Chelsea v Arsenal looked a bit scary three weeks ago. Not any more.
Chelsea were toothless in that 0-0 at home to Newcastle and again in their 1-1 draw at Bordeaux on Wednesday night. They miss Carvalho, their best defender, and the flair that Deco added in the first two months of the season.
However, there’s a big difference between Joe Kinnear and Arsene Wenger.And there’s a big difference between Laurent Blanc and Wenger. Those two are tactical managers who organise their sides to nullify the strengths of their opponents. They seek to mark, to deny space, to negate the dangerous players of the other team. Kinnear went to Stamford Bridge for a 0-0 draw because he needed a point. A draw was a vital result for him. Blanc got a point by marking Chelsea’s attacking fullbacks and forcing them to pass infield, so Chelsea were far narrower than they wanted to be.
Late on, Anelka looked over during the two minutes it took Drogba to get his top off andget ready to come on and then he ran onto a fantastic pass from Lampard to give him a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Anelka dummied and made the keeper sit down, and then he dummied again and made him lie down, and then he stroked the ball into the net for 1-0 and came off the pitch with a smile on his face. Uncharacteristically, Chelsea allowed big defender Diarra a free header to equalise.
Sent off in Bordeaux, suspended for the decider against Cluj at the Bridge, Frank Lampard will really want to score against Arsenal. When Robben, Duff and Gudjohsen were all playing him in, Lampard was a formidable goalscorer. Less so these days because Anelka, Joe Cole and Malouda don’t play him in as often. And Joe Cole is doubtful for Sunday.
Victory would allow Arsenal to start December in decent shape.
Cesc Fabregas is a winner who won his first game as captain and he might win his second as well. Even if he doesn’t, Fabregas will be a better captain than Thierry Henry. Arsenal can win things with Fabregas as captain. But only if Wenger buys the players everyone knows he needs. Fabregas is the biggest success of Wenger’s kids policy and one of the few successes of Wenger’s kids policy. Cesc must be as dismayed as the rest of us to read about the manager’s pursuit of a 14-year old Brazilian wonder-boy. Cesc needs help. He should not be playing with Song.
Hill-Wood says Wenger has money to spend but will only spend it on players who are better than those he has already. I’m not optimistic about him signing the players Arsenalneed because, over the last 12 years, I’ve gradually learned that there are no limits on how self-defeating this manager is prepared to be. His board think the last three seasons don’t count and when Wenger wins nothing in 2009 they’ll think the last four seasons don’t count. However, the fans reckon the last four years do count, and so does Cesc Fabregas.
We’ve read that Arsenal will give Robin van Persie a new five-year contract on £80,000 a week. But we’ve also read that Podolski is available at £12 million in January. Podolski is a far better footballer than van Persie or Wiltord and more proven that Reyes or Walcott. He’s a fast, mean international striker who would fit in. He would be good with Wilshere and Ramsey. At 23 he would have re-sale value. But would he be happy in a French dressing room?
Eduardo was supposed to play in a midweek game against Nottingham Forest, which had been arranged for him. The game happened but I heard Eduardo didn’t play, so he might have had a little set-back. However, one website say he DID play. Not sure on that one. Sagna, Nasri and Adebayor are fit again.
Arsenal and Chelsea are both struggling for goals, so the game might be 1-0 either way.
The wide player Chelsea need is Robinho, who missed Man City’s 2-0 win against Schalke in Gelsenkirchen last night. City play Man United on Sunday at 1.30 on Sky, before the Arsenal game at 4pm.
It will be very interesting to see how well City’s one-touch play works during the fast counter-attacks which are their speciality and the foundation of their current style. When sky-blue greyhounds SWP, Ireland and Robinho break, Man City look exciting, catapulting forward in numbers with slick diagonal passes. I enjoy those moves a lot. No team in the Premier League has more pace in midfield than Man City and the grinning, shaven-headed Stephen Ireland is scoring in every game at the moment. City beat United home and away last season.
If you like ANR, you’ll love The Professor