Latest news is that Lampard may make a swift recovery and be in contention for the first team on Sunday. After last night's display our players will at least be well rested!! Deco should drop to the bench and Malouda deserves to retain his place in the starting eleven. Best thing is that we got through the game last night with no knocks so other than the longer term absentees we could have a full strength squad to choose form.

Arsenal will be playing with a slightly reshuffled back line and a light weight front line however whoever does play up top will be well supported so they are far from toothless.

My team for sunday would be this.

Cech

Ivanovic Alex Terry Cole

Essien

Ballack Lamps

Malouda

Drogba Anelka

I hope to god Carlo don't pick Deco to start this one. He would just be a passenger for the time that he would be on.

Apparently Lampard received the placenta treatment, lol. Whatever though, if he's fit I'm glad

I dont care how we play, performance is'nt important to me it's all about the result. Dont get me wrong in an ideal world we'd go there and put on a great display and win comfortably but then i'd be just as happy if Arsenal played all their pretty stuff got nowhere and we won 1 nil, just like potential champions can.

Deco should not start this game. It's about time Carlo realises that Joe Cole is fit and firing again and can cut it against big clubs also.

My team for sunday would be this.

Cech

Ivanovic Alex Terry Cole

Essien

Ballack Lamps

Malouda

Drogba Anelka

I hope to god Carlo don't pick Deco to start this one. He would just be a passenger for the time that he would be on.

Good shout, only that I'd have Joe Cole instead of Malouda.

If Lampard is fit:

cech

ivanovic-carv-jt-ashley

essien

lampard-ballack

joe

anelka-drogba

If lampard isnt fit then he should be replaced by malouda.

Malouda would deserve a start against Arsenal because he was really good in the last two games but I think Ballack is better for big matches against opponents that actually know how to attack.

Good shout, only that I'd have Joe Cole instead of Malouda.

Are you serious!?

Hi Guys - hope everyone is ok and looking forward to Sunday as much as me?

Will be an awesome game but I think we will win - afterall we beat Wolves 4-0 and Aresenal only won 4-1. Better still we beat Sunderland 3-1 and Aresenal LOST to Sunderland 1-0.

Anyways - hope you dont mind but i've wrote a new song for the game/terraces. Hope you like it and sing it as loud as me on Sunday. I think it will really catch on as the lyrics are soooo good.

Here it is - took me hours to get it right......

What's that coming over the hill

Is it a monster? Is it a monster? No its Drogba and Anelka and if you don’t watch out they will score a goal.

What's that coming over the hill

Is it a monster? Is it a monster? No it’s not its England ace Frankie Lampard and if you don’t tackle him he will score score score.

What's that coming over the hill

Is it a monster? Is it a monster? No its not a monster its John Terry and if you try and score John will stop you that’s for sure.

Repeat x2

I must say out of all the big games over the season for me arsenal is the one i fear most. i really hate arsenal but i must say there a great football team they can catch us on the break with ease. it was great to get a win at the emirates last season and if we play the right team ie. no deco we should have enough to get a good result. we have more steel then them

Hi Guys - hope everyone is ok and looking forward to Sunday as much as me?

Will be an awesome game but I think we will win - afterall we beat Wolves 4-0 and Aresenal only won 4-1. Better still we beat Sunderland 3-1 and Aresenal LOST to Sunderland 1-0.

Anyways - hope you dont mind but i've wrote a new song for the game/terraces. Hope you like it and sing it as loud as me on Sunday. I think it will really catch on as the lyrics are soooo good.

Here it is - took me hours to get it right......

What's that coming over the hill

Is it a monster? Is it a monster? No its Drogba and Anelka and if you don’t watch out they will score a goal.

What's that coming over the hill

Is it a monster? Is it a monster? No it’s not its England ace Frankie Lampard and if you don’t tackle him he will score score score.

What's that coming over the hill

Is it a monster? Is it a monster? No its not a monster its John Terry and if you try and score John will stop you that’s for sure.

Repeat x2

I know KFC is a wind up merchant but he does make me laugh! As long as he's not a dipper.............................

