Gameweek six is upon us and this weekend Arsenal take on title holders Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. So far this season Arsenal have been fairly steady in the league and – bar the loss to West Ham – haven’t really been troubled. Chelsea on the other hand, have struggled immensely this season. Having only lost three games in the entirety of last season, the Blues have already lost that many games this year and currently sit 17th in the league table. However, with the Gunners having struggled in Europe against Dinamo Zagreb and Chelsea coming off the back of a superb 4-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv, they are still a force to be reckoned with.
Chelsea are always a team that must be approached with caution and even now, with them stuttering in terms of form, they mustn’t be taken lightly. Jose Mourinho’s squad possesses immense quality in-depth and is one of the strongest in Europe. However, this year certain players have managed to stand out and will need to be monitored by Arsenal in the upcoming fixture.
One of Chelsea’s most dangerous players is Diego Costa. The Spaniard lit the Barclays Premier League alight last season having signed for the Blues from Athletico Madrid. Costa was in superb form last season, coming close to winning the golden boot, but has so far suffered a slow start to the new campaign. That being said, the Chelsea striker came off of the bench against Maccabi Tel Aviv, won a penalty for his side and then scored Chelsea’s third goal. The Blues’ fans will be hoping that the forward can keep this level of performance going for a prolonged period of time.
Costa is a tall, devious goal poacher who excels at losing his marker to create space for shots or simply competing with defenders for strength to win the ball. In a nutshell, he is a handful and must be singled out by both Arsenal centre-backs. The Spaniard has a tendency to lose control of his emotions when playing and so the Arsenal players could use this to their advantage by playing a psychological warfare against him. If they make a couple of hard tackles on Costa then he will get riled up and lose his focus, making him far less effective for Chelsea. However, the Arsenal players can’t simply rely on Costa getting flustered; they must close him down quickly. The Spaniard is not afraid to run at defenders and so the only way to deal with his style of play is for them to stand their ground and stop him running up the pitch.
Another player that has shone for Chelsea this season is 19-year old Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The Englishman was highly impressive for the Blues during their preseason and put in a Man of the Match performance against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the UEFA Champions League this week. At such a tender age, he is not guaranteed a starting role against Arsenal this weekend but is still a player that needs to be handled with care. The young Englishman plays his best football as a deep-lying playmaker, much like Jack Wilshere, except he is much taller and stronger. He is an effective distributor of the ball but is also able to protect it too.
To combat a player like Loftus-Cheek, it is imperative that the Arsenal midfield cut out his passing options. If he is unable to pass to anyone then his game style doesn’t allow for him to do much else with the ball. However, by pressing the youngster quickly, it limits his time on the ball and if someone as physically imposing as Francis Coquelin were to be the one closing him down, then it would make it far more difficult for the Chelsea midfielder to keep hold of possession.
In terms of going forward, Arsenal must attack more quickly with the ball than they have done so far this season. As a team, they have attacked too slowly thus far and in doing so have allowed the opposition defenders time to track back and get in front of them. The north Londoners are famed for their speed in attack and, therefore it should go without saying that they need to attack with pace.
As a team, they must also be more clinical with their chances. With the number of chances that they create each game, there is no reason why they can’t win most games. Players like Olivier Giroud have often misfired this season, and Alexis Sanchez has hit the post on a couple of occasions. The level of finishing needs to be improved, otherwise Arsenal will be punished by teams who do more with their chances.
Both teams will be coming into this game hoping to take away all three points, but it certainly won’t be easy for either. Wenger will be hoping to earn his second ever win over Jose Mourinho, but the Blues won’t lay down without a fight.
