Arsenal v Chelsea, groundhog day, oddball referees, injuries and Mr Africa to buy AFC.

Posted on by Tony Attwood

By Bulldog Drummond,

If you have been reading the definitive history of Arsenal in the 1930s you will be used to the Arsenal / Chelsea pattern of the era.  Each season Arsenal win the league by beating Chelsea in front of 65,000 and Chelsea just about manage to stay up.  As the story of the 1933/4 season (the current season being analysed) comes to an end, there it is once again.

Sadly those days are no longer with us, except in one way: Chelsea were even then potentially the rich kids – they had by far the biggest stadium, and so earned the most money, with their huge crowds.  It’s just that they played rotten football.

But just as the Chelsea of the old days proved that having a big stadium did not guarantee success, (something that both Thames Association and New Brighton Tower – both league clubs with mega stadia but hopeless teams also proved in those early days) the modern day Chelsea have shown us that huge amounts of money spent on players can buy titles but doesn’t guarantee absolute success.

Goodness knows what odds you might have got on Chelsea’s collapse last season, but probably the same as you could have got at the start of the campaign on Leicester winning it.  Thankfully, sometimes stuff just happens.

Of course this year it was certain that Chelsea would now come good once again because all the papers told us they would, and after three matches it looked just so…

  • Chelsea 2 State Aid Utd 1
  • Watford 1 Chelsea 2
  • Chelsea 3 Burnley 0
  • Swansea 2 Chelsea 2
  • Chelsea 1 Liverpool 2

Overall though, somewhat akin to Arsenal then with three wins a draw and a defeat, except in the opposite order – exactly.   They also beat Leicester and Bristol Rovers in the league cup – having to start in the second round what with their not being in Europe – having finished 10th last season (but don’t tell anyone).

But of course lots of people feel nervous because of the history.  It all went wrong before and after the second world war when we won just four out of 15 matches between the clubs.  Then again in the early 60s when Arsenal lost 10 out of 12 in a row.   And of course now, we have won one and drawn two in the last 10.

All this forgets the runs the other way of course: 17 in succession without Chelsea winning a single one between 1999 and March 2004.   That’s just how it goes – journalists never mention the bits that don’t fit.

As for the team news, Olivier Giroud could return after missing the last two games with a toe injury, but Aaron Ramsey is still having hamstring problems and could be out for another three weeks.  The only worry there is that in three weeks Wales have two games and they are likely to try and call him up for those.

John Terry will miss a third successive match because of an ankle ligament injury. David Luiz will presumably play.  Also out for them are van Ginkel and Zouma.  Here’s the table

Position Club No. injuries Latest injury Cause
1 Everton 6 R Lukaku Toe Injury
2 Stoke City 6 J Walters Foot
3 West Ham United 6 A Masuaku Knee Injury
4 Hull City 6 B Lenihan Knee Surgery
5 Sunderland 6 J Rodwell Knock
6 Arsenal 5 O Giroud Toe Injury
7 Middlesbrough 5 J Rhodes Knee Injury
8 Watford 5 J Holebas Groin Strain
9 Liverpool 4 G Wijnaldum Knee Injury
10 Tottenham Hotspur 4 E Dier Cramp
11 Crystal Palace 4 S Dann Hamstring Injury
12 Manchester United 4 A Martial Calf Injury
13 Chelsea 3 J Terry Ankle Injury
14 Leicester City 3 K Schmeichel Concussion
15 Southampton 3 J Rodriguez Knock
16 Manchester City 3 V Kompany Muscle Fatigue
17 Burnley 1 A Barnes Hamstring Injury
18 Swansea City 1 N Dyer Ankle Injury
19 West Bromwich Albion 1 N Chadli Cramp
20 Bournemouth 0  

Of course, although Chelsea only came 10th last year they are still considered a big team.  Liverpool!!! have shown that it is possible to finish 7th and 8th year after year and be considered a big team.   Manchester United were a big team when they played in division 2 in the 1970s.   Arsenal always play in the top division and are always “temperamentally suspect”.

