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

  • Takuma Asano to Hannover 96 on loan
  • Santi Cazorla to Villarreal, free transfer
  • Jack Wilshere to West Ham United, free transfer
  • Hugo Keto (keeper) to Brighton, free transfer
  • Marc Bola to Blackpool free contract
  • Kelechi Nwakali to Porto on loan
  • Jeff Reiné-Adelaïde to Angers, £2.7m
  • Matt Macey to Plymouth Argyle on loan
  • Chuba Akpom, to PAOK for £900k
  • João Virginia to Everton for an undisclosed sum
  • Calum Chambers to Fulham on loan
  • Lucas Pérez to West Ham United £4m
  • Krystian Bielik to Charlton Athletic on loan

Chelsea’s list of out going is vast beyond vastnessly vast for a very vast number of things.  I can’t get them all down without losing what is left of our audience, so in summary, by my calculations we have

  • 2 free transfers
  • 27 loans (yes really 27)
  • 1 undisclosed transfer for a fee
  • 2 players sold bringing in £38.5m

Moving on Chelsea’s home form last season was 10 points worse than ours…

Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Manchester City 19 16 2 1 61 14 47 50
2 Arsenal 19 15 2 2 54 20 34 47
3 Manchester United 19 15 2 2 38 9 29 47
4 Liverpool 19 12 7 0 45 10 35 43
5 Tottenham Hotspur 19 13 4 2 40 16 24 43
6 Chelsea 19 11 4 4 30 16 14 37

But as we know our away form took an absolute dive last year…

Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Manchester City 19 16 2 1 45 13 32 50
2 Tottenham Hotspur 19 10 4 5 34 20 14 34
3 Manchester United 19 10 4 5 30 19 11 34
4 Chelsea 19 10 3 6 32 22 10 33
5 Liverpool 19 9 5 5 39 28 11 32
6 Burnley 19 7 7 5 20 22 -2 28
7 Leicester City 19 5 5 9 31 38 -7 20
8 AFC Bournemouth 19 4 6 9 19 31 -12 18
9 Crystal Palace 19 4 6 9 16 28 -12 18
10 Southampton 19 3 8 8 17 30 -13 17
11 Arsenal 19 4 4 11 20 31 -11 16

On that basis it is a straight forward win for Chelsea.

This season they have played three games, winning two, and losing one…

Date Game Res Score Competition
05 Aug 2018 Chelsea v Manchester City L 0-2 FA Community Shield
07 Aug 2018 Swindon Town v Chelsea W 0-4 Football League Trophy
11 Aug 2018 Huddersfield v Chelsea W 0-3 Premier League

In their last ten games last season they lost two, drew two, and won six (including two FA Cup matches.

Arsenal’s form was erratic as we may well remember

Date Game Res Score Competition
08 Apr 2018 Arsenal v Southampton W 3-2 Premier League
12 Apr 2018 CSKA Moscow v Arsenal D 2-2 UEFA Europa League
15 Apr 2018 Newcastle United v Arsenal L 2-1 Premier League
22 Apr 2018 Arsenal v West Ham United W 4-1 Premier League
26 Apr 2018 Arsenal v Atlético Madrid D 1-1 UEFA Europa League
29 Apr 2018 Manchester United v Arsenal L 2-1 Premier League
03 May 2018 Atlético Madrid v Arsenal L 1-0 UEFA Europa League
06 May 2018 Arsenal v Burnley W 5-0 Premier League
09 May 2018 Leicester City v Arsenal L 3-1 Premier League
13 May 2018 Huddersfield Town v Arsenal W 0-1 Premier League
That makes four wins, two draws and four defeats. Not what we would have liked.  If we lose it will be our worst start to a season since 1992 – I thought I would mention that again because the scribblers and scribes are bound to roll that out – although that will mean making Mr Wenger look good, so maybe they won’t.
.
Recent ramblings

5 Replies to “Chelsea v Arsenal: the keeper and left back and how many Chelsea men went on loan”

  1. The Arsenal website is reporting Joel Campbell has moved to Frosinone in Italy.

  2. No Courtois in goal to make spectacular saves, Arsenal could win or at least get a draw against Chelsea. I would love to see Bellerin score some goals as payback for the concussion.

  3. Our away form this season will improve from what we had last season. Maybe tomorrow is when we start. I trust the team to get things done quickly. With the officiating being fair, an arsenal win won’t be impossible. COYG

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *