Arsene Wenger has recently admitted that this game is a must-win for Arsenal after their last outing against Manchester United resulted in a chokehold and a tap out. Arsenal simply had no way to escape the insufferably boring defensive tactics United deployed
and thus fell to a 1-0 defeat and relinquished the summit of the Premier League to them.
Carlo Ancelotti has followed Wenger’s example by branding this game a must-win for his own side who have been on a dismal run of late. He knows that Chelsea cannot afford to fall any further behind in the title race after a disastrous string of results have
demoted them from league leaders to fourth place.
But Ancelotti can draw inspiration from the fact that they did defeat Arsenal earlier in the campaign, up at Stamford Bridge where a Didier Drogba finish and an Alex free kick gave them a 2-0 victory.
Arsenal have certainly faltered against the top teams in recent seasons. 14 defeats out of 18 against United and Chelsea is hardly something to gloat about. And that is why Carlo Ancelotti has claimed so boldly that Arsenal are afraid of Chelsea and Didier
Drogba.
There might just be some truth to that, for Drogba has now scored 13 goals against Arsenal in as many games. Arsenal have never beaten a Chelsea side in which http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Didier-Drogba-c11044 has started. Hence Ancelotti can be forgiven to predict that this is the perfect
stage for Didier Drogba to resurrect his dwindling season that has seen anonymity and below par performances from the Ivorian thus far.
Chelsea might just reinvigorate their season at the Emirates Stadium, the stadium where they beat Arsenal 3-0 last year and 4-1 the year before. And tough luck for Arsenal, as the dark cloud that has marred the West London club in recent weeks, looks to
be receding. They now have http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 of old.
Arsenal though, will not be looking to be a springboard to jumpstart Chelsea. They will be looking to be a force to further dampen their prospects and brighten their own. Arsenal know only one way to play, attacking football with patient ball retention.
It is the perfect form of defence for Arsenal, and they will need to be on top of it to avoid putting the fallible http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Laurent-Koscielny-c21742 and Sebastien Squillaci under any unnecessary pressure.
And the fact that integral members of the squad are returning from injury only aids Arsenals chances of victory. Arsenal welcome back http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Abou-Diaby-c3453 after all of them have recently suffered from either
injury or fitness problems. These are world-class players who can make big differences in big games.
The kind of form Chelsea are in right now certainly plays into Arsenals hands. Chelsea have only won once in two months of football and that is certainly encouragement for Arsenal to strike a killer blow. A blow Chelsea might not have the resources to recover
from.
But Arsene Wenger is not naive enough to believe that Chelsea will roll over and play dead as his team go about their business. If anything, Wenger will be intuitive enough to be expecting a backlash from a wounded animal, an attempt to regain composure
and stability on Chelsea’s part. But whatever happens, it is going to be one memorable game of football and with so much riding on it, expect goals and no mercy.
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