Chelsea v Arsenal: the keeper and left back and how many Chelsea men went on loan

By Bulldog Drummond

It’s only Friday and we have some news.   In an interview Mr Emery has said he will continue to play out from the back and develop his new style, adding, “We didn’t lose because of our personality, our idea, our style.  We lost on other things. We can improve on other things, learn for the next match.”

We are also told Petr Cech is expected to continue in goal not least because of the quality of saves he was making.   Mr Emery said goalkeeping choice is “easy” for this weekend’s game.  One rather nice quote was, “Petr Cech can continue to start the match. I believe in him. But if Bernd starts, I believe in him also.” 

Continuing he added, “Football is very challenging.  Goalkeepers can play like a player, to start short with the centre-back or the full-back. It is not compulsory to start each action that way. Maybe if the opposition is doing high pressing against us, then we need also to find another option and to play the ball long. We are training for each situation. I want in each moment to know what is our best action to do in the match. This is our creative style and idea. I want us to be competitive for 90 minutes.” 

Shkodran Mustafi has been speaking about the manager too.  “When I first met him, he had this aura that he knew exactly what he wants to do, what he wants to be working on, what are is priorities and he was very detailed.  He was not trying to show us new football but he was trying to put one idea into the team which is the same for everyone and we work for the same things. Every manager is managing the team in a different way – with Unai, a few things changed and I quite like the things that have changed.”

Moving onto the match we know that Ainsley Maitland-Niles is out with a minor leg fracture – the feeling is that Monreal will return and Lucas Torreira will play.  

As for the transfer exit window or whatever we call this phase here’s the updated list of players going