By Bulldog Drummond
Arsenal go into the match against Chelsea with four injuries, as shown on the Physioroom chart.
The details have not been updated since before the game against WBA except for the addition of Emile Smith Rowe.
| Player | Reason | Further Detail | Potential Return | Condition | Status |
| David Luiz Moreira Marinho | Thigh Injury | May 08: “Made very good progress since sustaining the injury at Newcastle. David will continue his rehab over the next week.” | 19/05/2021 | None | 25% |
| Granit Xhaka | Groin/Hip/Pelvic Injury | May 08: “Strain to the groin. Not available for Sunday. He will continue to be assessed and rehab with the medical team over the next few days.” | 19/05/2021 | Currently Being Assessed | Ruled Out |
| Pablo Mari Villar | Ankle/Foot Injury | May 08: “Pablo sprained his right ankle. Not available for Sunday’s match, but aims to rejoin training next week.” | 19/05/2021 | Currently Being Assessed | 50% |
| Emile Smith Rowe | Thigh Injury | May 09: “I don’t know [how serious it is]. He felt something in his hamstring so we took him off.” | No Return Date | Currently Being Assessed | 25% |
Chelsea have two injuries- and as ever Physioroom has the details…
| Player | Reason | Further Detail | Potential Return | Condition | Status |
| Mateo Kovacic | Thigh Injury | May 07: “Mateo is still out, we hope to bring him back for Arsenal then hopefully Wembley. It will be tight for the Arsenal game.” | 12/05/2021 | None | 50% |
| Andreas Christensen | Thigh Injury | May 08: “I hope, I hope, I hope that it’s not too bad and he can recover in the next few days. I’m not sure but this [win] would be absolutely bittersweet if it’s a long injury.” | No Return Date | Currently Being Assessed | Ruled Out |
Top of the injury league is Liverpool with 10 players out, and top of the league in injuries is where they have been all season. If this had been Arsenal’s injury season the blame would have been put on Wenger, because, well, all injuries are blamed on Wenger.
But instead of vitriol and blaming the managers primitive training processes what we see are headlines such as “Liverpool have had some rotten luck with injuries this season” which came from Give Me Sport.
About a month back a number of publications came out with a list of days lost to injury this season, and guess what…
| Team | Days with players injured or ill |
|---|---|
| Liverpool | 1,032 |
| Crystal Palace | 864 |
| Newcastle | 763 |
| Southampton | 711 |
| Sheffield United | 686 |
| Leicester | 683 |
| Burnley | 673 |
| Man City | 606 |
| Leeds | 564 |
| Brighton | 560 |
| West Brom | 557 |
| Everton | 540 |
| Man United | 496 |
| West Ham | 473 |
| Tottenham | 436 |
| Wolves | 431 |
| Aston Villa | 428 |
| Fulham | 416 |
| Arsenal | 357 |
| Chelsea | 279 |
Source: premier injuries
Yes, Arsenal one off the foot of the table. Strange that never makes the news.
One reason for this is undoubtedly the decision to cut down on the number of tackles that Arsenal make, in order to reduce the ludicrous level of yellow cards being given out by referees. But it seems to have had an interesting secondary effect.
You can find a selection of sparkling past videos of Arsenal against Chelsea on the Arsenal History Society website this afternoon.
And thinking of the history – we’ve played them 202 times, winning 79, losing 65 and drawing 58. And most interesting of all, we have won the last two beating them in the cup on 1 August 2020 2-1, a famous moment indeed, and then on Boxing Day this season 3-1 at home in the Premier League.
Football: the great reform bill and the breakaway
- How Arsenal, the club of revolutions, became the club of “be like everyone else”
- Football: the huge problem that simply will not go away
- Football does not have to be torn up and replaced (as the media suggests)
- The problem beyond Superleague is the secrecy of the Premier League
- The Trotskyist model fans and journalists desire for running football has failed
- Super League v Premier League: now the real war begins
- Superleague. The key question the media utterly refused to ask, let alone answer
- Breakaway clubs face largest football PR and political disaster of all times
Whatever be the case and the happenings in the big Premier League game match encounter between Chelsea and Arsenal at the Bridge tomorrow. I believe Arsenal can beat Chelsea in the game to come away with all the points in the match collected for Arsenal.
But for the Gunners to achieve this rare feast of beating the Blues in at home in the PL for Arsenal, they will first and foremost need to have the beliefs in themselves they can and will beat the Blues. And play to their beliefs of beating the Blues in this match to win it for Arsenal.
I am sure the Gunners who I believe will create goals scoring chances to score in the match as it’s being played will create them in their numbers. Nevertheless, they should endeavor to give it whatever it takes or demands in the game to convert the goals scoring chances they’ll create in the game into goals and win the match for Arsenal.
In this respect, the Gunners should therefore try as much as possible in the game to avoid skying the ball high and wise in front of the Chelsea’s goal. And desist from hitting the woodwork in their shootings, nor side net the ball, or head the ball over the bar in the Chelsea box or goal area. And also avoid shooting the ball to the Chelsea goalkepeer’s hand making catching the ball less difficult for him to catch.
The Gunners in their shootings to goal should forsake missing hitting the target for Arsenal in the game by missing narrowly to the far side or to the low right or left. But hit the back of the net for Arsenal with pinpoint accuracy impossible for the Chelsea’s keeper to catch.
Chelsea will attack to score. Of course they will. Because they have the right personnel in Blues who can attack for them to score. But notwithstanding, the Gunners defending in the game should up and doing to cope with the Blues attack in the game, defending their fort stoutly to not allow the Blues to breach it throughout the entire 90 plus of playing the match.
The Gunners should manup in the match to not cow in to the Blues in the game. But play them game for game in all aspect of playing the match. For, even as Chelsea are 3rd above Arsenal in 9th in the table, that doesn’t mean the Blues will be unplayable for Arsenal in the match. They are playable and can be beating at home by Arsenal.
And lastly, the Gunners should be mindful in the game to not be caught in the offside traps that the Blues will be setting in the game to stop Arsenal from scoring in the match. But the Gunners should time their runs perfectly to beat any offside traps being set in the game by the Blues to catch the Gunners. And let the Gunners also avoid by all means to not concede any penalties to the Blues in the match. And also avoid getting 2 bookings or a straight red card that will cause for Arsenal to play a Gunner down in the match.
Chelsea will employ rotation fouling in the game against Arsenal to slow the Gunners down when charge toward goal to score. But the Gunners should nullify the Blues by beating them to it.
Mikel Arteta the Gunners gaffer should not fail to field the Arsenal team that will win the match. Therefore, I implore him to think very carefully before making his Arsenal team selection to play Chelsea to win the match. He should therefore make the correct Gunners starting XI to start the match for Arsenal and introduce the correct substitutes correctly in the match. All to confound Chelsea in the match to render them inept and helpless to not know what they should do to hurt Arsenal in the game.
Final scores: Chelsea 0-2 Arsenal at fulltime plus the added time.
I too am going for an away win. We do seem to play well when we play away.
Up the Gunners !