Closed Arsenal v Chelsea

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Bomb on them from first minute and they wont know what hit them. I bet we would score 2 in half hour.

It could realy be Mou's masterpiece if he wont decide play safe again.

But with no striker I guess he wont take too much risk.

[robdog 2,084]

Solanke has no chance

You are probably right. Especially after I saw The Great DD dancing on Sat. I think the club didn't want to risk him at that friendly today.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

I'd go with Courtois; Ivanovic-Cahill-Terry-Azpi; Matic-Fabregas; Willian-Oscar-Hazard; Remy (if fit) for this one.

Oscar was generally very good against Man United, and so deserves to keep his place in the starting eleven (he also tends to perform well against Arsenal anyway). I wouldn't start him at RM though, as I'm not entirely convinced that his deployment there was a complete success in purely tactical terms; Shaw seemed to get into dangerous positions far too frequently, and the vast majority of Oscar's best moments (e.g. his assist) came when he had moved into more central areas of the pitch. We could possibly play a narrow 4-3-3, with Oscar staying at 'RM' and one of either Mikel or Zouma starting instead of Willian, but I would not favour this option due to the relative lack of pace we would then have in midfield areas. Arsenal are playing very well at the moment, but are still prone to leaving spaces to exploit on the counter; starting with a trio of Willian-Hazard-Remy could allow us to do this.

There IS risk attached to playing the Matic-Fabregas double-pivot, but I think that our position at the top of the table is currently secure enough to allow us to start this game with a more attacking approach; if we win we've practically won the title, if we lose we can still afford to drop points in two/three/(maybe even four) of our remaining fixtures.

There is risk in every system. We should be looking to impose our game on the opposition instead of reacting to what they might or might not do. Matic and Fabregas is no more or less solid than Cazorla and Coquelin.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

I think Costa might at least make the bench for this one if Drogba is injured. Remy "had a knock" before the QPR game but has been out for days now. Mourinho said there was more than a 50% chance he could have played vs Man United, so he could start. I really, really hope Zouma doesn't start in midfield in this game. It doesn't make much sense for him to.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

There is risk in every system. We should be looking to impose our game on the opposition instead of reacting to what they might or might not do. Matic and Fabregas is no more or less solid than Cazorla and Coquelin.

Depends, Arsenal tried that for many years and always get found out by us, MU, Barcelona, Bayern and generally every big team they played. I agree however Jose sometime needs to not take it to the extreme and play safe all the time as it will cost us like against PSG.

Imo the closest we will ever come to impose ourselves on a big team is like at City last season but that was largely due to their naivety.

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Yeah, I don't see Zouma starting here. Mou clearly said Zouma played to neutralize Fellaini so no need for him in the midfield against Arsenal. I doubt Mikel is match fit yet so he won't start. Matic and Cesc can do a job or even Ramires if we want to be more defensive.

Just shut down Ozil and Cazorla (crowd the middle) and we should be able to stop them. Sanchez doesn't scare me. He's got great shooting technique but I don't see him getting free looks at our goal, especially now that he's playing on the wings.

Courtois

Ivan - Cahill - Terry - Azpi

Cesc - Matic

Willian - Oscar - Hazard

Remy

[nadavTKL 1,787]

Everyone's expecting Arsenal to stop us, to "get the title race back on!", like the United game. English media is just pathetic, they cant take it that Chelsea and Mourinho are running with the title with no bother at all. It really seems like its killing them.

it will be so great to shut everyone up again. I just love this feeling after Chelsea wins when everyone wanted us to lose. One more please, i dont care how.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

No drogba please! Hopefully Remy is fit by then.

Love drogba, but its sadly over for him IMHO.

2-1 win.Ivanovic winner.

Have you not seen Drogba's record against Arsenal?

and people said he was finished before we went to Old Trafford and look what happened, and 2nd half against Man U on Saturday he was excellent! He is far from finished.

[chelseafc_fans 0]

if you love chelsea I would love it if you could give this page a like on facebook?

Edited April 22, 2015 by CHOULO19
Add link removed

[DDA 9,941]

I think I speak for everyone when I say I love him to bits but he's really not up to it anymore

I agree, it was a tounge in cheek remark ?

[Tautvix 1,321]

http://www.chelseafc.com/content/cfc/en/video/VOD/2015/4/21/150421_news_5pm.autoplay.popup.html

Looks like Drogba trains.

[Starman60 1,343]

So far we haven't lose against big 4 in PL and none could have a solution to break or anticipate our strategy. I'm more curious about why you think this time, Wenger of all people, will have a right approach to anticipate our strategy?

I don't think he will be able to anticipate our strategy, because we don't know what that strategy will be..If you read my post you will see that I said that people are saying we should park the bus, and I think that that is was Wenger will set up his side to counteract.That's why I think that Jose wont "park the bus"

Therefore Wenger won't anticipate our strategy

[xPetrCechx 13,571]

[robdog 2,084]

http://www.chelseafc.com/content/cfc/en/video/VOD/2015/4/21/150421_news_5pm.autoplay.popup.html

Looks like Drogba trains.

Yeah I saw him, but I didn't see Remy. Could he be one the players that trained indoors?

[Chelsea Buzz 487]

Really want to beat these guys. I get so tired of Arsenal friends (yeah, I know, gotta find better friends) moaning and complaining about how Chelsea is plastic. They whine about poor Arsenal just cannot compete with Russian oil money and Chelsea just buys the title every year, poor, pitiful Gooners.

And yet, articles like this come out that appear to show Arsenal is very much in the same category as Chelsea (as we all know) with revenue, wages, etc. If they were Leicester or Burnley, I get it.

Please pound these guys and their fans Sunday! Please!

From Sky Sports:

2013-14 Gross Revenue:

Man U – 433.2 million
Man City – 346.6
Chelsea – 319.8
Arsenal – 298.7
Liverpool – 256.0

2013-14 Wages:

Man U – 215.8
Man City – 205.0
Chelsea – 192.7
Arsenal – 166.4
Liverpool – 144.0

2013-14 Net Income (loss) after Tax:

Man U – 23.8
Man City – (22.9)
Chelsea – 18.4
Arsenal – 7.3

Liverpool – 0.4

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/9816421/chelsea-showing-good-value-in-performance-and-wage-stakes

Come on you Chelsea!! :blue scalf: :blue scalf:

[Siwy_CFC 7]

Have you not seen Drogba's record against Arsenal?

He scores all these goals when he was pretty young, pretty good and a bit faster than he is at the moment.

I'm sure that we will play clever as we play against United, we aren't good form now but we have the smartest coach, the champions mentality, we are the hungriest for trophies and of course we have bigger balls than all of the Arsenal players and staff.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

I don't think he will be able to anticipate our strategy, because we don't know what that strategy will be..If you read my post you will see that I said that people are saying we should park the bus, and I think that that is was Wenger will set up his side to counteract.That's why I think that Jose wont "park the bus"

Therefore Wenger won't anticipate our strategy

Oh I see. Yes Jose could using an 'unusual and surprising' strategy for this match. He has a record for doing it in the past. But actually they will expecting us to park the bus and playing counter too. So they will guessing as it best. If even we as Chelsea supporter confused about what our strategy will be, imagine Wenger, lol.

[Spike 12,049]

A R S E L E L

[BlueLion. 21,491]

if you love chelsea I would love it if you could give this page a like on facebook?

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If you'd have had the decency to ASK if you could advertise, I wouldn't have minded. Always a good idea to read forum rules when you join up to one:

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