The news is in, Benny Blanco has been carrying a tight hamstring, he’s been rested with Spurs in mind.
Tomiyasu comes back into the side, Arteta has NOT put him at left-back, and he’s kept Nuno in the side.
West Ham, against the odds, have gone with a pretty strong side.
What is Moyes thinking here playing Declan Rice, Zouma, and Bowen? Pick up an injury and he’ll never be forgiven.
Spurs beat Leicester with relative ease despite playing poorly.
Chelsea might lose to Everton, which puts 3rd place into play.
The job is really, really clear… take 3 points. Secure Europa League football. Keep in control of the hunt for top 4.
This is the matchday blog, see you in the comments.
Johnny and Pedro will be ON THE WHISTLE after the game, so tune in, and bring your opinions!
630PM GMT
130PM EST
1230PM CT
Dissenter Tavares too was at fault, he should be defending that space in front of Gabriel. He’s why Bowen had so much time. . NelsonMay 1, 2022 22:09:52 UnThat free man was their right back. He should never be free. Martinelli was no where to be seen. Nelson Pause this clip at 1:10 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DcH5J2yToXA&feature=onebox Noble had dropped deep into the right back position Coufal has pressed on to the right wing position. Even If we are man marking at this stage it’s far too late for martinelli to run over to this side of the pitch when he’s so narrow.… Read more »
Dissenter Why would a left back be defending the space in front of the lead centre back? Especially when the centre back has nobody to mark? Honestly. Is this to absolve Gabriel? The bloke has been like Swiss cheese since he arrived and people are blind to it. I really don’t think you can afford to play him and white in the same team. They are too similar. You need a proper defender in there with either. A leader I’d rather see a combo of White and holding/Saliba (if Saliba can play lcb) Saliba and holding Or Saliba and Gabriel… Read more »
Liverpool and Man City are the top two teams in the PL by a country mile (possibly top 2 in the world also) Chelsea with their previous resources probably should have done better this season in terms of the league , now they are possibly on a level perhaps only slightly above the rest of the chasing pack. There’s a lot of talk that nobody wants 4th due to erratic results or a perceived lack of desire. I don’t really agree with that. I just think that the PL is such a competitive league that results like ones against Brighton… Read more »
Un
Gabriel is only 24, remember that. However, I understand what you’re saying as well.
If a bid were to come in for 50M+ from Barca/Madrid or whoever…I would let him go for sure. He doesn’t really suit our system.
Great post Chris. Our performances are far from perfect but we’re progressing overall. ES, can I suggest you ignore Tony’s posts, I for one enjoy reading them. I have no idea how the season will finish. Beating Leeds is no given but if we do it’s hard to see how we’re not going into the NLD in a position to lose to the Spuds and still be above them. That said Newcastle away and Everton at home are not going to be straightforward. Watching yesterday’s match was at times really stressful but we won. Really hope we can we win… Read more »
Mystic Leaves ‘I didn’t know Emery was fired cos of XG. I thought it was because we were playing shit and was languishing in 10th place, having lost the dressing room and respect of fans because we somehow managed to lose 4th with 3 games to go and got spanked by Chelsea in the EL final.’ Thank you for the above. The idea that xG caused Emery to get fired is nonsense. We could have had almost exactly the same xG and won the Europa League and finished in the Top 4. Does anyone seriously believe that he would have… Read more »
With regard to the west ham goal , the cross field pass flighted to the full back in an advanced position is a ball we often see. Tavares being tucked in next to the centre back is also normal. I would imagine that Arteta pre game would have told the full backs to tuck in and not to leave space between full back and centre back. Arteta would have realised that west ham had no aerial threat yesterday, so allowing them to have the ball out wide should have been of no concern. Also Gabriel’s position was normal , in… Read more »
Bob N16/ Chris Arsenal have a young team/squad who have all things considered had an excellent season. If we discount the first three games of the season we have had 5 poor results in two tranches. The first was the two defeats by Everton and Man Utd and the second was the three defeats against CP, Brighton and Southampton. Both Man City and Liverpool are still well ahead of us so losing to them was not in my view a disaster. The 3 defeats this year were in part the result of losing 3 keys to injury and having a… Read more »
Key players.
