Could It Be One Nil To The Arsenal At The Bridge?
Nov 28th, 2008 by 'holic
Is it really only three weeks since we beat Manchester United? I have to say defeats to Villa and Manchester City have completely taken the edge off that particular performance, but on Sunday we have the opportunity to regain that special feeling of beating a major rival.
I suppose if we are being honest this will be a different test entirely to Fergie’s boys. For starters we are away, and Chelsea are unlikely to engage us in the beautiful game in the same way United did. There is a very good reason why they have only conceded four goals in the Premiership this season.
The odds on an Arsenal win at Stamford Bridge have surely never been bigger. We are 4/1 with most of the high street chains, but one comparison site suggests 8/1 is on offer at Sporting Index. Guess where my pound is going!
Those odds tell a tale. Arsenal may be back to almost full strength with Sagna, Nasri, and Adebayor likely to return. Walcott may still be a big miss. We will surely go with a five man midfield to match the hosts and the wide attacking threat that Theo brings to that formation is not easily replaced by the current squad.
I think it is possible that van Persie will be asked to play on the right hand side, where he has appeared for Holland, with Nasri on the left. Diaby could be just behind Adebayor, and there is a choice between Song and Denilson to partner Fabregas. Tom Watt leads the Song fan club on the Arsenal Television fans forum, but Arsene has shown faith in Denilson all season and I suspect the little Brazilian will get the nod.
There is no question in my mind that we will have to be at our best defensively, and enjoy perhaps a little bit of the fortune that we earned against United. If that happens we could just take the points, and despite the bookies conviction that we are unlikely to succeed I am convinced we are capable of springing the surprise.
Liverpool have already shown that a well organised and committed team can get the points at the Bridge, becoming the first side to win at Chelsea in the Premiership since we did it in 2004. We must emulate them if we are to keep the leaders of the Premiership in view.
Are we likely to do it. Common sense suggests it will be difficult, but 8/1? That is nonsense. Excuse me, I have a registration form to fill out.
Have a great weekend ‘holics.
30 Responses to “Could It Be One Nil To The Arsenal At The Bridge?”
Call it crazy-but i have a feeling arsenal gonna win in a high scoring affair 4-3.ya i know you saying ‘what?’.i think scolari is gona tell his boys to allow arsenal to play ball-and do the same.and we all know which school of thought our beloved coach follows.Nways watever the score…keep the faith…arsene knows…go gooners
Oh and i reckon that a pound well spent…
I think we will draw. We tend to play better in the bigger matches.
I have a feeling Vela will score.
Greedybayor won’t do much I don’t think. Probably spend the match getting caught offside and missing sitters. We really should have sold him .
Gallas will get booed but I think he will play well to shut them up.
If Silvestre is playing, he might do well. We need his experience in such a game.
Being captain Cesc will rise to this IMO.
Clichy is going to show Cashley how its done.
2-2. Le Sulk and Lampard for them. Vela and someone unexpected like Clichy for us.
diaby is not back, it will be song AND denilson!
my heart says 1-0 to us but my head says 2-1 to us!! haha
Yeah, good call Nick. That is not so good. Maybe Denilson right and van Persie in the hole? Damn you Diaby.
Chelsea have struggled against the big teams and I think we’re in with a chance. Ade, Nasri & Sagna are big players & with Scolari its a softer Chelsea this season. I agree that we have to emaluate Liverpool to get a result. Maybe we should drop Van Persie for Vela who could do a better job in a 4-5-1 on the left. I like Ramsey too. He’s abit like Kuyt for Liverpool in RM and its good to have such an industrious willing runner in the team.
I dont think we should ever play both Song and Denilson in midfield. Whilst Nasri and Cesc will always keep possession, those two will keep losing it and against a team like Chelsea it will hurt us(Just watch Anelka’s goal midweek!)
i just gonna say something please support arsenal stand up infront off the player i belive we going to win if everyone doing hard for the team for the fan us well also i have a dream that arsenal is gonna win so don’t worry guys i9 belive in arsenal team
im the one i love arsenal team more than anyone and i like cese fabrgas more i hope he is sataying for life with arsenal if he did’t i don’t no what am gonna say he is the best player and he is young he can give everything for the team
It’s a tough one to call. There’s no way we can be considered favourites, but somehow the team’s mind set is better against teams of Chelski’s calibre. One thing is for certain, a defeat means we’re out of the race and challenging only for a top four spot.
Sagna’s return is almost worth two men. He’ll neutralise Malouda and still manage to get forward an impose a threat down the right hand side. We’ve lacked this in the last three games.
I have a nice feeling about Adebayor’s return. I think he’ll move the Chelski defence around and create openings that haven’t been coming during his absence.
Challenge will be to contain Anelka. I’m happy Drogba’s not on. He always puts our leakers under pressure. I fancy we’ll do better against the incredible sulk.
