Arsenal’s Trip To Chelsea Previewed

Life is still pretty miserable for us Arsenal fans despite the arrival of Mikel Arteta last month. The hoped for change in results still hasn’t appeared, but at least the performances are more promising. As it stands we have only won twice in our last 15 games and despite the promising performances it’s difficult to be optimistic going into any game.

We played Chelsea a few weeks ago and it was definitely one of those promising performances, but ultimately we couldn’t hold on to our lead and two goals in the last 10 minutes saw us beaten. That was the only defeat so far under Arteta, but we have only won once in the league too. The draws against Bournemouth, Palace and Sheffield United were all very costly to us and particularly when you consider that we took the lead in two of those games.

In fact we have dropped seven points from winning positions in the five games under Arteta already and it’s a very worrying trend. We don’t seem to have the legs to last the full 90 minutes which has to be a throwback to our fitness levels before he arrived. I think it has a bit to do with lack of confidence too as we become obviously more nervous as the games progress.

The other reason we’re not winning enough games is our inability to stick the ball in the back of the net. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang suspended again tonight the onus to get those goals should fall on Alexandre Lacazette, but Gabriel Martinelli is far more likely to do so despite his tender age. When Aubameyang is back I think Arteta has to seriously consider keeping Martinelli in the team because he’s our only other consistent goal scorer.

I expect a fairly similar team tonight to the one which drew with Sheffield United on Saturday as Arteta’s options are limited at the moment due to injuries and that Aubameyang suspension. We have struggled badly to control games and it’s still too easy to play against us under Arteta so far, but we can’t expect miracles overnight. I am much happier with the attitude and commitment of the players under him though and hopefully the results will start to follow soon.

I would imagine Chelsea won’t make too many changes either despite losing 1-0 away to Newcastle on Saturday evening. That was a game they really should have won, but they paid the price for missing too many chances when Newcastle got a last gasp winner. I really don’t think we have a hope of finishing in the top four, but a win tonight would put us only seven points behind Chelsea with 14 games still to go.

While that’s a gap that could of course be bridged we would have to win tonight to have any hope and that’s a huge ask for this team. I had hoped the win against United would bring the confidence needed to improve our game and dictate the play, but it hasn’t happened. Maybe a win away to Chelsea will be the catalyst we need to finally kick start our season and deliver the football the fans crave.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.