Excellent win. We didn’t play great but good enough. Our run in is not easy and requires a bit of luck. I also don’t think it will be the end if we don’t win against the Spuds. Anything can happen at this stage
Looks like Tommy is injury prone so we need another right back to add to the list
Bacary agreed. xG is just woke sporting nonsense. I don’t reckon with it at all. But I guess it sails Pedro’s boats… Leeds, I think when looking at the past 6 games, you can say that you can’t really make out which is which cos Arsenal under Arteta are capable of putting out those kinds of extremely contrasting results. We have been that inconsistent with Arts. For me I think that where I am, from a holistic angle, is that Arteta hasn’t done enough. I think most times he has hindered us more than he has propelled us (decisions, man… Read more »
The Bard, we all know how we need a starting CF and CM ( and back ups) but our reserve FBs are such a drop off from our first choice that replacing Tavares and Soares feels vital. Sell Soares and loan out Tavares.
Saliba could be one solution at RB but I’m not sure. I would be in favour of players who could provide depth in midfield as well. I understand Tyler Adams fits the bill but I personally couldn’t say.
Pierre. You don’t think Gabriel should have done more to get right to the most advanced attacker, conserving he was marking nobody? You also don’t think Tavares should have done more to get close to the full back and attempt to block the cross? This is why we mark zonally now. Noble had dropped deep to right back Right back is in right wing position Bowen is centre forward. He’s Gabriel’s man in Gabriel’s zone and he jus doesn’t close it He loses Ronaldo twice last week, who scores 2 goals, one contentiously ruled offside He loses cesar aspilla…..whatever goes… Read more »
Stroller
Tony gets off on riling you mate. He’s winding you up. Trust me
After yesterday’s team selections by Rodgers & Moyes I will be definitely cheering on Roma & Frankfurt on Thursday where before was non fussed
Pierre
Even Barca played one ball player and one classic cb in the height of their tikka taka. Puyol was their leader and defensive talisman, pique was their ball player. The great chelsea and untied teams of that era also had one of each. The invincibles had one of each too.
If (prime) Campbell and Cole are on the field yesterday that goal doesn’t get scored for me
Bob N16 Tomiyasu and Tierney are decent full backs, but are clearly injury prone. Messrs Soares and Tavares are not in my view defensively strong enough for EPL and it is blindly clear that we have been targeted by opposition on what is perceived our weakness when they both play. Ideally Arsenal need to find upgrade for both these players. Saliba could be a solution, but I am not sure that he would want to play there except in an emergency. He is a Centre Back and will be needed to rotate with White and Gabriel to meet our increased… Read more »
Un
“You don’t think Gabriel should have done more to get right to the most advanced attacker, considering he was marking nobody”
Put it this way , if Gabriel had moved out from his rightful position, protecting the near post cross , and the ball was fizzed across goal for a simple tap in , gabriel would have been blamed for leaving his position.
Martinelli was no more than 2 yards away from Bowen and made no attempt to get goal side as he was ball watching, Xhaka should have also been more aware.
“that for someone that’s in year 3 (2.5) of his project, we should be having more consistency of play and style and results than we have now” Where in isolation the above is perfectly reasonable, I think that this is year 1 for this team. It’s best now to try to forget about 20/21 etc, that’s done now and we can’t change it. We have had some big changes to the line up since then and a shift in culture and the average age of the team amongst other things. More important is what I would consider year 2 (next… Read more »
Un
I am not a defender of gabriel , he has been unreliable recently but i wouldn’t put the blame on him or Tavares for the west ham goal, it was a midfielder or midfielders failing to do their job and recognise the danger …ball watching.
Eddie has been playing very well lately I know he has turned down numerous contract offers but is that because he wants more money or game time than we are currently offering ?
Chris
Your comments make sense. Hopefully everything goes according to plan and we actually get back at dining at the top.
The only way was only ever up for us though. Upwards and onwards
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