This could be the night of the centrebacks.
John Terry and Joleon Lescott are out of the Man City-Chelsea match.
Skipper Vincent Kompany is very doubtful with a calf injury.
That leaves Kolo Toure against his good friend Didier Drogba.
One thing about Arsenal\’s recent run is that defenders have chipped in with important goals.
I like to see that. Sometimes you really need that. A Koscielny header got Arsenal on track for a 3-0 win over AC Milan and Vermaelen grabbed the winner against Newcastle in the 95th minute.
Gary Cahill has already scored a goal in his short time at Chelsea. Jonny Evans scored his first goal for Manchester United at the weekend.
It\’s a game of sequences and I think Spurs are in free-fall and might struggle against Stoke tonight.
Spurs are more skilful but that doesn\’t mean they’ll win against the somewhat patchy Stoke.
Somehow, somewhere, Spurs have lost their rhythm and balance and stability. Since they were smashed at Arsenal, they haven’t looked the same team.
EVERTON don’t score many goals but Fellaini is a huge strong man for them.
Good tackler, good passer, very consistent.
Drenthe is fast, aggressive, sometimes spectacular but too often erratic. Tim Cahill still provides a goal threat, as Sunderland found out when he headed the equaliser in the FA Cup tie.
Jelavic is a striker I haven\’t seen very much. Being Croatian, he\’s very skilful and he’s a good jumper. One to keep an eye on maybe.
Distin is grizzly strong in the box and while Distin is vulnerable in wide positions and in centrefield, I don\’t think Van Persie can out-sprint him.
But I reckon Arsenal should be able to keep the ball quite well and nick the game by one goal. I\’m thinking 1-0 or 2-1.
A couple of people noticed that last week I didn’t write about Chelsea-Napoli.
We went to Oxford that day to see my brother Neil and we walked three miles down the river opposite Port Meadow after lunch at the Trout Inn, and by the time we came home and watched a dramatic game which went to extra-time, I was a bit knackered.
Ivanovic put Chelsea through 5-4 on aggregate.
To me it looked like a one-off. I doubt if Chelsea can do that again. Ever.
I don’t think the old guard can play like that ever again.
That was the old Chelsea: methodical power football, the old blue juggernaut competing fiercely and ruthlessly, cranking up through the gearbox, living dangerously at times, playing the diagonal football of headers, knockdowns and flick-ons, and finally overwhelming their opponents.
Chelsea had to reach down into their guts to pull out that performance, to show Abramovich, to show AVB, to show the world they’re not too rich, too old, too spoiled to keep their jobs. We’ll never see another game where Drogba, Terry and Lampard score three goals from three balls into the box like that.
The Lamps penalty was for a handball after a corner, I think, or a free-kick.
It looked as if Terry, having been substituted, was showing huge disrespect to Roberto Di Matteo by coaching from the sidelines during the drama. But in fact the ghastly JT was just repeating the manager’s instructions after David Luiz was injured, telling Essien to drop back into defence.
As I always say : Every football match is different because the circumstances of each game are different.
And teams need a reason to play, a reason to compete, as they face radically different situations and circumstances during a long season.
Just as I thought Spurs were playing well and winning to impress the jury and to keep Harry Redknapp out of jail during his tax evasion trial, I thought Chelsea that night were playing to show that the owner and the sacked 34-year old manager had got it all wrong.
That performance made a statement. It said: Anelka and Alex have gone but we deserve to stay.
Will they stay? For how long?
Will they beat Man City tonight and hand the title to United?
Could the score be 0-0 when Carlos Tevez comes on?
Since yesterday I’ve had a feeling that a defender, a centreback, will make the headlines tonight.
Chelsea could lose and Arsenal could win.
If so, it’s a six-point Wednesday night.
