Arsenal,
Chelsea rumble at Stamford Bridge
From Sport desk
Saturday, November 29, 2008
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•Photo:
Sun News Publishing |
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This is not the best of times for Arsenal. After two successive
defeats, their glory seems to have departed. Even their title
aspiration looks to be up in smoke. Yet there is no let up
to their many woes. Tomorrow’s evening, they face another
trying time as they visit Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in a
tie the Blues are favoured to win.
An encounter involving the two sides any day is a thriller,
capable of producing all the excitements and fireworks. In
the past two seasons, four of their Premiership encounters
ended in two wins for Chelsea, one for Arsenal and then a
draw.
Interestingly, none of the score lines in the victories exceeded
2–1. And that clearly suggests the strength and character
of the two belligerents.
But there is a cloud of doubt over Arsenal tomorrow, as they
file out to confront Chelsea. Their poor run begun a fortnight
ago when they were rubbished 2–0 at Emirates. Even as
their fans were keeping faith that reprieve was at the corner,
they got massacred 3–0 last weekend by Manchester City.
Now, the big question is ‘will they survive Chelsea?’
Indeed, the Gunners can bounce back and surpass expectations
in one magic moment, especially with the recent change of
guard in the team’s captaincy. The appointment of Cese
Fabregas as captain, might be the new dawn the team had waited
for.
Manager Arsene Wenger may be bringing in Kolo Toure and Emmanuel
Adebayor, who missed last weekend’s outing at the City
to see if he could grind out some good result.
Tomorrow’s game is a most-win for Arsenal if they want
to prevent their title chase from further crashing down the
cliff. Now, fifth on the table with 23 points, 11 points clear
from leader, Chelsea, there is no guarantee they will remain
at the same place if they lose.
Hull City, who are a point behind the Gunners, look set to
smash Stoke City today to shoot themselves ahead. That is
why Wenger must play his best game, praying that something
descent should come out of it in the end.
On paper, Arsenal look able to take some points from this
game, but given that Chelsea, their hosts, are desperate to
go three points clear from Liverpool, Arsenal’s chances
of victory look every inch remote.
Last weekend, the Blues failed to score, ending their encounter
with Newcastle barren. However, they may not allow the same
mistake to recur, meaning that they are likely to go real
hard on the Gunners.
Luiz Filipe Scolari may have learnt a bitter lesson after
going down 1–0 to Liverpool on October 20 at the Bridge.
Now that they are enjoying a five-game unbeaten Premiership
run, they will do everything to seal victory as this season
keeps looking like theirs.
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