At face value, it’s not the worst time to be coming up against Chelsea.
The Blues currently sit in sixth place after an indifferent start to their Premier League campaign and head into Sunday’s clash on the back of a 4-1 hammering at Brighton last week.
Add to that a slew of injuries to key players including N’Golo Kante, Reece James, Wesley Fofana and Ben Chilwell and there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic. The Gunners also have a reasonable record at Stamford Bridge in recent times, including a memorable 4-2 win back in April.
Given all that, then, why am I not utterly convinced of our impending victory?
Apart from the eternal pessimist in me, my lack of confidence is inspired at least in part by the new-ish Chelsea manager, Graham Potter.
Though his start to life at the Bridge has been mixed at best, he remains a canny operator with a track record of being a thorn in our side. Ever since he led Ostersunds to victory at the Emirates in the 2017/18 season, the 47-year-old has out-performed against us, managing three wins and a draw in five outings since taking charge at Brighton in 2019. Most recently, he guided the Seagulls to a 2-1 win at the Emirates back in April, a result that contributed in large part to our failure to secure Champions League football.
In short, the man knows how to play against us, albeit for sides considered the ‘underdogs’. Operating as the bigger fish in the pond brings its own challenges, of course, but, to a large extent, it will feel like Chelsea are the underdogs this weekend.
Their injuries and lack of consistent form will more likely than not see Arsenal installed as slight favourites and that will give Potter room to manoeuvre. He is a wily tactician, Potter, and for all their current travails, it is demonstrably perilous to underestimate his teams. He’ll have plenty of tricks up his sleeve.
This is all before we mention the elephant in the room….Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang.
Though the Gabonese was a fading force even before he departed the Emirates, there’s nothing quite like ill-will to motivate a player and he remains a capable finisher.
Though relationships with many of his former colleagues are likely to be good, there will be no love lost between him and Mikel Arteta. The manager seems to have been entirely justified in his decision to drop and ship Auba off to Barcelona but it is unlikely that feeling is shared by the player himself.
We’ve seen in snippets of leaked recordings since he arrived at Chelsea that Auba feels the fault was not with him but rather with Arteta’s inability or unwillingness to handle ‘big personalities’. While that may be misguided on the striker’s part, it’s obvious he still harbours some bad blood. We will need to be watchful.
I’ll put on record now that a draw would not be the worst result in the world. Our fate this season is more likely to be decided elsewhere and a point away at a big rival is nothing to be sniffed at. Though it is indeed an opportune moment to be heading to west London, and football is oft-times all about timing, we shouldn’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
It would nice if we could retain our place at the top of the table heading into the World Cup break but, as the season progresses, I think we may eventually have to set our sights on more realistic targets. We shouldn’t give up on the dream, of course, but there is only so much competing that can be done with Pep’s robots.
A win at the Bridge would be an incredible boost for our season but let’s not get too hung up if things don’t go exactly according to plan tomorrow.
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