Arsenal vs Chelsea - Monday 27th December - 20:00

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DMF

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200px-Arsenal_FC.svg.png
225px-Chelsea_FC.svg.png


MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Assistant referees: Scott Ledger & Martin Yerby
Fourth official: Lee Probert

Venue: Emirates Stadium, North London
Kick Off: 20:00 GMT
Channels: Sky Sports 1, BBC Radio. Will post streams when available.

Team News:

Arsenal's postponed match with Stoke last weekend has allowed Lukasz Fabianski and Abou Diaby extra time to return to full fitness.Manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed Thomas Vermaelen will remain on the sidelines until the end of January.

Chelsea will restore Frank Lampard to the starting line-up for the first time since late August. Alex, Yossi Benayoun and Yuri Zhirkov are all out injured, but Jose Bosingwa has overcome a hamstring problem.

Arsenal
Injured: Almunia & Gibbs (both ankle), Frimpong (knee), Vermaelen (Achilles)

Chelsea
Injured: Alex (leg), Benayoun (Achilles), Zhirkov (calf)

MATCH PREVIEW

The 175th meeting between these two bitter rivals finds both Chelsea and Arsenal trying to rediscover top gear after an indifferent couple of months. Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas admitted this week that his team lacks mental strength and were gripped by a fear of losing during the recent defeat by Manchester United. Detractors of the club have levelled this accusation at Arsene Wenger's side for many years, but for their captain to admit it ahead of a crunch clash with Chelsea was an intriguing move.
Especially given that no club give Arsenal the blues quite like Chelsea. They hold a formidable hex over the Gunners, and in Didier Drogba have a player who preys on their fragility more than any other. The Ivorian thrives on bullying Arsenal's back four and has blitzed 13 goals in his last 11 league and cup appearances against them.
But his loss of form following a bout of malaria has coincided with a woeful run of results that has seen Chelsea go over a month without a win in any competition. Drogba's insipid performances saw him dropped against Tottenham, but he came on to score in a much-improved performance by the Blues - although his late missed penalty cost them victory.
Chelsea were denied the chance to show further evidence they have got their season back on track when their match with Manchester United was postponed last week. But a clash at the Emirates will put the title credentials of both sides to the test.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Chelsea have lost only two of their last 18 matches against Arsenal in all competitions, and have won the last five meetings.
• The Blues have scored 11 goals in their last four league games against the Gunners, conceding only once. It is 290 minutes (four hours and 50 minutes) since Nicklas Bendtner scored Arsenal's last goal in the league against Chelsea.
• Chelsea are the first side to win four straight league matches against Arsenal since Liverpool managed it from 1996 to 1998.

Arsenal
• They have lost three games at the Emirates Stadium this season - only West Ham (four) have suffered more defeats at home. No title-winning side has dropped more than 10 points at home in a whole season since the Gunners themselves did so in the 2001-02 campaign.
• Arsenal's record in their last 11 games in all competitions against Manchester United and Chelsea is one draw and 10 defeats, with five goals scored and 23 conceded.
• The Gunners have not conceded a goal in the opening 25 minutes of a match this season.

Chelsea
• Nicolas Anelka has failed to score in almost 10 hours of Premier League football, but he has managed seven goals in his last 12 league starts against Arsenal.
• Chelsea's return of six points from their last seven games is the club's worst run since 1998, when they finished fourth.
• Didier Drogba has scored eight goals against Arsenal in the Premier League, more than against any other side.

LEADING GOALSCORERS

Arsenal
Nasri: 12 goals (8 league); Chamakh: 10 goals (7 league)

Chelsea
Anelka: 10 goals (3 league); Drogba & Malouda: 8 goals (7 league)

# # # # #

Official Line Ups:

Arsenal

Fabianski
Sagna Koscielny Djourou Clichy
Song
Fabregas Wilshere
Walcott --------------------------- Nasri
van Persie

Subs: Szczesny, Diaby, Rosicky, Squillaci, Arshavin, Chamakh, Bendtner.

Chelsea:

Cech
Ferreira Ivanovic Terry Cole
Mikel
Essien Lampard
Kalou -------------------------------- Malouda
Drogba

Subs: Turnbull, Ramires, Bosingwa, Van Aanholt, Bruma, Kakuta, McEachran

My Prediction;

Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea
Chamakh, Drogba.

Thoughts and Predictions?

​
 
Last edited:
Nice OP

I think 1-1 Chamakh and Drogba

but i want a 2-1 for the Arsenal please
 
Last edited:
good good DMF, surprised none of us have done it, I was, but never went round to lol :p


Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea
Nasri
Drogba
McEachran (please, just for once)
 
Should be confident, but i'm not.

Chelsea always dominate and even without his top form, Drogba will score.

Arsenal 1 - 2 Chelsea
 
Very good OP DMF. :)

I don't want to give a prediction, but seeing as I'm here I'm going for a 1-0 win, either way.
 
Stole it all from BBC (A)

Looking forward to a really good game of football tbh. Hoping it ends in a draw so we have a massive gap, but the Drogba effect could be a massive factor to the end result.
 
Nice OP layout, should be an end to end game and I expect it to be a score draw with the most likely being 2-2
 
Can't see an Arsenal win, but the form Chelsea have been in I don't know if they'll win or not.
 
Don't know to be honest, both teams are kind of stumbling along in games this season,

Arsenal 1-3 Chelsea
 
Nice OP layout mate, i would say on par with mine haha. Im not going to predict a scoreline but i will say if Cole and Drogba turn up then i don't think their is much Arsenal could do to get a result.
 
Chelsea have been doing **** so im going for
Arsenal 2 - 0 Chelsea
Nari 35' and Van Persie 80'
 
Arsenal 2 - 2 Chelsea

Van Persie and Walcott for Arsenal

Lampard x2 for Chelsea.
 
I'm of the opinion, whoever wins this match, has an advantage over the losing team- However the losing team will not be out of the Title Race. We still have 5 months to go- And we have 4 title chasers (5 if you include Spurs) Man United are yet to hit a bad patch- They will. Looking at the fixture list, that looks likely to happen between March and April. When this does happen, the title race will be blown open.

Whoever wins today, will carry a greater mental advantage- And a bigger chance of taking Man United's top spot- However nothing will be set in stone after todays game- Its all in the mind.
 
Anything but Chelsea win for me. Draw would be good result for us, but Arsenal are due a win over Chelsea. At Bridge they created few excellent chances, but Chamakh and Kos wasted that. Hope this time they put the ball in the net.
 
Giggles said:
I'm of the opinion, whoever wins this match, has an advantage over the losing team- However the losing team will not be out of the Title Race. We still have 5 months to go- And we have 4 title chasers (5 if you include Spurs) Man United are yet to hit a bad patch- They will. Looking at the fixture list, that looks likely to happen between March and April. When this does happen, the title race will be blown open.

Whoever wins today, will carry a greater mental advantage- And a bigger chance of taking Man United's top spot- However nothing will be set in stone after todays game- Its all in the mind.
Click to expand...

I'd say we had a bad patch when we couldn't buy a win away from home, and when we were throwing away leads for fun. Obviously it's not as bad as Chelsea's bad run, but we dropped quite a few points during that period which could have proved vital.

I honestly think if we keep playing like we have recently, we could go the season unbeaten but it's too soon to think of that. Hoping for a draw tonight, hopefully I get a late Xmas present.
 
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