Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Rocky7 
Date:Saturday April 21 2012
Time: 12:16PM
UK time is: 16:34:04
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Team News: Arsenal vs Chelsea
The shock defeat to Wigan earlier in the week leaves our match vs Chelsea being on the verge of a "must win" match.
With only three games of the season left after this one it`s imperative that we take 3 points from one of the chasing pack. A win would all but guarantee Chelsea would no longer to be able to catch us this season. They would need us to lose our three remaining games whilst winning all four of theirs.
Let`s see how we line up:
Arsenal
13 Szczesny
03 Sagna
05 Vermaelen
06 Koscielny
28 Gibbs
07 Rosicky
14 Walcott
15 Oxlade-Chamberlain
16 Ramsey
17 Song
10 Van Persie
Substitutes
21 Fabianski
11 Santos
20 Djourou
02 Diaby
39 Coquelin
27 Gervinho
29 Chamakh
Chelsea
01 Cech
17 Bosingwa
24 Cahill
26 Terry
34 Bertrand
05 Essien
06 Romeu
15 Malouda
09 Torres
21 Kalou
23 Sturridge
Substitutes
22 Turnbull
03 Cole
19 Ferreira
08 Lampard
12 Mikel
16 Meireles
10 Mata
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Your Comments
In an ideal world we'd have this match at about 2 or 3 nil early enough for them to consider using their top players off the bench too much of a risk ahead of their Barcelona match. But having gone 2-0 down against Wigan in such a fashion I would gladly take 3 points any way if happened to arrive.
Rocky7
8 changes for us - I guess Barcelona is at the forefront, despite RDM saying other wise of our thoughts!
merlin
Cmon you gunners!!!
Wyn Mills
What is Merlin talking about? This is a strong Chelsea side irrespective of the fact some were rested for the mid week game. Other than Drogba, the rest of the team is on the bench.
Naijagunner
Obviously, their last few results has improved confidence of this Chelsea side while our last game at the Emirates has caused our lads to play with fear of defeat (with the hand brakes on). Still, a long way to go and hopefully, the Manager says the right things and makes the right changes to give us the desired result.
Naijagunner
Towards the end I just wanted to get a draw.. Whew...
Sajit
Not the worst result in the world against a team on the up. But now we absolutely have to win at Stoke.
Sajit
Problem now is that theres absolutely no room for error between now and end of the season... And thats tough considering we have tough fixtures..
Sajit
We dont have anyone to take the game by the scruff of the neck if RvP is having a bad game.. I hate to hype players but I feel someone like Jack would have made a big difference.
Sajit
a fair results. rvp missed some 1/2 chances. those angles were difficult i must say. kos made at least 2 very crucial interceptions. ramsey was not the most direct again but credit to him, he pulled up his socks and tracked back for the defense.
Joe_@**
*****.. Newcastle winning. Both Sp*rs and Barcodes could be level on points in two weeks. And we have to go to Stoke.. Oh God, is this going to end in tears?
Sajit
QPR and Wigan gonna come nad bite our arses. Sorry for the rants.. but I think im going into depression. :{
Sajit
Stfu......sorry but your really not helping my day sajit. We are 3rd its still ours to lose, at least wait until we lose it before you throw the fu(king towel in
gunnerman76
Goodness Sajit you shouldn't be distraught mate...Newcastle still have to play a title-chasing City and Spurs will continue their steady implosion under Harry. Our only way back is to win the CL. Reckon your lot have the easier job right now.
BlueBanes
I think you would have taken 4 out of 6 points off Chelsea in August
gunnerman76
Sajit, i know how you're feeling mate. But its not time to slash your wrists yet! :)
Wyn Mills
A draw against a resurgent Chelsea isn't a bad result; and we are still in the driving seat.
Naijagunner
I don't see any cause for wrist slashing here. Newcastle still have to go to Chelsea and Wigan, then they host City. Surely, they will be dropping points off those games.
Naijagunner
And we have an extra point in goal difference.....it's all very well having games in hand but they have to win them and even if they do we are still 3rd. We just need to stay there, I do not care if we get 3rd on goal difference!
gunnerman76
New here, hello everybody! Just got back home from the game, and I think that the draw is not too much of a bad result.
I saw that we tried to control the game and keep the tempo slow throughout, but unfortunately we could not finish our chances. Koscielny was immense today; that last ditch aerial challenge to clear the ball was amazing! Now let's hope QPR can do us a favour against Spurs!
NADH-91
Koscielny is the most under rated top defender in the league. His improvement this season has been immense and one cant recall a single mistake he made in the game today. Good to see TV5 put in a superb performance as well in shackling Torres. Well played to Ramsey as well. His work rate has excellent. Below par team performance though. Chelsea was there for the taking and though we had poor luck once again thanks to some deal Roberto Di Matteo seems to have cut with lady luck we didnt attack them as much we could have. Not the worst result though but we need to improve in the final three games.
Deltaforce
Thank you QPR.. Thank you.. For how much longer do we need favors from other teams. Get your act together gunners!!!
Sajit
Koscielny is a world class defender.
Sajit
RvP looks absolutely knackered, but we dont have a replacement for him. Bloody hell.
Sajit
We pretty much start with the same 11 when everyones fit.
Everyone looks drained but AW knows the back up players are not good enough so we can't make many changes. The likes of United, City and Chelsea have much stonger squads and can afford to rotate a bit more. Spurs are the same as us, which is why I think they are suffering also. Doesn't explain why Newcastle have managed to keep going, maybe the addition of Cisse and return to form of Ben Arfa? Ba seems to have stopped scoring for them so perhaps he's a bit knackered also.
bowiecokemirror
Never cheered a Ronaldo goal more.. :) Come on Real..
