4. Control the midfield
It’s going to be a hard task, but if Arsenal must try to control the midfield. Arsenal acquire a number of players capable of achieving this, but they will be up against one of the most physical midfield forces in the Premier League. Although we will be up against a stronger side, the Gunners will boast more technique and flair, which should see us hold, and pass the ball around more fluently, consequently keeping more possession in midfield. Arsenal have proven in the past that they can win games when they take charge of this area, but when they don’t (which is usually against the bigger sides in the Premier League) they tend to falter. It will be a tight battle in the middle of the park, and I will go on record as saying, whichever team controls this part of the field will win the match…let’s just hope for our sakes its Arsenal.
5. Be solid at the back
Unlike recent matches already this season, Arsenal will have to try and be solid at the back, especially against a team of Chelsea’s calibre. The Gunners will be without Thomas Vermaelen, so it will be down to Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci to fend off the threat of Didier Drogba. Not only will the two centre-back need to be on song, but so will the full-backs. Bacary Sagna will have to make sure Florent Malouda is kept quite, whilst underperforming left-back Gael Clichy will have to raise his game severely as well. The fact is Arsenal’s defence will need to be solid and stay focus throughout the 90 minutes; otherwise we could be looking at yet another defeat from the Blues.
This article was first published on Gunnersphere.com – you can follow him on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/Gunnersphere
Play FootballFanCast.com’s first LIVE football fantasy – Picklive – HERE!
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