Premier League preview: Chelsea v Arsenal
Of all the sights that Arsène Wenger doesn’t like seeing – his players being tackled, bad challenges from his own men that he chooses to pretend he missed, West Brom – surely top of the list is Didier Drogba.
Once an undiscovered talent plying his trade in the French leagues, Wenger – who celebrated 14 years in charge of Arsenal on Friday – considered a move for the then Guingamp striker back in 2002. He didn’t go through with it though – “but remember he did have Thierry Henry!” cheered Drogba this week. With 12 goals in his last 10 games against the Gunners, the forward has been punishing Wenger for it ever since.
Four of those strikes came when these two sides met last season, as the Blues blew away their London rivals both home and away. Wenger was left in no doubt about just how far his side were off Chelsea on those days, and not much has changed.
Chelsea’s players are so good that they are even naming stadiums after them.
Le Stade Didier Drogba in Levallois-Perret, a north-west suburb of Paris, was officially opened by the man himself this week, who was taking advantage of being suspended for a Champions League clash with former club Marseille. Naturally, he was grinning from ear to ear.
“I am so proud to have the new stadium named after me,” he said, “it is historic. I spent some very happy times at Levallois as a teenager, so this is a great honour for me.”
It wasn’t long before thoughts turned to his favourite opposition though.
“I am looking forward to it and will try my best to keep that scoring record going but I know it won't be easy,” said Drogba.
“I've had some games when I've really struggled against Arsenal - but I hope this won't be one of them. We need to win. All I care about is winning - it's so important we do that after losing at City.
“We knew that one day we would lose. We will lose other games during this season but as long as we finish top of the league then it doesn't matter.”
That loss at City was a setback to the Blues and boss Carlo Ancelotti – who will be at the match against Arsenal despite the death of his father Giuseppe this week – and they’ll be determined to bounce back against the Gunners. The visitors know what they are in for, but despite a morale boosting Champions League win in Belgrade in midweek, they are still thinking about losing to West Brom.
“That was a terrible game, very difficult to accept,” said full back Gaël Clichy. “For some reason the desire was not there and some players were tired, but at this level you can't hide behind tiredness.
“West Brom are a smaller side than Arsenal so we should have won, everybody knows that. But give them credit, they played very well. We have to get our heads down again and get back to work.
“When you play for Arsenal people expect better and I can assure you if we play at Chelsea the way we did against West Brom it will be very difficult indeed.”
Thanks for stating the obvious Gaël, but a defeat here would make it just one point out of the last nine for the Gunners, and place them seven points off Chelsea in the fledgling Premier League table.
Their goalkeeping saga took another twist with Lukasz Fabianski’s penalty save in Belgrade in midweek, and the Pole will again be in the Gunners goal at Stamford Bridge. Perhaps more tellingly, Cesc Fabregas is still out.
Frank Lampard’s uncharacteristically lengthy lay-off continues, and he’ll be out for Chelsea along with Yossi Benayoun and Salomon Kalou, with Drogba coming in for Gaël Kakuta in what is expected to be the only change from the Marseille win.
The Blues look too strong at home, and with Drogba once again fired up by the sight of a red and white Arsenal shirt, a win for his side looks likely.
Who knows, if he gets many more goals against their great north London rivals, maybe Chelsea will rename Stamford Bridge after their great Ivorian striker?
Prediction: Chelsea 2 Arsenal 0
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