please log in to view this image Venue: Emirates Stadium KO: 16:30 GMT Date: Sunday 22nd August 2021 Head to Head: Overall: 203 Wins: 79 Draws: 59 Losses: 65 Last 6 meetings: Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea (FA Cup final) Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea Chelsea 4-1 Arsenal (EL Final) please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Team News: TBC
Decent matchday thread. Good effort Honest assessment is that despite your recent record against Chelsea, I think they'll be too strong. Tuchel has them extremely well organised and hard to break down. Lukaku will score 1 in 2 like he has practically everywhere he's been and his signing now puts them as favorites to win the league, imo. Arsenal look disjointed and lack a cutting edge. Clearly there's a lack of confidence in the players and some disharmony with Auba (possibly Lacazette, too?) I feel Chelsea are the worst team you could be facing, right now and, it could be a long 90 minutes. My gut feeling is 0 - 2/3 and Lukaku will get on the scoresheet.
We've got a decent record against Chelsea in recent times. And we somehow seem to find a way to pull it out of the bag when we face them. At the moment we look **** and Chelsea look strong. Everything on paper says Chelsea should win this easily. But the game isn't played on paper ....
Thats the one thing that concerns me. You guys have been gash for the last couple of seasons, and we have been okay-ish. And you have still managed to get something out of those games. Am hoping that it is going to be too much of an ask this time around, as the gulf in quality between the teams looks as big as I can remember right now. Should be a good game
Arteta and the players are under huge pressure already this season after that **** show against Brentford. We're at home too, so there's going to be a massive expectation for us to be better and put in a passionate performance. Turns out that Aubameyang and Lacazette have Covid and that's why they are out atm. That explains a lot as rumours were that they were both on their way out which would have been a ****ing disaster for us. They won't be ready for Chelsea, and Odergaard won't have his visa in time and Partey is still out injured, so we are missing key players. I think we'll get beaten, but as long as the players put in a shift and show they want it, then I won't be too disappointed if we lose. I will be ****ing fuming though if we put in another performance like we did against Brentford.
Ben White has Covid so will be missing the game today. Lacazette is the same. Mari-Holding CB partnership? Gulp...
So, to be clear, the (key) players missing today are: White, Gabriel, Partey, Lacazette, Aubameyang (likely), Odegaard didn't get visa approved in time... I'll be stunned if we can get a win. We would have been up against it even with a fully fit squad, but with all these players out, I don't see how we get a result.
ah well.. It will be a long evening! I was not expecting anything from this or the game next week! Actually, don't even know where the next point(s) is coming from, every one will be lining up to play the once mighty Arsenal!
The problem with so many players out with covid isn't that it would have affected how we'd have played or our chances of winning as we'd still be getting tonked regardless I reckon. It's more that it's a ready made excuse for Arteta and co. Get them all back, then be **** for a while so there's no excuse THEN we might get a change of management.
Without a fit Auba/sharp Auba we just dont have any cutting edge. I feel like Saka, Pepe and ESR will get in plenty of positions but we need an assured finisher.
This will be 4-5. Arteta looks soo clueless. The Club has made such a bad move here - he's out of his depth and they are spending money we dont have on his signings. The whole situation is shambolic.
We are so far behind the required standard, it is beyond scary. They have to fire Arteta. This isn’t good enough.
FT. Surprised there weren’t more boos at the final whistle. That was so far behind an acceptable level, it’s not even funny. I know we had a lot of injuries, but the quality gap was so obvious. It was men against boys. Chelsea won’t get an easier 3 points all season. They should have won by more. A lot more. Hopefully we don’t have to see Mari play again when all our CBs are fit. He’s not a PL quality centre half. Ah well, at least it gets easier from here right….
Thought we showed a bit of fight at least. The two goals were really poor defending from Saka, he just left Tierney badly exposed. Big chance to pull one back from Holding, if that had gone in, then who knows. But at the end of the day, there is a big gulf between us and the Chavs, no point denying that.
He's proven over the last decade he is though. Before Arteta arrived Aubameyang had outscored Kane, Salah and Vardy at Arsenal.
Auba has had a difficult year, lost form and had Malaria and Covid. Not sure how much those illness have impacted on his form, or the loss of form came first. But these things happen to strikers. It doesn't mean he's lost it though. I'd fully expect him to get back to his best soon. Our issue is getting the ball to him atm !