So firstly it's been a long, long time since I last posted and so much has happened, too much to cover so I'll assume we're up to date with how it stands. Today we take on Chelsea who have the title all but wrapped up and for that reason I think this afternoons match could be a borefest. Mourinho will set his men out to get a draw and I have no doubt that's what they'll do.
You can be as tactically astute as you want, when his team are setup like that breaking them down is incredibly hard. They hold their shape, break up play and make life miserable for the opposition. That said we know their threat going forward and to think they won't attack is stupid.
In terms of team news, our big doubt this weekend is Per Mertesacker who limped off furing our win over Reading at Wembley. In that game Wenger shuffled the pack a lot bringing in a raft of players who weren't sharp which I think is part of the reason we struggled. I expected Paulista will start today and the back four will resume with Monreal and Bellerin as the full backs.
Chelsea's main issue is their lack of a fully fit striker. Remy and Costa are out so our old foe Drogba will lead their line even though there are doubts over how fit he is. Trying to guess how Mourinho will setup is hard, he will be aware of Sanchez's threat so may deploy Ramires to deal with him. I expect Willian will come in to add even more muscle to the midfield containing Matic.
From a sporting point of view, the best thing to happen in this game is we score early on to draw them onto us although secretly aside from it being against us I don't think Mourinho would be devastated by a slim defeat with their gap. The three most likely scorelines I can see here are 1-0, 0-0 or 0-1. But only time will tell. This would be a huge monkey off our backs and a big victory for Wenger over that unbearable Portuguese prick. It would also take us back into second and following United's loss against Everton would give us a two point cushion over 3rd place City with a game in hand.
An interesting game it looks set to be.
