Don’t fret Chelsea fans
101 comments January 21st, 2007
As Chelsea slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Anfield yesterday, Jose Mourinho’s mind probably turned to today’s Arsenal vs. Man U showdown. With United salivating at the prospect of a nine-point lead, Chelsea badly need a favour from Arsenal.
And we’re in a great position to provide it. Four wins on the spin have seen us become one of the Premierships most in-form outfits: today will see Kolo Toure and Philippe Senderos manning the defensive barracades, a resurgent Mathieu Flamini filling the void left by the suspended Gilberto, and the fit-again Emmanuel Adebayor partnering the fitter-again Thierry Henry. So far we’ve beaten Liverpool home and away, drawn at Stamford Bridge, and critically, won at Old Trafford. We’ve proved we can beat United, and we can do again.
And not just to help Chelsea out. With the top four becoming ever closer, we need every point we can get to attempt to jockey ourselves into the highest possible position.
My prediction? A draw. Whilst both sides would love a win, Chelsea’s result means there is less pressure on United to take all three points. Arsenal, on the other hand, will want to maintain their unbeaten home record and not fall even further behind the leaders.
Elsewhere, there’s a bit of news on our young guns: Middlesbrough have made a bid for Jeremie Aliadiere, Birmingham have secured first option on Fabrice Muamba should they be promoted, and Newcastle have had a loan bid rejected for Armand Traore one of our young players because he “is not ready to play Premiership football week-in, week-out”.
But back to today’s result, I hope as much as anyone that there’s a big bottle of wine on Arsene’s desk Monday morning, signed “Jose”.
