It seems like a long time since the last game. Hopefully the 9 days since City have recharged the batteries and the heavy legs that were apparent during that difficult week are ready to go again.
Results at the weekend have seen us knocked off top, although a win tonight would put us there again for Christmas. And while any game against Chelsea is a big game, it just feels like there’s something a bit more to this one. Not because of the Wenger-Mourinho thing, but because I think we still have something to prove in these games.
Not just to everyone else, but to ourselves. We went to Old Trafford and although the illness hardly helped us, we still lost to the worst United side in years. Against Man City the circumstances were again not ideal, but we self-destructed, letting in 6 goals and looking as brittle as we have in ages. So, tonight becomes more than the chance to take three important points, but also to prove to ourselves we can do it in the big games.
There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have confidence. In this calendar year we’ve won in Munich, and this season alone we’ve gone to Dortmund and won, and made a free-scoring Liverpool side look more or less toothless. But now, having slipped down the table a little bit, the pressure is on and we have to respond. It’s something the manager is aware of, saying:
You cannot play in the Premier League without pressure. There are periods where the pressure is a bit bigger and periods where it is smaller. You have to live with that and resist that kind of stress.
And on tonight’s game in particular, he says:
Yeah, of course we have to win a big game when it matters. We were in that situation before but people are only keeping in their mind the big matches that we lose. We have won some big games. What is at stake is if you want to win the Premier League, you want to win the big games at home. It’s as simple as that.
I think it was flu, more than cracking under pressure that saw us lose at Old Trafford, and fatigue which brought about mistakes at City more than the enormity of the occasion in the 6-3, but some might say that’s making excuses. Understandable, I suppose, but tonight gives us the chance to show that this is a team that has made a step forward.
As I’ve mentioned before, we weren’t top of the league by accident, and we responded to intense pressure after the opening day defeat to win 10 games in a row. There are experienced players in this squad who will know what’s at stake tonight and how much a win would mean, not just in terms of points but how it could kick-start our season again.
It’ll be interesting to see what Arsene does with his team. Jack Wilshere and Laurent Koscielny are out, so Thomas Vermaelen will deputise at centre-half. The midfield is going to be the most tricky for him. I suspect he’ll be keen to play both Flamini and Arteta, but Theo Walcott’s two goals against Man City, and the pace he offers us, suggests he should start.
That leaves him with a decision to make as Aaron Ramsey has often been deployed on the right hand side when the two more defensive midfielders have been selected. Does he drop Flamini and bring back Arteta and partner him with the Welsh Jesus? And the left hand side is an issue too. He could play the double-pivot and put Ozil there. Will this night so close to Christmas be the night that Santi finds his form, or could the high-energy Tomas Rosicky, who loves to press high up the pitch, be the right man for the job?
These are good problems for the manager to have, all the same, and it looks as if we’ll have a strong bench too, with Lukas Podolski ready to make his comeback having been out of action since the end of August. We’ve had the rest, the recuperation and the preparation, and now it’s all about putting in a performance.
A win would obviously be the ideal but a draw tonight isn’t the end of the world either. There’s nearly as as much to be learned from how we play as how the game ends up, but ultimately three points tonight would send a message that this is an Arsenal side that can go toe to toe with the big teams and provide that knock-out punch ourselves (rather than swinging, missing, stumbling and cracking our chin off our own knee).
There’s enough quality in this team to do what’s required, let’s hope they rise to the occasion.
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Also, if you’re in the market for a little wager, Paddy Power are offering 4/1 on an Arsenal win tonight for new customers. Generous odds, all things considered. To sign up, simply click here.
Right, have yourselves a good Monday. Get the last of your shopping done etc, see you back here for the game later.
Come on you reds.