Anyway my team would be:

...........Cech

Ivanovic ...Alex... Terry..... Cole

.............Mikel

Essien ...........Malouda

............Joey

Drogba............ Anelka

Bench. Hilario, Carvalho, Zhirkov, Lamps, Ballack, Kakuta, Borini

Are you serious!?

Abso - f**cking - lutely!

I have a feeling that this is going to be a really dull game, with us more concerned with stopping Arsenal from playing rather than playing ourselves. If we do what we're best at, we can stop Arsenal from getting near our goal and nick a goal or two on the break.

...........Cech

Ivanovic ...Alex... Terry..... Zhirkov

.............Essien

Malouda...........Lampard

............Joey

Anelka..............Drogba

Lampard is fit, anyone want to fit him in?

Carlo said that he will ready...

What I want to know is what the hell is going on at that horse placenta woman in Serbia? You read about long term injuries on players, they go there and they're fit to play the week after. I'm thinking witchcraft, it's absolute madness.

For the lineup I'd drop Ballack based on his recent poor performances, he's been really dire. I'd say we let Mikel take the defensive position in the diamond and unleash Essien like a roaming beast. It would look something like this:

Cech

Ivanovic - Carvalho - Terry - Cole

Mikel

Essien - Lampard

Cole

Drogba - Anelka

I'd feel pretty confident going into the game with that staring eleven. Considering Malouda's recent run of form I wouldn't mind chucking him in instead of Cole either, tbf.

Oh and if we're 2-0 up with 10 minutes to go, please let Carlo chuck Kakuta in there to hopefully show them how a really promising youngster plays :x (Jinxed him with that, didn't I).

Edited November 26, 200916 yr by The Blue Train

Tough game for sure. Tougher than ManU me thinks..

First draw of the season could be in cards. We should be able to win them but I fear if they start scoring we will open up for their fast attacking and could hurt even more.

I think we should put a coat on Fabregas, coat called Essien. I think his performance will be very decisive. They will have Gallas all over Drogba so it wont be easy in that department either.

If we manage to beat them we will be in brilliant position. I mean our players will crush opponents just with will power after that. Hope we perform better than against manu.

Drogba always finds a way to score against the Arse, if he's fully healthy (which I am concerned about) he'll find a way to hurt them.

And yes I'm definitely starting Joey Cole over Malouda right now, Malouda was great in last nights game but he's been inconsistent and Joey has shown that he plays well at the top of the diamond. He may have had a slight hiccup against Manchester but has otherwise looked brilliant he can only get better as he gains more playing time and I think that Joey will find a better way to cut up Arsenal's defence then he did against the Mancs.

Good shout, only that I'd have Joe Cole instead of Malouda.

I wouldn't.

Joe has done nothing so far to suggest that he deserves a starting spot in one of the most important fixtures of the season. Hopfully he'll improve with time but currently he is nowhere near first choice.

If Lampard is fit then he should start along with Essien and Malouda. The only question in my mind is who to occupy the last MF spot - Ballack or Mikel. German captain has the world of experience and is normally up for these kind of games yet he looked decidedly off pace against Porto. Mikel on the other hand was one of the yteam's best players in the last two games and having him cover the back four in away match against Arse makes a lot of sense, plus that will fre up Essien to attack at will.

I'm worried about Ivanovic on the right. He won't be out muscled off the ball but his lack of speed could have us exposed against Gooner attack. Beletti is faster but is a defensive liability. Ferreira doesn't seem to be part of Ancelotti's plans although he'd be more suitable option,imo.

Malouda and Essien should be in the first team, no question, as well as Lampard, if he's fit.

It might even be worth giving Matic a start, as he played very well on Saturday (against Wolves, I know...), and could well give them a bit of a fright with his mobility and also has the surprise of being relatively unknown.

He may have had a slight hiccup against Manchester but has otherwise looked brilliant he can only get better as he gains more playing time and I think that Joey will find a better way to cut up Arsenal's defence then he did against the Mancs.

He wasn´t brilliant, not even close to it. But thats my opinion.

I would still start him by the way, but thats not because of his recent performances

Malouda and Essien should be in the first team, no question, as well as Lampard, if he's fit.

It might even be worth giving Matic a start, as he played very well on Saturday (against Wolves, I know...), and could well give them a bit of a fright with his mobility and also has the surprise of being relatively unknown.

