Stats

I love how he shut us all up but love it. Rose to the challenge 😄 Anyway, to the game itself, I called for Gallagher to come off but fair enough he made me eat my words. We got really lucky though. That game could of swung anyway and before Gallagher got the winning goal, I thought Palace were just on top. Gusto was magnificent once again. He was our best player even though Gallagher will get MOTM for the 2 goals. Shame about his injury and hopefully nothing serious because he looks to get better and better every game. Tries a bit too many tricks but I really like him. Not convincing at all but at least it brings us into the top half 😄 because I am sure after next weekend we will be back in the bottom half. Palmer with another key contribution. 2 good assists. Honestly though Poch, need to work on the balance and progressive play. We had our first shot after 43mins. That is not good enough. Imagine if they had Eze and Olise playing.... Thought Caicedo was a lot better second half too. Although the win shows 3-1, I don't think anyone is surprised how difficult we made it for ourselves 😄

Taking Maudeke off is the easy way out. Should of taken of Gallagher imo. Madueke was at fault for the goal but offensively he probably did more than most of our attackers. But not surprised.

Absolutely shocking. And worst thing, despite facing a depleted Palace side without their 3 best players, I am not surprised. Turgid, awful. Poch WTF are you instructing our players to do out there. All this sideway passing then backwards is just not it. We had out first shot on target in the 43rd minute right???? Absolute joke. Now Palace have got the one thing they would of looked to do and now it will be really difficult breaking them down. Again the team looks out of sorts. Enzo keeps pushing up to the forward position and then Caicedo is isolated. I don't get the sense of what we are trying to do. Please no team talk and hoping this team will produce second half. Make a change. Bring on Nkunku immediately. A game where we should be looking to set dominance, we can't even imagine one shot on target. Unbelievable!

Top player. Getting better and better and delivering in final third. Is really strong on either foot and his strength/balance is brilliant. I genuinely think him and Olise have it in their locker to play at the very top soon.

While I think the rumour is nonsense, the stats is misleading. 3/4 of those games he has been a sub. I am not sure if he has even started a league game this season but did score a brilliant goal for Villa in one of their league games this season against Palace and when he comes on it is usually very late during the game. FWIW I think he will be a really good striker in future. Has the physical ability and has good pace. Villa wouldn't let him go anyway as he is the back up to Watkins.

It was way too early to do that move. Especially against a team you are looking to kill off the game. I know Sterling is criticised by many on here but imo we should have kept him on. Or even bring on Mudryk. Once again it was a move that invited pressure. He was very good in the reverse fixture at LB too and it was his assist that provided Mudryk with his first league goal.

Not the pretties but a win nonetheless and I am pretty sure for the first time this season that is 3 league wins on the trot. Will take it. Slowly picking things up. I thought knowing our luck, Gusto was going to get that card upgraded to a red. He needs to be more careful. You would think he would learn his lesson after being sent off against Villa or an identical challenge. I thought Enzo was better today but I am surprised the pundits on TNT Sports gave him MOTM. For me MOTM was definitely Palmer or Colwill. Palmer is a joy to watch. Just doing the same things on a regular basis. Nothing new. Colwill was excellent going forward and had a real burst of pace and energy today. Was solid defensively but surprisingly he was more of a threat offensively today. Much improved from Tuesday's game and for me was my choice of MOTM. I thought he brought Madueke on at the right time. One criticism was although it was nice to Chilwell back after so many months out, I thought he brought him on at the wrong stage. 2-0 I understand but at the time of the game, we should be looking to kill the game off with our offensive players. Missed a trick there and think Sterling would of got more space on the counter if he stayed on. Anyway, just happy about another 3 points now. A good break we have now until our next league game. Focus now for the 2nd leg of the semis. Next game in league Liverpool who for once we have a rival who have almost identical absentees for the game.

I literally was going to mention before that penalty is that we should maybe take off one of the CM and put Palmer in the central AM role and Madueke on the right. We looked exposed when Robinson and Willian are attacking because Palmer is not electric fast to catch up with them. We need to give Gusto more protection because they keep getting in down there. If I had my way, I personally would take of Enzo or Gallagher and put Madueke on the right. It probably would help us more on counter too.

And spending the amount of money we do on a player without much proven experience is utterly shambolic. He looks no way near ready and Poch clearly thinks the same. Just under £20m on a player we are hesitant to bring on is completely shameful.

Good to see Liverpool beat Arsenal. More humble pie for Arsenal fan and also ensures on the last weekend of January, Liverpool have a fixture just before we play them in the week in the league. So no more additional rest for them than us.

Currently on AFCON duty too. A late bloomer and does look good but again question marks is, he has never really scored consistently in his career bar this and last season, nor has he played for a big team. But for the reported fee, a low risk gamble.

