Arsenal vs Chelsea (PL) Sun 29th Dec 14:00 GMT

[coco 16,060]

[Munkworth 10,632]

Having never been to another London stadium outside of The Bridge & Wembley (does Gander Green Lane count?) I’m doubling my total in the space of a week 

[axman2526 4,499]

Does it really matter if we go there and win if we then turn up at home and lose to the likes of Watford and Norwich?

[Nevamind 425]

5 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Does it really matter if we go there and win if we then turn up at home and lose to the likes of Watford and Norwich?

Oh yes it matters. Imagine if we would have lost to Spurs too how would the overall mood then be? Way worse i would say. 

[Dean 873]

Not only did I have to put up with Chelsea losing at home to Southampton, but then had to endure the added torture of watching the Liverpool- Leicester match at the Liverpool-supporting  in-laws, listen to them gush over ‘their’ team and grudgingly accept they do look really good. Chelsea, SFL - please help me put these disturbing memories behind me! 

[dansubrosa 3,201]

12 minutes ago, Dean said:

Not only did I have to put up with Chelsea losing at home to Southampton, but then had to endure the added torture of watching the Liverpool- Leicester match at the Liverpool-supporting  in-laws, listen to them gush over ‘their’ team and grudgingly accept they do look really good. Chelsea, SFL - please help me put these disturbing memories behind me! 

Sad to say we are light years behind Liverpool, think we probably will need a few years before we get to their level. 

[Dean 873]

16 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Sad to say we are light years behind Liverpool, think we probably will need a few years before we get to their level. 

Indeed. Just asking for a win against arsenal for now - nothing more :)!

[Munkworth 10,632]

I wish Reece James is fit for this one. As much as I love the man watching Dave receive great balls out in space on the right and then watching him to the safer, easier pass back to Rudiger instead of even attempting to keep forward momentum just got depressing. 

Hopefully when we pick our next captain we go for someone with a few years left in them, currently getting the armband seems to signal the start of your decline at Chelsea. 

[chiefBlueCFC 927]

I'd like to see some rotation but I'm not sure who I would drop and for whom. I'd say swap Jorginho for Kova. bring Mount back into the squad. Pulisic for Willian and give Tammy CHO and Pulisic on each side to see how we do? My guess is that we will see the typical front 3 of Pulisic -- Tammy -- Willian however. I wouldn't mind seeing Frank roll out Mount -- Tammy -- Willian in the front and let them hound and bug the sh*t out of Arsenal's back 4 and see how they handle our press. 

[CFCCAN 3,618]

Could well be 5th going into Sunday's game, this inconsistency and failure to beat mid to lower table teams is killing us.  Arsenal will want to play football so we won't be stifled as we were against the Saints, Hammers and Bournemouth.  I fully expect to pick up 3 points and have fun watching AFTV.   Roll on January and make some decent signings and start winning at home.  

[enigma 6,197]

Honestly, I don't consider arsenal a top team at the moment, so in familiar fashion, we will lose to them. We seem to pull out good performances against the top teams.

The first time Arteta is going to face a team in the top 4 and it happens to be against us. No doubt we will allow him his first win against a top 4 side. Errgghh...

[Gol15 4,261]

The best option is to go back to a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 I would play it like this:

Azpilicueta Rudiger Zouma Emerson

Kante    Kovacic   Mount

Willian              Pulisic

           Tammy

This lineup will create chances and is stable enough to at least outscore the opponent by 1 goal difference.

[axman2526 4,499]

1 hour ago, Munkworth said:

I wish Reece James is fit for this one. As much as I love the man watching Dave receive great balls out in space on the right and then watching him to the safer, easier pass back to Rudiger instead of even attempting to keep forward momentum just got depressing. 

Hopefully when we pick our next captain we go for someone with a few years left in them, currently getting the armband seems to signal the start of your decline at Chelsea. 

Got to pick the system to suit the players, not the other way around.

 

With that said Frank has a couple of days to try things in training and see.

 

Firstly could Rudiger work at RWB? He is athletic enough but does he have the end product? If not then who? For an away game where we will be less offensive minded and more looking to counter, like spurs, Dave can play there if Rudiger cannot, but for a game like Saints at home it is not good enough.

How about LWB? Emerson is useless. Alonso could be back and if he is we can go with the same back 5 as Spurs:

 

Rudiger/Dave----Zouma-----Tomori

 

Dave/Rudiger---Kova----Kante-----Alonso

 

If no Alonso then either we try out Willian as a Wingback or abandon the system and go back to a back 4.

 

Rudiger---Zouma----Tomori----Dave

 

---Kante----Jorginho-----Kova

 

Mount----Tammy----Willian

 

Either way no Emerson. Alonso or Willian would offer far, far more going forward and Dave and Rudiger are far better defensively than him. He should be the 4th name Lamps is looking to ship out in January after Giroud, Pedro and Kepa.

[JoeyN 5,299]

I think we'll win.

Just gotta watch the space in behind. Aubameyang is lightning.

 

[General 1,627]

Heads or tails ? That’s what it’s getting down to. Form appears to be like a light switch currently either turned  On or Off. We will just have to grin & bear it until there are players moved on and new brought in, both next month & the summer. I’m going 1-2 to Chelsea but that’s going to need the players to actually give a fook & show up. 

[Gol15 4,261]

"...A victory for the Blues would deal a huge blow to Arsenal's title ambitions, they're aiming to do what noone has managed so far this season, win a Premier league match at Stamford Bridge."

 

 

[chi blue 3,736]

On 26/12/2019 at 14:00, Munkworth said:

Having never been to another London stadium outside of The Bridge & Wembley (does Gander Green Lane count?) I’m doubling my total in the space of a week 

 I'm hoping it will be as good a day out as last Sunday was.

[erskblue 11,757]

17 hours ago, Dean said:

Indeed. Just asking for a win against arsenal for now - nothing more :)!

Agreed.

Just beat them Chelsea, Just beat them.

Please !

[Strider6003 3,479]

If Alonso is not fit, I would go back to 4-2-3-1.

[The Swan 433]

How things are going I would take a draw.

[Kev56 1,092]

On 27/12/2019 at 15:26, CFCCAN said:

Could well be 5th going into Sunday's game, this inconsistency and failure to beat mid to lower table teams is killing us.  Arsenal will want to play football so we won't be stifled as we were against the Saints, Hammers and Bournemouth.  I fully expect to pick up 3 points and have fun watching AFTV.   Roll on January and make some decent signings and start winning at home.  

Well we're still 4th and could possibly go 4 points clear. As the saying goes 'it's a funny old game'

Come on Chelsea.

[Deino 1,870]

On 27/12/2019 at 01:00, axman2526 said:

Does it really matter if we go there and win if we then turn up at home and lose to the likes of Watford and Norwich?

Yes. It's Arsenal!

[TrueBlueSeaFC87 179]

GK: Kepa
CB: Zouma
CB: Tomori
CB: Rudiger
DM: Kovacic
DM: Kante
CAM: Mount
RM: Willian
LW: Pulisic
ST: Abraham 

[erskblue 11,757]

Match Day !

Come on Chelsea !!

[evissy 5,122]

Against us:
New manager
New managers first home game

For us:
Arsenal won't park the bus at home
It is Arsenal

This could well be a draw.