Chavski match thread.

[clockender1]

Really cant see why the chavs are so highly regarded - take hazard and Oscar out of their team and they are very average going forward.

its a poor year class aug.

they are last years manyoo - held together with sticky glue at the back and old legs on a last hurrah in midfield....

if you sit back then Oscar, Hazard and the 53 yr old african will eventually punish you. for me the result up at city was highly unexpected.

if you go at them, they are very vulnerable. more so than Liverpool i reckon.

in both the City and Our game it was Mourinho that did for the opposition tactically, that was the difference.

our players are obviously up for it, we're on a run now of W2 D1 since Stoke, and injuries have forced us into a quicker more direct game, which suits the personnel we have.

we can take them if wenger sits back and lets the players play, ironically.

[MK Gould]

We have a poor recent record there and I do think that counts for a lot. Plus Wenger never beating Mourinho, and him never losing at home in the PL...the omens aint good.

That said, they'll have two suspended plus the game midweek. Key to the game for me is that we desperately need to score first. If they get their noses in front we'll be given a Chelsea thrashing i.e. 1-0 or 2-0!

[northbank123]

If we play like today we'll get bum-fucked.

If it was Chelsea they’d be ranting about a “Mourinho performance” and champions win playing ugly blah blah. We contained them and won, missing Walcott Ozil Ramsey too; since when was that not enough?

It wasn't the nature of the performance - it was the level/quality. If we go to Chelsea and score early (offering a bit of a threat on the counter) and then defend resolutely you won't find any serious complaints from me.

But we can't play as poorly and expect to get away with it at Chelsea. To do that we would never Giroud to offer something, far sharper passing and pace on the ball in central midfield and we certainly can't afford to carry anyone like Cazorla yesterday. Make no mistake, our CBs were superb but Chavs won't just lump the ball up to an isolated striker with no support and keep doing it for the entire game like Spurs did yesterday. If we go there and concede the majority of possession, offer limited counter-attacking threat that diminished to nothing and just sit back we will lose.

And that will happen - Mourinho will strangle the life out of the game, as usual in big games Giroud will be isolated and may get one golden chance that he'll hack, Mourinho will back them to score and we will not change the pattern of play.

[Robin_L]

I'd find it more than acceptable to go there and strangle the life out of the game for a 0-0 bore draw a la Mourinho, if we had the personnel to do it.

Start Flamini alongside Arteta. Throw in a curveball in the form of Sanogo instead of Giroud, he'll offer more running. Rosicky starting is obviously a must, but with a week's rest all our players should be good to go.

The scum were more one-dimensional in their attacks than the chavs will be, plus we got a bit lucky on occasions, so we'll need some more of that to come away with anything from this one.

[Supagoon]

I think we need to go there to defend and press.

Remember they'll hate a home draw, hate it, where for us we could take a point. There is more pressure on them than us, especially after throwing their toys out of the pram at villa park.

They will also try and intimidate us and try anything underhand to win. We have to remember we are dealing with a institution of professional c****.

Luckily Stampy Ramires is out plus William who are Jose's favourite workhorses.

[1989]

What I can is that if we win here we'll go on to win the title. Why? We'll have all the confidence in the world and this team when confident are very hard to stop, our remaining fixtures include only City as the tough one, and we'll have Ramsey back soon.

[Supagoon]

What I can is that if we win here we'll go on to win the title. Why? We'll have all the confidence in the world and this team when confident are very hard to stop, our remaining fixtures include only City as the tough one, and we'll have Ramsey back soon.

Everton will be tough too.

But surely one unexpected draw will be on the cards too! Realistically, all the teams can drop points in unexpected games but we're the most likely out of the 4 rivals because of injuries and momentum.

[GranadaJoe]

Really cant see why the chavs are so highly regarded - take hazard and Oscar out of their team and they are very average going forward. Defensively they will enjoy playing against giroud and matic is a strong ball winner in midfield but this is the most average chav team for years.

Of course we cant forget the fact that wenker has never beaten moaninho and that will be a factor imo but I can see us getting a draw if wenker doesn't balls it up with his substitutions/changes

I agree, but I suspect Hazard and Oscar will be in their team, so I'm still worried. Also, Eto may be getting on but his movement and positioning are still good and he can finish. We need to cut of the supply.
I think the most important thing will be to provide proper cover for our full backs, not something we've shown any sign of being good at.

[northbank123]

What I can is that if we win here we'll go on to win the title. Why? We'll have all the confidence in the world and this team when confident are very hard to stop, our remaining fixtures include only City as the tough one, and we'll have Ramsey back soon.

I don't think it's realistic to expect Ramsey to come back and have a serious impact on the rest of the PL season. If he does return at all this season. Whether or not he can recover his great form of late 2013 is to be seen but either way he's going to have been out for over 3 months - realistically it will take him 4 or 5 (part) games to get back to something approaching match sharpness before we can even seriously think about form etc. A class striker might only need to shine for 2 or 3 moments in a game to grab a few goals but a box-to-box CM needs to be on his game pretty much relentlessly, it's a much slower process/bigger task to come back from injury imo.

Regarding the Chelsea match tbh I'd be happy if we actually showed any sort of thought-out match plan. Rather than thinking we can turn up like every other week and play how we always do - we'll just end up proverbial lambs to the slaughter as Mourinho strangles the life out of the game and their attackers need only show a moment or two of quality to win the game.

[Henry Norris 1913]

does anyone actually know when ramsey is back? I mean taking the arsenal injury conversion chart into account it will be as long as the first predicted time times four.

[Theoperator]

does anyone actually know when ramsey is back? I mean taking the arsenal injury conversion chart into account it will be as long as the first predicted time times four.

Already exceeded that mate

[Swifty]

If nothing else I'm glad we are going into this game and it has a lot hanging on it. We are well overdue to get a win over a top 4 side so Im choosing to be optimistic. What a roller coaster this season has been.

This game is season defining for Wenger - if he cant get himself and team pumped given the situation and Mourihno slagging him off then it SHOULD be the last nail.

[clockender1]

What I can is that if we win here we'll go on to win the title.

yeah. if we beat the chavs we just need a draw against city.

i knew last week i should have had a bet on the Double at 130 to 1.

ideally we want liverpool to beat city an draw with chelsea.

we can beat everton again too i feel.

massive massive game on Saturday. the team should be well up for it after the team spirit shown during and after that game.

[defleppardisking]

If there's any match that is easy to predict a winner, then this is it

[Gunner Rob]

What I can is that if we win here we'll go on to win the title.

yeah. if we beat the chavs we just need a draw against city.

i knew last week i should have had a bet on the Double at 130 to 1.
ideally we want liverpool to beat city an draw with chelsea.

we can beat everton again too i feel.

massive massive game on Saturday. the team should be well up for it after the team spirit shown during and after that game.

perhaps getting a little carried away there
if there is one thing that I have learn't from watching Wenger's teams over the last decade it is that the next disappointment is never far away...