where we have conceded 6 compared to Arsenal's 9.

@milan.cech, I found a longer version of those post-match interviews (well for the Mata one).. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7srTqnEXUxg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBFHLmRxd7M

Guardiola has been playing with a 'False 9' recently and Mandzukic has found himself to be on the bench. Lewandowski should really be thinking twice before attempting to even join Bayern. Otherwise, he could find himself sitting on the bench half the time or worse, being converted to a wide striker like what happened with David Villa at Barcelona!

That would be the ideal results for us but with that, we can only go top of league if we beat Newcastle by 4 goals and that ain't gonna happen. Will be happy with a win and the 3 points here. If we are destined to be on top, we will be. Getting the wins now is the key thing.

Thought he did OK yesterday. Handled the midfield well but then was a bit sloppy with his passes and at times, took a tad too long to pass the ball and ended up killing the attacks we had especially on the break. And I was thinking, if only we had Essien at his absolute best, without all those injuries hampering him, and Ramires right now. That would be absolutely crazy and great for us..

Solid game once again from Bertrand, both defensively and offensively (whenever it happened, not that we attacked a lot). Arsenal hardly did anything of note down his side (or any direction for that matter).

I literally couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it was Azpi that scored the first goal. Thought it was Mata at first given the height and all that when it happened but only to then realized it was Azpi! Am very happy that he managed to get his first goal for us and once again, he played well. He's just incredibly unfortunate with this whole preference (and form) of Ivanovic at RB..

What I don't get with this whole situation is that De Bruyne impressed in pre-season and started 2 of our first 3 games, against Hull and Man United, where overall he played well especially against the former. But after that, we have hardly seen him getting any game time and at that time, Mourinho was banging about meritocracy and how players that perform well in a game will play in the next. If not, then that player is out with others coming in for them. Yet, despite those good performances from De Bruyne, he was never used since that game at Old Trafford till when the Capital One Cup games came about. Players that played below average then continued to play game after game and De Bruyne was ignored without getting any chance to play! I don't deny that the Arsenal game was his chance to impress but it's absolutely ridiculous that his game time has to be based on his performance yesterday. It was practically only his 2nd game since that game against United at the end of August and his first in a month! Can't expect a player, who isn't at 100% in terms of fitness, sharpness, to just come in for a tough away game like that and turn its form on like a tap water. I didn't think he was THAT bad like some have made it out to be but really, De Bruyne must have felt so much pressure was on him that it had probably undermined his performance. And if the situation now is anything to go by, we probably won't see him playing again till the Capital One Cup quarter final tie comes around in December!

Played well yesterday and worked hard all game. Had 1-2 sloppy moments but pretty good otherwise. And absolutely happy that he scored. At least now he's off the mark for the season and I hope he gets more goals and even assists in future games. Should also note that after he scored, he seems to vent or express some anger or frustration in his celebration though I can't say I blame him..

Well, he can have it...along with the award's curse!

We are away at Arsenal then actually and it's gonna be played on a Monday night. But yes, hopefully we get Leicester because the other teams are like 'EEEEKKKK!' and it's at home. Would suit our schedule then - 6 matches in a row and all in London.

Yup. Will be made after tomorrow's game. The match will be played on either 17th or 18th December.

Results today: Arsenal 0-2 Chelsea Birmingham 4-4 Stoke (Stoke win 4-2 on penalties) Burnley 0-2 West Ham Leicester 4-3 Fulham Man United 4-0 Norwich Tomorrow: Newcastle v Manchester City Tottenham v Hull Next week: Sunderland v Southampton

Newcastle United vs Chelsea PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT English Premier League 2nd November, Saturday, 2013 St. James' Park 12:45 Kick Off (UK time)

Newcastle United 2-0 Chelsea POST-MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS English Premier League 2nd November, Saturday, 2013 St. James' Park 12:45 Kick Off (UK time)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SanTIl-tKk

You are basically just emphasizing my point further and not even putting up a proper counter-argument...

Mata now has 4 goals and 2 assists in 5 games against Arsenal. It's like Drogba never left...

If you look at performances, you might just get that because as I said, right now, people are only looking at the obvious big name players. Different story if you are looking at talent.

So, even after didierforever pointed out to you that the award is based on players' performance in the past year, you still want to go with this whole 'Hazard is the better player overall' argument?! Sounds legit... All you are doing now is basically just judging Hazard based on potential and that potential to be the best in the future rather actually looking at who performed better in the past 12 months. The fans and players' vote for Mata to win the 2 POTYs at the club last season speaks volume on who they think did better overall.

Considering it's about the 23 players in that shortlist and we've been talking about that from the beginning, I'm not sure why are you even bringing in the 'top 30 players' thing. Even then though, think it's too easy to say Hazard should be in the top 30 when you look at the form over the past year of players. Maybe he would be in there. Maybe not. Right now, only all the obvious big name players are being mentioned (some regardless of form) but yet if you go through the major European leagues and I'm sure 30 players can be picked out based on their good-great performances for their respective teams this past year.

Are you seriously that passive or perhaps even ignorant to just trust the nomination list? Every year, all these awards throw up a list of players that is in contention to win it but there is always some that doesn't even deserve to be in there. Some are just in there for name sakes or for commercial interest. It's just like how Wenger, every year, seem to make it into the FIFA Coach of the Year shortlist when he hasn't even achieved anything! That argument still doesn't really justify Hazard's inclusion in that list. The fact that FIFA disregarded Mata, who if any Chelsea player deserves to be in there, it's him, and have Hazard in there tells its own story. Happy to see a Chelsea player aka Hazard in there but really, his performances and form over the past year doesn't really quality him to be there.