closed Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea

[Pizy 18,368]

I see Martinelli is fit just in time for his first PL match back against us. 😒 Right when both RJ and James are injured. Azpi got burned for pace against Declan Rice yesterday so that should be a fun matchup this weekend.

Apparently been their most dangerous player against City so far.

[Blue Armour 4,290]

12 minutes ago, Pizy said:

I see Martinelli is fit just in time for his first PL match back against us. 😒 Right when both RJ and James are injured. Azpi got burned for pace against Declan Rice yesterday so that should be a fun matchup this weekend.

Apparently been their most dangerous player against City so far.

Seriously ought to consider going with a back 5, for at least one of these games.

Don't care how good Silva & Mendy have been, don't think they can compensate for every single mistake that both our stand in fullbacks could make.

Plus it could make us less predictable. We can always switch back to a 4-3-3 during the game if needed. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,306]

3 minutes ago, Blue Armour said:

Seriously ought to consider going with a back 5, for at least one of these games.

Don't care how good Silva & Mendy have been, don't think they can compensate for every single mistake that both our stand in fullbacks could make.

Plus it could make us less predictable. We can always switch back to a 4-3-3 during the game if needed. 

We tried a 343 at the Emirates and in the FA Cup final and we looked shit each time.  
 

We only started looking better in the game at the Emirates when Lampard switched to a 433

[Blue Armour 4,290]

1 minute ago, MoroccanBlue said:

We tried a 343 at the Emirates and in the FA Cup final and we looked shit each time.  
 

We only started looking better in the game at the Emirates when Lampard switched to a 433

I think the first time we tried 3-4-3 at Emirates, we were decent.

The mistake for that game was that Lampard started with Emerson (sigh) and later hooked him to bring on Alonso. I don't recall that we changed formation (could be wrong, that game was a year ago). It was just LWB for LWB change if I recall correctly

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Blue Armour said:

I think the first time we tried 3-4-3 at Emirates, we were decent.

The mistake for that game was that Lampard started with Emerson (sigh) and later hooked him to bring on Alonso. I don't recall that we changed formation (could be wrong, that game was a year ago). It was just LWB for LWB change if I recall correctly

No, the 3-4-3 setup just didn't work at the Emirates last year and Emerson happened to put in a horrendous performance on top of that. He was brought off, Jorginho came on and changed the game from there.

[Jase 43,479]

22 minutes ago, Pizy said:

I see Martinelli is fit just in time for his first PL match back against us. 😒 Right when both RJ and James are injured. Azpi got burned for pace against Declan Rice yesterday so that should be a fun matchup this weekend.

Apparently been their most dangerous player against City so far.

Has gone off injured.

[Blue Armour 4,290]

Just now, Jason said:

No, the 3-4-3 setup just didn't work at the Emirates last year and Emerson happened to put in a horrendous performance on top of that. He was brought off, Jorginho came on and changed the game from there.

Okay my mistake  ( @MoroccanBlue ) , thanks for correcting.

Yeah, now I recall. It worked well against Spurs, but backfired against Arsenal (who were anyway playing dour football at the time)

[Jase 43,479]

Somewhat off topic but with the festive period coming up and the whole thing about the new COVID-19 strain spreading wildly in the UK, hope the players don't go do anything stupid during their off time. 

[Blue Armour 4,290]

Just now, Jason said:

Somewhat off topic but with the festive period coming up and the whole thing about the new COVID-19 strain spreading wildly in the UK, hope the players don't go do anything stupid during their off time. 

Think they're planning to do more frequent checks for tier 4 area clubs.

If nothing else, hope it helps to isolate infected players before they spread it everywhere.

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, Blue Armour said:

Think they're planning to do more frequent checks for tier 4 area clubs.

If nothing else, hope it helps to isolate infected players before they spread it everywhere.

Yeah, they are but still, anyone going down now with the virus would be BS for us given the fixture congestion. 

[Tomo 21,733]

28 minutes ago, Jason said:

Has gone off injured.

He wouldn't have started anyway!

[Pizy 18,368]

34 minutes ago, Jason said:

Somewhat off topic but with the festive period coming up and the whole thing about the new COVID-19 strain spreading wildly in the UK, hope the players don't go do anything stupid during their off time. 

Here in the States we've got NBA players going to strip clubs mere days before the season starts tonight. 😂😂😂

I'm sure we'll see one of our players do something idiotic like go to a party.

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

If we don’t beat these hopeless cunts, players need a long hard look at themselves. They are one of the most out of form teams in Europe never mind the PL.

I get it wont be as simple as show up and just win but surely to fuck we must go out and get a result here. Not winning here right now would be the equivalent of losing to like a relegation candidate side and thats not even a joke they are so poor just now.

[NikkiCFC 7,955]

4 hours ago, Jason said:

Suspect we might see Alonso in one of the 2 upcoming games. 

Pretty sure Lamps decided that Alonso will never play again after WBA.

[Strike 7,217]

Mendy

Azpi Zouma Silva Emerson

Kovacic Kante Mount

Ziyech Werner Pulisic

[Blue Armour 4,290]

Looks like Aubameyang is a doubt for this game (and the next few games apparently) ?

[Azul 1,615]

Losing to these lot would be a huge blow. It's such a Chelsea thing to do though. We've been giving results to teams that are out of form since last season. If it happens again, then it's time that everyone seriously asks questions about the manager.

[Blue Armour 4,290]

The pundits on ESPN said there will actually be more pressure on Chelsea in this match, because anything other than a win against this team would be unacceptable.

I'm so nervous about this match given how the stage is being set,...will take any kind of win. Even if we scrape it by some fluke.

Losing or drawing in any way would be beyond embarrassing.

Also have to hope that no shit refereeing or VAR decision comes into the picture. Would be typical for the officials to grant Arse or one of our rival teams a favor