Untold preview: Arsenal versus Chelsea « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
By Phil Gregory
After a disappointing result at home against Wigan, Arsenal are back in action versus Chelsea in Saturday’s early kick off. Chelsea come into the game off the back of an impressive defensive display a demonstration of how not to finish a series of solid chances by Barcelona, and I can’t imagine many Arsenal tears will be shed should the Catalans slink out of the tournament… though the thought of Chelsea winning the Champions League isn’t too appealing either.
The always excellent RefWatch has made clear the task facing Arsenal in this upcoming match, given the appointment of Mike Dean to the tie. Once this game was announced to be in between Chelsea’s Champions League semi final it became a much more likely source of three points, though any benefit from the fixture list is surely eliminated by the Dean Factor, and more besides. Could get nasty.
The race for the Champions League has certainly got interesting all of a sudden. Our loss to Wigan means that wins for Newcastle and Spurs in their games in hand would see them draw to within two points of us. This weekend both of those pair have winnable games while we have Chelsea and Dean at home, so the Wigan defeat could yet make 3rd place a more closely run affair than we would have liked. Tottenham certainly don’t have many tough games remaining, with the likes of Fulham, Bolton, Villa and Blackburn awaiting them. Newcastle on the other hand have to travel to an ever-improving Wigan side, Chelsea, Everton and have to host Man City. I’d expect the Geordies to drop off once those fixtures bite, and Chelsea to overtake them for 5th, given an average bag of fixtures for John Terry’s Di Matteo’s side. That does unfortunately mean I expect Tottenham to have Champions League football next season, though I am being logical here: if Tottenham continue to be Tottenham, their easy-looking fixtures (Norwich at home, anyone?) could throw up enough losses to see the Chavs or Geordies spoil their show. With ‘Arry having stocked their squad full of 31 year old players, his departure to England could lead to a decline in Spurs next season, providing they don’t manage to get a competent manager in.
Looking at the injuries and suspensions, fans of excellent French defenders will be pleased to see the return of Laurent Koscielny to the Arsenal backline after a two game ban. Yossi Benayoun is out however, according to the terms of his loan deal from Chelsea, which robs us of one of our recent impressive performers. Abou Diaby is – pending next injury – back in the mix. Abou is certainly a special one: his injury record is dire and he seems to be incredibly fragile. That said, he has been on the receiving end of some bad tackles in recent seasons, and has also shown some outstanding ability when he gets on the pitch at times. He’s one that seems to cause so much frustration with his fitness woes that fans demand him out, and then fail to see his quality on the pitch. Living in France for a year, it was interesting to hear how the French seem to rate him highly –he certainly featured for the national team when fit – and yet some Gooners wouldn’t want him near our first eleven. The debate really is if he can stay fit, and how much the recent injuries have cost him in terms of development… it all sounds very Kieran Gibbs. Fingers crossed for the pair of them over the next season.
The most disappointing news is Mikel Arteta’s injury, a sprain which is expected to keep him out for the rest of the season. Mikel’s excellent form has led to suggestions that the Spaniard could well keep a fit Jack Wilshere out of the side, which would certainly be good for squad depth once the inevitable injuries occur.
Szcznesy
Sagna Koscielny Vermaelen Santos
Ramsey Song
Rosicky
Walcott Van Persie Gervinho
I’ve gone for Gervinho to fill in for the ineligible Benayoun. Whilst the Ivorian hasn’t hit the heights many expected of him when he arrived, in fairness this is no disaster given he is adjusting to his first season in the Premier League. A return of four goals and six assists in the league suggests there is plenty to come from the livewire front man, and certainly his finishing could be much improved. Watching his debut up in the rafters of his St James Park, I was really struck by his ability to dribble past his man and get into very dangerous positions. While his passing and/or finishing once in those positions isn’t the greatest, he’ll very easily provide ten goals and assists a season once he improves those aspects of his game.
Ramsey will probably come in for Arteta. This isn’t really a like-for-like change: Arteta plays much deeper, while Ramsey prefers to play further forward, so the team may not have the same balance the Spaniard would bring. While Ramsey hasn’t the best of seasons, people forget he is 21 and perhaps he is also suffering from being overhyped during his time out injured. Consider his Arsenal career to date:
- Signed as a very promising youngster in the summer of 2008, bedded into the team initially with cup games during the 2008-09 season
- Starts to break through to the first team during the 2009-10, earning much praise for this performances
- Progress totally stalled by Shawcross’ tackle and subsequent time out injured.
- Returned halfway through the 10-11 season, battling for fitness and consistency.
The current season is really Aaron’s first full season of first team football: he only made fifteen league appearances for Cardiff before signing for Arsenal, and that is at a much lower level and intensity than what he experiences in the Premier League with the Arsenal. So really, expecting him to perform at the top level this season was unreasonable, and hence the playmaker duties have been shared between the Welshman and Tomas Rosicky, with the latter stepping in now the Welshman looks jaded. At his age, in the first season of a career as a regular starter and coming off the back of a very serious injury, slamming Ramsey for “not performing” when his season has tailed off is frankly bizarre to me.
Chelsea’s team could well be an interesting one. Do they rest players to maximise their chances of making the Champions League final, knowing a loss versus Arsenal could well be a big blow to their hopes of Champions League football next season, should they not win the competition? Even with the Dean factor, if Chelsea were to opt for making a large number of changes we should have enough to see them off at home. The only confirmed absentee for Chelsea will be Drogba, who is out with a knee injury.
Predicting a score for this match is a really mugs game, given Chelsea may or may not rotate. Fortunately I am a mug, so I’ll go for a basic 1-0 to the Arsenal.