Stats by Carl Jackson Chelsea’s next fixture brings their other rivals from North London to Stamford Bridge – Arsenal. The match is televised on BTSports at 12.45 GMT.
It is also notable for the fact that the match will be Arsene Wenger’s 1000th in charge of the Goons. Much debate is raging about how good Arsene Wenger is as a Manager but it is worth noting that he won all of his trophies at Arsenal in his first 500 games. The last 500 he has won nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Nothing!
It should also be noted that Arsene’s trophy count has disappeared since the arrival of Jose Mourinho at the Bridge in 2004. The years before this saw Man Utd and Arsenal vying for trophies, but since then Arsenal have fallen away as the main title contenders concentrating instead on building and paying for a shiny corporate stadium, grooming young talent rather than buying tried and trusted performers and drinking too much Latte whilst studying spreadsheets! Surely Arsene Wenger’s greatest achievement is not to get sacked for 9 years of failure!
I remember the immediate years before Roman and Jose as a torrid time for Chelsea playing against Arsenal. They were a bogey side and we seldom beat them. Since then we have bullied them literally and metaphorically. Chelsea have only lost 3 of their last 11 (Roman era) meetings at Stamford Bridge with Arsenal. Much of this was down to Didier Drogba who took a real shine at wreaking havoc against Arsenal’s defence, but in recent years Juan Mata enjoyed skipping through it to score, as he did in our last home match against them:
I hope you enjoyed the excitable arabic commentary with that one!
This season we have beaten them in the Carling Cup in a dominant display by our reserve team, witnessing in the process Juan Mata’s last goal for
the club, and a rain drenched 0-0 draw in the league fixture, which in truth we had the better of and were unlucky not to come away with all three points. That was very much a different stage of the season. Jose was still taking time to get his message across and Chelsea had yet to get in to their rhythm, or build up confidence. Arsenal were riding high and looking like making a genuine attempt to win the Premier League. At that stage a draw was a decent result – a loss would certainly have dented confidence.
Now it is different. Since Chelsea beat City in their own back yard with a confident and tactically astute display, we have been the pace setters in the title race. Much of this has been down the team gelling under Jose and to the acquisition of Nemanja Matic who is doing a fantastic job of shielding the back four. Arsenal have had the odd wobble or two and look far less convincing as a result.
Nevertheless this is a big big match and may well go someway to deciding the final positions in the top four. Arsenal will definitely not want to lose, and Chelsea really need to win, being at home, especially after dropping three points last weekend. As a result it will be a tough one to predict.
Thanks to Chris Foy dishing out red cards like confetti last week, Chelsea will be without Ramires and Willian, both of whom have been integral to Chelsea’s form recently. We will miss their energy in midfield. I presume that Schurrle will come in for Willian, but the replacement for Ramires is less clear cut. It possibly boils down to one of Lampard, Mikel or Luiz to come in for him. If Lampard has enough in the tank after his excellent display against Galatasary then I’m sure it will be him – the other options in Luiz (too risky) or Mikel (too negative) might not be desirable.
Either way, as always, I hope we batter them! Personally I love beating Arsenal not least because of the bitchy meltdown it creates in their pre-pubescant fans. I am thoroughly looking forward to seeing “Chav’s”; “Chelski Scum”; “No History”; “No Class” light up my twitter timeline come Saturday at 3.00 pm.
As always there is a lot at stake, and Jose Mourinho will have a big say in the matter – he does after all have his unbeaten record at Stamford Bridge to protect. His record vs Wenger at home (all comps): Played: 3 – Won: 1 – Drawn: 2 – Lost: 0 – Scored: 2 – Conceded: 1. Let’s hope that this continues!
For the record:
Last result at home to Arsenal 20/01/2013: Chelsea (Mata, Lampard) 2-1 (Walcott) Arsenal.
Last defeat and highest scoring game at home to Arsenal 29/10/2011: Chelsea (Lampard, Terry, Mata) 3-5 (RVP x3, Santos, Walcott) Arsenal.
Biggest win at home against Arsenal 27/09/1969: Chelsea (Tommy Baldwin, Alan Birchenall x2) 3-0 Arsenal.
Biggest defeat at home against Arsenal 29/11/1930: Chelsea (Thomas Law) 1-5 (Jack Lambert, David Jack x3, Joey Williams) Arsenal.
Record vs Arsenal at home (all comps) Played: 84 – Won: 30 – Drawn: 28 – Lost: 26 – Scored: 108 – Conceded: 110.
Chelsea didn’t spoiled Arsenal party! They brought him 6 wonderful gifts! Happy 1000th Wenger hope to see you around for another 1000 games! 🙂