Written by Tony Merakli
Here are the five things that I believe Arsenal must achieve in order to ensure a victory over title rivals Chelsea later tonight:
1. Contain Drogba
Arsenal can enhance their chances of winning significantly by trying to stop the man who seems to excel when he comes up against the Gunners. Didier Drogba has proven time and time again to be somewhat of a thorn in Wenger’s side when the two London teams clash. The Ivorian international has scored 10 goals in his last 7 matches against Arsenal (13 goals in 13 games in total against the Gunners) and will no doubt look to add to his tally tonight. It’s a difficult task to achieve, but Sebatien Squillaci and Laurent Koscielny will have to make sure that the Chelsea striker has a quite night at the Emirates.
2. Stand up and be counted for
It’s a pretty obvious one, but so far this season the Arsenal players have failed to comply in many fans eyes. We have a number of high-profile players within our ranks, but when it comes to the big occasions we see very little from them. In order for the Gunners to gain anything from this game they will have to show their intention from the start, have the right body language and attitude. If the big-name players, such as Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas and Andrey Arshavin can step up tonight, and perform to their highest level, then I’m sure they can bag a victory against their London rivals.
3. Get at Chelsea
It seems to me that Chelsea have not been at their best recently, so why not use this as an advantage and get at them from the beginning? We all know Arsenal have the style and technique to unlock any defence in the world, but they need to attack Chelsea and not let them settle. Of course Chelsea will have some possession, but when they do, Arsenal should be in their faces, thus forcing errors. I expect Arsenal to attack, however, they need to convert possession into chances, and evidently, into goals. If we can attack Chelsea and get in their faces then I think we will have a chance of a victory. If this doesn’t occur and Arsenal let Chelsea settle, then we could have a problem on our hands.
an arsenal fn myself but arent you stating the bleeding obvious, if we control the midfield stay tight at the back contain their dangerman and get at them with our attack we would obviously win the game.
the problem is that we lack the physical power, concentration and protection from midfield to either control drogba or keep a clean sheet, and our attack has looked toothless against the big teams for some time, not entirely their fault i dont think, firstly so fragile at back they are all more worried that we may concede, and secondly that chamakh has had to do ALOT more than anyone expected this season with wengers mistrust of vela (supposedly vela was the reason he let eduardo go, i know who id rather have ) rvp and bendtners injuries, he has looked knackered recently
only one of those i think we will do is control the midfield, ramires is yet to adapt and pretty shocking, no lampard no ballack etc