Chelsea look to kick off where they left off late last year against Arsenal. A 6-0 beat down of Arsenal will look to be built on.
Date: Sunday, October 5, 2014
Kick off: 14:05 GMT
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Chelsea remain unbeaten in all major competitions this season and of course would like to keep that going with three points this weekend.
Arsenal too remain unbeaten in the top flight of English football with two wins and four draws. Chelsea and Arsenal were the only English teams to pick up all three points from their midweek clashes against Sporting Lisbon(1-0) and Galatasaray(4-1) respectively, leaving this match to be quite a big one.
“Of course I will play against Arsenal. I am certain.” Diego Costa speaks briefly to journalists asking about his fitness and whether or not he will be fit for the Arsenal clash.So, those Gooners hoping for a Costa-less Chelsea side will be very unhappy going into Sunday.
Of course another big talking point, actually the biggest talking point has to be Fabregas meeting against his former teammates, manager, and fans. The club he grew up with and the club that taught him most of the skill he has today will play enemy to him this Sunday.
Of all London derbies, this should be a big one. Last time out, Arsenal were humiliated by a very strong, attacking Chelsea side for Arsene WengerÂ’s thousandth match in charge of the North London club. With a red card and six goals courtesy of Chelsea, the game couldnÂ’t have ended quicker for Arsenal. This meaning that Arsenal will be hungry for points.
So far, this season it has been the opposite of last season. We have been stellar in attack, scoring plenty of goals, but not holding on to clean sheets and often conceding first and letting that be our wake up call.
That said, we have held clean sheets in our previous two matches against Aston Villa and Sporting Lisbon. The real challenge is now against Arsenal. Can we stop Sanchez, Ozil, and Welbeck? Only time will tell.
Injuries should not be a major factor for this match. The only major ones for us being Drogba and possibly Ramires. Of course Costa has had the lingering hamstring problems, but claiming that he is fit, it should not be much of a problem. Arsenal on the other hand are missing Debuchy, Ramsey, Arteta, and Giroud.
This said, line-ups are expected to be similar to those that we saw during midweek.
Predicted Line-ups:
Chelsea (4-2-3-1)- Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Fabregas, Matic; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Costa
Arsenal (4-2-3-1)- Szczesny; Chambers, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Gibbs; Flamini, Wilshere; Sanchez, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Welbeck
This should be a tough game for Chelsea, but it is not going to be ArsenalÂ’s strongest side and we should go for and get all three points.
Prediction:
Chelsea 3-1 Arsenal
(Oscar, Costa, Terry)Â Â (Sanchez)
Keep The Blue Flag Flying High!