Anyone stating Rice for Arsenal being worse clearly has an agenda. He has been class this season and been their outstanding player. What this season shows is that Xhaka was really under-appreciated. He made them tick and Arsenal would of been a lot better with Rice and Xhaka compared to fitting Havertz in there. Havertz will give them an additional goal threat but he has made their play worse. Rice though bar the games against West Ham and Fulham, has been exceptional this season. No denying it. But as a team, they are playing worse than last season. Too young and risky. Ferguson's goals has dried up. Can't remember the last time he scored. He is only 19 but you can see he is not fully ready yet. Will be at Brighton for a while unless someone pays over £100m for him. Gimenez is class but again big difference between the two leagues. Boniface only joined Leverkusen in the summer and is spearheading their title charge. Will not leave and is on AFCON duty. Sesko doesn't get into Leipzig's starting 11 and they play with 2 up front. Gyokeres been brilliant and looks all round striker. Think he made 3 assists on Friday but again is playing in an inferior league and the fee wanted is too risky.

That game was too nerve wracking. I was so close to not watching those last few minutes as my heart was racing up and down. Although we conceded 2 late on and were close to conceding 3, I thought the defence generally done well. If they did get back, Poch would defo had to take a lot of the blame. I think he left Sterling on the bench to teach him a lesson after his selfish display against Wolves, but we really could of done with him in the second half for the counter attack and added attacking threat. Palmer brilliant but I do believe with the nature of the game as we were being dominated heavily for the past 20 minutes, he should have come off for Sterling. Palmer is very good attackingly, however when being dominated is not as effective in terms of keeping up with the defence side as he is not blisteringly fast so sometimes the game can run past him. Noticed it against United too. Couple times or more yesterday, Chong was racing through our midfield and Palmer was doing his best to catch him but could not to a point where I wanted Palmer to get a yellow card just to take one for the team. But we were being trapped by Luton and no escape route. Thankfully we held on to the win but like I say I also think Poch's lack of subs did not help. Can we finally do something we have not managed to do all season against Fulham? Get 3 league wins on the trot? Hopefully not... Nice to end 2023 on a win anyway as a Luton equalizer would have ruined my whole evening tonight.

As predicted. Embarrassing set of players. Should donate some of their salaries to a good cause because they are getting paid for producing jack-shit.

Shows current state we are in that bookies have Everton as favourites. I don't like being pessimistic all the time, but I would go as far to say I would be shocked if we win this. Bench is weak too.

If I am being honest, Raya was brilliant last season for Brentford. He was top class but it was just an odd move for Arsenal to make when they had a good keeper as it stands. Can't stand Arsenal. Their fans arrogance approaching this game about this being an easy game etc just shows why so many people don't want them to win the league and it's because of their arrogant for no reason fans.

Wilson, Longstaff, Willock, Tonali, Burn, Botman, Barnes, Murphy, Anderson. That is a depleted squad. Yes, they have had a few but at least 5 of those players are starting if available today. Possibly more. Not good enough at all.

One step forward. Two steps backwards. Ridiculous. Let's not forget this is against a depleted Newcastle squad. Embarrassing.

Outstanding performance. Especially in attack. Nice to get a point which finally feels like a win. Palmer, Sterling very good. Gallagher too but as a whole the team cohesion attacking was brilliant to watch. Was impressed with how Cucurella held himself after picking that yellow. I understand why Palmer got MOTM but Sterling should have got it. He was definitely the best player on the pitch. All game he was sensational. He has nothing to prove to that idiot Southgate.

Playing Newcastle after the international break and probably the best time to play them. They have so many injuries atm. Almiron has joined the injury list too. They probably will recover 1 or 2, but they have a depleted squad right now. Both recognised strikers currently injured too.

He has been best player on the pitch tonight. Brilliant performance. PSG cannot handle his explosive runs.

Inconsistency will happen with this squad. Despite the money spent, I would say the attackers all have a question mark over them in terms of potential and current level of ability, however the constant back and forth regarding players is so irritating. Jackson during pre-season was meant to be a bargain of a striker and everything we hoped Lukaku to be. Madueke put in a top performance against Bournemouth last season in our 3-1 win and people were talking about how good he will be. Madueke started his first PL game yesterday so always expected he wouldn't be totally up to scratch. Cucurella was slated by majority of fanbase but last few games, people were suddenly saying he deserves a spot in team. Poor loss but the constant knee-jerk reactions is annoying. from fans. Evert other game also we have one-two players who get injured or absent for one reason or another. Once (if) we get a fully fit team, then I will still reserve judgement. But yeah, that Brentford goal seemed inevitable after our profligacy in front of goal.

They have beaten us at the Bridge on the last three meetings and in the last 7 games between us, they have beaten us 6 times and we have only won once 😮 Need to beat them and this game hopefully is the one. They will go in as favourites but we need to get over this hoodoo. They have done the reverse on us now. We used to beat them for fun. How I would crave a victory on Saturday.

Fortunately, seems just a dead leg. Hopefully he is rested from the U21's game against Ukraine so he can come back fully recovered with us.

Best player I have witnessed play in a Chelsea shirt. Was a genius. So many wonderful moments. Often is asked what is his best Chelsea goal. My favourite was his second goal in the hattrick he got against Newcastle. What a goal. Goes a bit under the radar but that is as good as a goal you will get. The whole hattrick was phenomenal. The penalty which completed his hattrick was so cooly taken in that slow motion penalty style he loved. 1:23 is his second goal and my favourite one. So many joyful moments.