Hope Wilshere's injury isn't a bad one. He's our only real creative spark in the middle at the moment.
a very very very boring game, but the result is a good one Id say. I can see this one going either way in 2 weeks time. I wonder if this was Sanchez' last game for us
A draw in this game keeps us in with a chance of making the final. I think Sanchez for Lacazette was to have a forward line all closing ground quickly and staying on Chelsea, don't think it was an attacking sub but a defensive one. Given that we weren't really creating anything and staying in the tie was important I don't mind those changes and mentality. I hope Wilshere doesn't have a proper injury. We need him in our midfield at the moment. Sanchez starting to annoy me with his shouting for the ball and getting angry if he doesn't get it when he is either surrounded or not in a position for the player to make the pass. Hopefully Ozil is fit for the next leg and Sanchez is ready to play and be on form (provided he isn't gone by then).
apparently we are no longer sending Mavropanos out on loan. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/fo...mavropanos-encouraging-training-a3737161.html
Perez barely got a game and when he did it was only Cup games. Lacazette starts most games, he just gets subbed in most. I think Lacazette has been playing well, just unlucky not to have more goals.
Hopefully that means he has shown enough to be a backup option. Though from the article it sounds like it may just be so Wenger can assess him between now and the end of the season to see where he is at.
Agree with this. He's been working hard and making the right runs, holding the ball up well, getting himself into decent positions. He's got skill on the ball and a good finish. He's a bit low on confidence at the moment and taking him off after 70 mins is not helping. He looks so dejected when he comes off. The goals will come though, he just needs to keep doing what he's doing.
This guy was clearly not a wenger signing, must have been the new guy in charge of scouting, there is no way wenger would have not know much about a signing before, he always had then watched multiple times. Wenger seemed quite luke warm to him, but now seems to think he is quite good, that in its self is encouraging.
I've said it before, but Wenger truly does seem to have Conte's number. That's 1 win in 7 against Wenger now. Really bizarre that he continuously struggles to get the better of him. With that said, I don't understand why he sets up so cautiously against us. Yes, Chelsea had some chances and were probably the better team, but how often was Ospina properly tested? We nullified their key threats too easily, condensed play so they were forced to create chances centrally (which is their weakest area in terms of building attacks IMO), defended resolutely and stayed in the game. Given that Chelsea fielded a near-enough starting XI and we had a number of crucial injuries, they should be disappointed they couldn't breach our defence. Especially as Forest knocked 4 past us a few days earlier and Chelsea were on home territory. We weren't troubled as much as we could have been. Full credit to Mustafi, Chambers and Holding who were all excellent and kept their defensive shape well. At 0-0, the second game is in the balance and could swing either way. We have home advantage, but they're going to be a lot more adventurous than they were on Wednesday. We need to be prepared. Hopefully we will have the likes of Kolasinac, Ramsey, Ozil, Giroud, Wilshere etc back by then to give us a boost too.
