TorontoChelsea

He'll still play plenty. RDM is very tactical so I assume Ramires will play in games where he wants to clog up the middle of the pitch and Lampard in games where he wants to attack more. (In other words, I think Ramires will start mostly in games where we use the Mata/Hazard/Oscar front 3 and Lampard if we use wingers.)

That's giving credit where credit isn't due. Arteta was taken out of the game because Chelsea had 8 players in the middle of the pitch so Arsenal attacked via the wings where they outnumbered us 4-2 and that's where all their chances came from. Oscar was taken off in the 73rd minute and I suppose Arteta marked by Mata afterwards and he wasn't anymore influential.

It was definitely poor. He didn't create any chances, he fouled needlessly and he gave the ball away all the time. As well, defensively, he was hardly a standout. Arsenal players just stepped around him a number of times. It doesn't worry me, he's young and coming from a very different league and everyone has off games, but a bad game is a bad game.

Yeah, I haven't watched a lot of Cazorla, so can't say one way or another, but you're right about the "one game proves something" nonsense that is rife among fans. It's incredibly annoying.

Pretty much exactly how I felt after this game.

Difference between the keepers was huge today. Cech's reactions on the deflection were superb and their keeper let in a very soft goal.

Not our best performance, but we were solid and it was our biggest win. Top of the league!

Giroud miss!

That was out of nowhere. I'll take it.

Wow....

Very exciting first half. Torres and Hazard have been excellent. Predictable lack of width has been a problem. Would love to see Moses for Oscar who has been atrocious.

3 Things I am going to be interested in watching for. 1) Can our front 3 midfielders create width 2) Can Ramires pass well enough to move the ball in the midfield 3) Can our back 4 stay solid with all the speed, movement, and creativity in the Arsenal attack?

Very excited about the match. Should be great to watch.

My problem with Torres has never been missing great chances. Even top strikers miss those. My problem with him it threefold: 1) He isn't getting into the proper position to get those chances. He is found in wide spaces far too often. He doesn't attack the net looking for the ball so when crosses come in, there's often nobody there. 2) He isn't creating his own goals. A striker at the top level should be able to turn decent chances into great chances and sometimes turn a nothing-looking play into a goal.Torres seems to require the ball at his feet in front of goal to be able to score. Players like Mata, Drogba, Lampard,Sturridge, Oscar, etc...have all been able to score on well-taken shots from outside the box. When Torres gets the ball, even in a decent position to score, he often tries to cross the ball over or go around his opponent and turns what is a good scoring opportunity into a lost bit of possession. Maybe it's a confidence thing, but he seems to only want to shoot if he is alone in front of the goal (Newcastle goal not withstanding). 3) He's too predictable and hasn't adapted his game. He wants to get a through-ball in the middle of the pitch. When defenders take that away from him he seems lost. He doesn't have the speed he used to have so is unable to go around defenders but he still keeps trying and decent defenders just stay with him and force him out wide so he ends up on the sides of the pitch too often.. I think everyone can agree that the way Chelsea are set up right now, it'd be very difficult for any striker to have a lot of success, we aren't creating any space for the striker to run into, but Torres has been particularly awful. I do find it almost amusing that everyone has gotten on Torres this season when he's actually been generally OK after defending him last season when he was genuinely terrible.

Yes, it's amazing how a former player with hundreds of games at top levels in his career who is a professional coach with his UEFA Pro license who has been coaching for years, including winning the Champions League, who has access to video and statistics that we can't even imagine, who spends days studying them, who has special assistants to analyze them and break them down, he, he knows nothing compared to you oh wise RAMICFC9. It is clear that your knowledge and your analysis are simply the truth. (Seriously, this is my least favourite type of post on here. I sometimes don't like RDM's tactics, but to pretend that somehow we know more than him about anything to do with football, is not only arrogant, it's just dumb. Disagree, say what you'd like to see and why, it's fun to debate that sort of thing...When you win the Champions League as a coach, you can come back and be a dick about it.)