I’m happy that Song and Denilson will accompany Cesc and Nasri. Without an uninterrupted run of full fitness, Diaby isn’t going to build any consistency. It doesn’t help to have him appear for a game then disappear for four.
Vela and Neutron Jack to come on after 65 minutes anyone?
Ohhhhhhhh only on your dreams kids,its Chelsea you now!
arsenal can win in bridge… we are always been underestimated when facing the other big four… bt we managed to get good results against them. So blive in arsenal and juz keep on supporting our team.
I jst woke up dis morning wit a very strong beleave that arsenal is going 2 beat chelsea 3-1,no matter wat they throw at us arsenal will come out tops come sunday.
win at stamford bridge…..chelsea will score one atleast but i believe gunners will make it atleast 2 (and three will be great)…..we are far better (excluding SONG!!!!) if its free flowing football………….com on u reds
Denilson..no not that kid for this game…i mean the guy goes missing makes us look a side with a playa sent off…
SONG gets the nod…but will have to be at his best & awake for once…
Alot of positive thinking… hope i’m wrong but am scared we may get a real beating.. Just don’t see us scoring.. no threat from set-pieces; no aerial threat; RvP and Ade not clicking.. and Billy G to get red carded.. 3-0 to the chavs. Please tell me i’m wrong !!
Setanta didn’t show the Portsmouth v AC Milan game in the US. Did anyone watch? How did Senderos and Flaminin play? Were they as good as Djourou and Denilson. What about Traore, is he developing into the calibre of left side player who can challenge Nasri, Rosicky for a berth?
@Bergkamp’s The Man:
hello!
I watched the Portsmouth v AC Milan game on TV; the pompey fans were amazing.
As for the performance of the players: please note that it’s just my opinion (so don’t slate me for whatever I have to say):
Senderos: looked solid. Some people still are not happy with him, but we have to consider that he didn’t play much for AC milan this season. Comparison with JD? well, I’m sure any mistake Senderos makes will be magnified for his mistakes (albeit high profile); but we haven’t seen much of JD to assess his performance.
Flamini: first of all, I hate him since he kept saying “do I look like leaving?” and then f*cked off. I saw him making 3-4 important tackles, but some of his tackles were just for the sake of it, i.e., after some tackles and winning the ball back, the ball did not link to milan players. Everytime I saw him, my vision of him was blurred with another vision of headless chicken.. Hope Denilson realises his promises sooner than later, because at this moment we are counting on him to step up!
As for Traore, I was really impressed with his performance. He played in the left wing position, and with quick feet and skills, caused a lot of problems for milan defense. I am a bit worried that we might lose him at the end of the season, because he once said about leaving for regular football after tasting that at Pompey.
But if we can hang onto him, he’ll be a very valuable asset on the flank.
Was happy for Kanu that he scored the second goal. And a bit sorry for TA that Pompey couldn’t hold onto 2-goal lead. But one just has to admire the class of the milan. Especially Ronaldinho..What a freekick that was!
Anyway, at the end of the match, one of the cliche can’t be truer – form is temporary but class is permanent.
I have no idea what the score will be tomorrow but i have a feeling song, yes song, will play a blinder.
Thanks, ToughCookie. I think this was Senderos’ first game for Milan, so, you’re right, maybe not fair to judge him on one game. The fact that he looked “solid” is a plus. I don’t see that we’ve gained anything by replacing Phil (23) with Silvestre (31). Silvestre looks reasonably solid, but was as much to blame for ManC’s first goal as Clichy. Had that been Senderos, the blogs would have murdered him. Silvestre? Nary a murmur.
I’ve seen Flamini play parts of several ACM games in Italy. He’s looked “OK” at best. I know it’s not the party line, but Denilson has a much more expansive game, a broader repetoire and INFINITELY more potential. He’ll be Brasil’s captin when Flam is back playing or PSG in France.
Don’t worry about keeping hold of Traore. Arsene knows.
Just watched Boro’ draw with N’castle. Veery ordinary performance by Aliadiere (promising flickers that didn’t come to anything) and Justin Hoyte (looked really low in confidence). I like them both but they wouldn’t have made it with us. Hope they can with ‘Boro.
I’ll have whatever is on offer ‘holic. Looks like I am working all weekend and will probably miss the game…
Get behind the lads, Come. On. You. Reds!
Or one nil down, two one up, even. The wine is open and the glass is half full.
Cheers ‘holic.
Anything to say, Paulie?
fantastic, the bollocks
Fantastic stuff. How funnt seeing big Phil at the end moaning about the ref? About time we had soemthing go our way. Perhps he forgot that the only shot on target the had came from JD?
a tinge of luck…but what the hell
COME ON YOU GUNNERS! Get the fuck back in there!
Win with a tinge of luck.
But what the heck.
Get the fuck back in there u rip roarers!
come on you gunners!
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