Mikel is the one that should be in the line-up, but definitly not Matic. I really dont think he is ready for such a big match yet.

Edited November 26, 200916 yr by german-blue

Hello chaps. A Gooner in peace here. Just joined to find out how you guys see the game panning out but also give you an insight into our team. No doubt Chelsea pose our biggest test yet, aside the games against City and United. We are very unpredictable team at the moment and it's almost impossible to predict the outcome. On one hand, we look like we could wipe out any team but on the other, as you saw against Sunderland, we are reasonably easy to choke when denied time and space on the ball. Our home form is excellent as it allows us to play our game and we create chances in abundance.

The two main areas of concern for us are

1. Goalkeeper - Almunia is without doubt the worst keeper in the top 4 and many Gooners are becoming increasingly fed up with his incompetence. He commands his box very poorly and set pieces are a major worry for us. He’s conceded 21 goals from 38 shots which is diabolical.

2. The second problematic are is left back with Clichy and Gibbs injured. The only positive for us is that Chelsea aren’t particularly a pacey team so playing Silvestre there wouldn’t be so disastrous and he should help out during set pieces.

I think we’ll go 4-3-3 changing to 4-5-1 when defending....

---------------------- Almunia

Sagna -----------Gallas----Vermaelen -----Silvestre

Cesc ---------Song ----------Denilson

Nasri---------Eduardo -------Arshavin

A lot has been made of Robin’s absence but the front three carry a serious goal threat and their constant interchanging would cause any team problems. We've probably lost some of the composure Robin brought to the final third and it told against Sunderland and Liege. I don't think Eduardo has the same ability to bring others into the game but on the plus side he's very mobile. Our best player currently is Alex Song (best desribed as an Essien with flair) and even though he’s a defensive minded player, he’s often been given a license to get forward to good effect. I think Denilson’s introduction will relieve some of the burden off him and give us better stability against Chelsea’s powerhouse midfield. We are no doubt going to concede in this game as we simply haven’t got a clue about keeping clean sheets but we definitely have a few goals in us. Most Gooners have expressed concern about Chelsea's raw power and how you used it to good effect in the game last season. From what I've seen, it looks to be something between Hiddink and Scolari at the moment in the way you play with a moxture of power and flair. I think we'll cope with the flair fine but not too sure about the power. Head says a draw but if Chelsea come to play the end to end attacking game like you did at Villa Park, then I could see a high scoring game going either way.

I don't think Matic is ready for these types of matches yet, but he prove that he is good enough for a start against some of the less good teams.

I´ve read that Lampard will be fit, so if that is right, he will start. I am hoping a midfield which is something like this:

------------Mikel-----------

Essien------------Lampard

.............Malouda---------

Mikel has been playing very well since his return, and Ballack has been a bit out of shape the last matches. So Mikel deserves a starter.

Malouda over Joe Cole for me. Two fantastic matches, and I don't think Joe Cole is in the same shape as Malouda at the moment. Deco should be seen amongst the spectators in this one, he was awful yesterday.

I can't really see Arsenal winning this game, in the shape we are in. I'm optimistic before this one. 2-1 to Chels!

Edited November 26, 200916 yr by A.T.E

I don't think Matic is ready for these types of matches yet, but he prove that he is good enough for a start against some of the less good teams.

I´ve read that Lampard will be fit, so if that is right, he will start. I am hoping a midfield which is something like this:

------------Mikel-----------

Essien------------Lampard

.............Malouda---------

Mikel has been playing very well since his return, and Ballack has been a bit out of shape the last matches. So Mikel deserves a starter.

Malouda over Joe Cole for me. Two fantastic matches, and I don't think Joe Cole is in the same shape as Malouda at the moment. Deco should be seen amongst the spectators in this one, he was awful yesterday.

I can't really see Arsenal winning this game, in the shape we are in. I'm optimistic before this one. 2-1 to Chels!

I agree with a lot of your points there, however, whilst you point out that Joey isn't in the same shape as Malouda at the moment, you don't question what shape Frank will be in following his injury. I'd be inclined to start out like this:

------------Mikel-----------

Essien------------Malouda

------------Cole------------

And then we have the option to bring on Frank and rearrange if it starts to go badly.