Following on from this weekend’s newspaper “analysis” we are told Arsenal cannot beat big teams, although in nine months last year we beat Manchester City, Manchester United (twice) and Bayern Munich.   Beating Man City we had 36% possession, although of course that didn’t happen because Arsenal cannot let another team attack, conceded pressure and win on the counter in the style of Herbert Chapman.  Newspapers never lie, its the facts that are wrong.

But sometime the poor run against Chelsea will end, and will indeed be reversed, because that is what happens as history shows us.

Where the media get it so wrong, in my view is that they see a few Arsenal games (or sometimes just one) and generalise outwards from there.  Indeed it takes some pretty wild imagination to take a Chelsea player waving of an imaginary card towards Coquelin, hitting Koscielny in the face, tangling with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and then getting no contact from Gabriel and getting Gabriel sent off – and then to blame Arsene Wenger for it all.   You can just imagine the pre-match talk in the Chelsea dressing room.  “Don’t worry about the ref – he’ll probably send the wrong guy off for hand ball when it wasn’t even a sending off offence at all.  You’ll be fine.  Just do the usual.”

The reality is the papers are just expecting another Chelsea win and they still can’t bring themselves to investigate the refereeing history in the match, because the collective newspapery wisdom is you don’t do that.

It leaves Mr Wenger in the pre-match press conferences saying in desperation to yet another inept question, “What is amazing is that has nothing to do with our game tomorrow. I personally am just focused on doing my job well and respecting everybody else.

“We have to be completely cold-blooded, just focus on the game and not respond.  We have talked about discipline because in the last two games against Chelsea, we couldn’t play 11 against 11. Discipline and results are strongly linked.”

And so they go on asking the same old same old questions without ever really touching on the issue behind it all.  What the fuck have the referees been doing?

Meanwhile the press are suggesting that Aliko Dangote, said to be Africa’s richest man, is lining up a offer to buy Arsenal, although not necessarily this week. “The issue is that we have more challenging headwinds. I need to get those out the way first and start having tailwinds. Then I’ll focus on this.’ Dangote told Bloomberg – who failed to provide a translation.

More including the teams, in a short while.

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13 Replies to “Arsenal v Chelsea, groundhog day, oddball referees, injuries and Mr Africa to buy AFC.”

  1. This story about the alleged billionaire Aliko Mangote becoming de facto owner of Arsenal plc is nothing more than rumour. Unlike the Kroenke takeover when shareholders succumbed to his offers, the position now is that unless or until the Yank decides to relinquish control, nothing changes.
    Nothing short of nationalising Arsenal FC (perish the thought) can alter the status quo.

  2. i hope this game signals the onset of tailwinds for us against chelsea, what are tailwinds btw?

  3. @fabrechenko

    Not sure if it stems from saling or flying, but I’ve always heard it associated with planes

    Tailwind is a wins blowing into your plane’s tail….you fly easier/faster
    Headwind is a wind blowing from upfront, and it will slow you down – or help you take-off or land.

    Correct me if I am wrong

  4. @chris, i guess they are contextual terms related one way or the other to economics, my opinion tho generated from your opinion.

  5. If we get even handed refereeing today, think we have a very good chance of a result as the team build momentum.
    If we don’t get even handed refereeing, hope the crowd put pressure on the ref as they did with Mr Atkinson in the last home game against Leicester.
    As Wenger says,,they cannot,get involved, Coq and Xhaka might have to be careful…..an early booking for Coq should he start will not be ideal.
    Chelsea are still settling under a new manager, the boys really can win this.

  6. What Dangote is saying is, when he finished building his Lagos petroleum refinery he will then have the financial capacity to fulfill his ambition of buying Arsenal FC by “making an irresistible offer to the 2 major owners of, Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov which they won’t resist”. But Dangote is talking of 3-4 years time before he can start to put his plans to buy Arsenal into action and that is quite some years to come. So we wait to see if it will happen.

  8. Dangote will make Arsenal the strongest team in non-league. And the most boring.

    I think he should go find another play toy.

    I wish the medja would go find a brain cell or three.

    COYG!

  12. Untold Banner is the only one with Wenger’s portrait.
    He was smiling at our players & fans, & laughing at Chelsea.. What a match.

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