Sajit
Tough luck Cesc Fabregas.
Sajit
Don't like that Jose Mourinho gets to win the league in every country he has coached but you can't resist the urge to laugh at Cesc, can you?
Naijagunner
Wonder if Barca have the mental fortitude to lift themselves against Chelsea on Tuesday.
Naijagunner
Would like to see mourinho manage a mid table team of under achievers and turn them into champions like ferguson and wenger did, until he does that he will always just be a football fantasy manager for me. When people compare him to the great managers it makes my stomach turn. He just walks into ready made teams and tweaks them a bit with the blank check he receives.
gunnerman76
Anybody know when we last lost 10 games or more in the prem? I'm not liking that stat so far this season, regardless of how many we have won.
gunnerman76
2008/09 season? I rem we lost a lot taht season.
Sajit
If Mourinho's next port of call is Manchester City it would strengthen the belief that he does not believe in constructing a team, merely buying it. Well played to Madrid though.
Deltaforce
Gunnerman76.. Murhino is the ideal manager for Spurs!! We have had enough of Harry and his management, as seen on our VS pages. As to his England job, IMO he could do very well... as the games are sporadic, and no week in week out team selection and tactics, and NO club money to waste for TRANSFERS in & out to deal with! Just a lot of media interviews top class( international) travel expenses, handshakes at FA headquarters, and select the best English players in the country, with the back up of an established team of coaches etc.
Block D Spurs
You cant dismiss a manager who has won the Champions league twice (possibly on course to do so again), wins the league with every team he coaches and a trophy virtually every season, as a fantasy manager. I'm not a big Mourinho fan, but give the man some credit. We could do with someone with his tactical intelligence to be honest. He would turn Spurs into title contenders, no sweat.
Wyn Mills
Mourinho is arrogant and is prepared to win at all costs, two things I don't like about him. To his credit however, he has achieved success in 4 different leagues. At Chelsea and Madrid, you can argue he has had a lot of money to spend (but he does usually spend it wisely unlike some). To win the champions league with Porto and with Inter (a team that has always done badly in the competition before that) is some achievement. He and Guardiola are the two best managers for me at the moment. It would be interesting to see how Guardiola would do at another club without the same wealth of talent at his disposal as he has at Barca.
bowiecokemirror
Wyn Mills, this is what some of us has been saying for a while now about Murhino. He is a top manager no doubt. His style of management is what we need at Spurs, even if only for 2 years, and he is off again... He does like a challenge of a club in a rut. R Madrid behind Barca for example, and Inter, also he took Porto to CL from nothing in his first senior management job, after understudying Bobby Robson at Barca.
Block D Spurs
I think you're right about Mourinho liking a challenge. But I wonder whether hes got so used to being on top of the pile its become more of an obssession to just manage the biggest names (ie: Real Madrid today...next up Man Utd). a true test of his ability would be to take an underachieving team like Spurs and turn you into champions. It would be every gooner's secret nightmare if we were being honest. Who knows? It could happen.
Wyn Mills
At least we didn't lose, that would have been a disaster at this stage. I had this feeling that they would nick, such was our propensity to being caught out. I was at the game and the atmosphere wasn't like it had been in recent games, perhaps a reflection on the nerves everyone was feeling. Perhaps Theo being out for the season isn't that bad because I just don't feel he has enough attributes to his game to put in consistently effective performances. His work rate has also dropped off in recent games. That said, Gervinho's also off the boil. I'd stick with Benayoun and the Ox for the last 3 games. To guarantee third, I think we're going to need 6 points.
Gooner_Vin
I am still very happy. We are 3rd and three points off 4th with a good goal difference(who would've thought?). What we have to remember is that we are 6 points off 5th!
No 10
Wyn, if he takes up the Spurs job, I would admit to a newfound respect for Mourinho. Fact is and Spurs fans should remind themselves about it too, the only club he will go to if he quits Madrid is Man City. If he joins Spurs i'm ready to eat humble pie.
Deltaforce
Im not taking away the silver he has won and im in know doubt he sometimes can be a tactical geniuses even if he does strangle the life out of games. He for me will aways be one tier below ferguson and even wenger until he challenges himself at a mid table club with a tight purse. Same can be said for guardiola, he gets a job at a team that are already by far the best team on the planet and in a generation. Where is frank rijkaard now? He was the best coach on the planet at barca, so much so he was being lined up as abramoviches next bitch. If mourinho takes over at a un fancied club and turns them into champions I will eat humble pie also. I will go as far to say that you won't see guardiola manage another team for a very long time. He is not stupid and he knows it will be an uphill struggle even coming close to his success at barca......could see him taking the easy job managing Spain.
gunnerman76
Sajit, Arsenal only lost 6 games in the 08/09 season, actually. It was the draws that did us in; 12 draws.
Naijagunner
Yeah didn't think we lost that many in 09. We seem to either win or lose this season, not many draws. I remember the invincible season we had a few draws, possibly 12 or was it 10?
gunnerman76
12it was. In the 05/06 season, though, we did have 11 losses and 7 draws to get 4th with 67 points.
Naijagunner
Gunnerman what about his purse whilst winning everything with Porto? He could easily argue that he doesn't need to as has already done it with them, why would you go back to it? And if Wenger was as good as him then he'd at least have won one game against him....I'm not taking away anything from Arsene, just pointing out a fact. I dislike Mourinho immensely, proper snake in the grass.
shewore
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