Exactly. Terry's version of the story was always virtually impossible to believe. People just don't speak like he claims to have spoken. He made an ill advised comment out of anger. I don't believe he's actually a racist. He should have apologised immediately and accepted the 4 game suspension and fine. From the moment this started, this outcome was inevitable and dragging it out hasn't done anyone any good.

Terry can appeal so I think he'll play and Lampard looks likely to be back for this one.

Well, in a way he's right. The theory of beating them is easy-we just have to score more goals than they do, it's the actual practical application that's difficult.

Would be shocked if this happens. You can't play with no width against Arsenal. They'd murder us down the flanks. Also, we'd have an impossible time keeping possession in the midfield. Ramires was fine in there against Stoke because there was no defensive pressure at all, he was allowed to just walk the ball up the field. Against Arsenal, you need to be able to pass and Ramires can't do that well enough. If Lampard is unable to go, I'd rather see Oscar there. Even though the deep-lying midfielder doesn't make the best use of all his abilities, he has the right skills to be able to impact the game from there. I think we'll see Ivanovic, Terry, Luiz, Cole, Mikel, Lampard, Ramires, Hazard, Mata. The attacking 3 is the most up in the air. How does RDM balance it? Oscar, Mata, Hazard, Ramires, Bertrand, and Moses could all start.

Should be on the top of every thread about a new arrival. "Too early to tell"

He really plays a different position so if he performs, he'll play. He gives Chelsea real width which is one of out biggest issues. He's barely played, but I like the way he looks so far.

I think it would be a mistake to spend massively on another striker right now. Torres has been playing poorly for 1.5 years, but his lack of scoring is not entirely his fault. If we spent another 40M on a striker and put them in a situation where it would be difficult to succeed, we'd be setting ourselves up for another failure.

Walcott has been used as a sub this season with Oxlade-Chamberlin starting and when Walcott has come on, it's been in a more central position than in the past.. This is one of the things that make Arsenal dangerous. They have incredible flexibility in their squad. Their midfield and attackers can all play multiple positions, so Podolski might start on the left end up behind the striker and Gervinho might move into the striker position and Cazorla might move to the left, and Ramsey might move from the centre to the right attacking midfield spot etc...I am sure it makes it harder to get a gameplan for the coaches.

I get it and Arsenal's speed is worrisome, but I worry as much about Luiz wandering as I do Terry being slow. If Luiz makes those runs he likes to, Arsenal will exploit that space. They are not Stoke. Honestly, I think any combination of our defense is vulnerable but also capable of excellent play. Also, don't think both Bertrand and Ramires will start. I think, as I mentioned earlier, it will be Ramires as Brana needs the cover more than Cole. If RDM really wants to play for a 0-0 draw, then he really should just take Torres out and play with no strikers.

Really looking forward to this game. Will be our first tough league game of the season.Arsenal has used a variety of different lineups this season but they have been very disciplined and well coached so far and have a a lot of quality players. Interested to see what RDM does and think he may revert to a more defensive, counter-attacking scheme for this one and it'd be hard to blame him. No matter what we do, Arsenal have weapons. If we play like we did against Stoke, we solidify the middle of the park defensively but leave the wings wide open and the likes of Podoslki, Oxlade-Chamberlin, Walcott, Jenkinson, and Gibbs (and others) could destroy us there. If we try to protect the flanks, Arsenal can pick apart the middle of the park with Cazorla, Arteta, Ramsey, and Gervinho (or Giroud or others). My best guess is that we'll see a return to the formations we saw earlier in the season with one of Ramires or Bertrand being played on the wing to provide defensive cover (Probably Ramires to help with Gibbs and Podolski as Ivanovic needs the help more than Cole) and one of Hazard, Oscar, or Mata sitting to start the game. Would be very happy with a point.