It’s match day, it’s a cup semi-final, it’s Chelsea away, and it’s an opportunity to put one foot in the final with a good performance today.
This will be a tough game. Both in terms of the opposition, but also on their approach, because whilst Liam Rosenior is new in post and will inevitably impart his own style of play on the Chelsea team, I think what we’ll see tonight will still be a team that is in the mould of Maresca, so I think we’ll see Chelsea trying to be just as physical as they were for the Premier League game in December. We’ll need a strong referee who won’t tolerate their bullsh\*t.
The good news is that they are missing Caicedo through suspension, which means there’s one less clobbermeister in there, but they still have little ratbags like Enzo and Cucurella. That means we’ll no doubt have a few snidey things happening to our players tonight. I just hope that we rise above it and can avoid any kind of injury, because we’re already – once again – missing a host of players, and in defence we can’t really afford any more absences.
Team news-wise, Arteta gave an update yesterday, and it looks like there’s still no Calafiori for the foreseeable future, which I was surprised by because I thought he was close to a return. I guess we just have to accept he’s going to miss a portion of the season every season now, but I was expecting a return. This means – with Hincapie also out – that there are minutes to be had for Myles Lewis-Skelly, although I have a weird feeling he might not start tonight. I don’t know why, I have no insider info, but it ‘feels’ to me like Arteta might go White at right back and Timber at left back. Of course, if Saliba is still out, then it forces his hand anyway, so it’ll be Timber and Gabriel at centre half, which is still a good enough pairing to hopefully shut out Chelsea.
In midfield, I think it will be our first-choice XI: Zubi, Rice, and Odegaard. Although what he might do is shuffle it a little, with Forest away also on the horizon on Saturday evening, so I wonder if there’s a chance for a Norgaard, Eze or Nwaneri. Perhaps there’s an agreed-upon point, regardless of the score, at which those players get minutes? I’d certainly be up for that, because whilst I want us to get through to the final for this competition, there’s absolutely no doubt that we need the strongest and fittest XI against Forest this weekend.
Up front, I suspect we’ll see a return for Saka and Trossard on the flanks, as well as Big Vik up front. I think if Havertz was fitter, they might do a job share with Gabriel Jesus and Kai, but given the German is only just back, I think he’ll maybe make the bench at best this evening. For Gyokeres, it is coming close to crunch time, though. Jesus must be nearing the point at which he’ll be starting league games and with Kai building up his strength, I would expect that by February, he’s going to be in a position to start asking questions about starting, too. So Viktor doesn’t have long to deliver. A game like tonight, where Chelsea will push on and hopefully leave spaces, needs to have him delivering, or at least getting shots off. The questions have started to be asked by Arsenal fans and now is the time to show you are still a deadly marksman.
I think Rosenior is going to go for this tonight. He has just joined, he has an opportunity to win a trophy within the first few weeks of his reign, plus he’s testing himself against the team that are top of the league at the moment. He will want to show he can make an impact and a game like tonight will be exactly the sort of fixture where he’ll be looking at a potential statement. He said as much in his press conference, when he alluded to the fact that even before the FA Cup game they played this weekend, they were talking about – and focused on – this Arsenal match. For Chelsea it is a chance of a trophy when, realistically, they will probably feel the Premier League is a little beyond them and the Champions League/FA Cup still has several rounds to go.
So we need to be ready. We need to be up for it. We REALLY don’t want to give them a leg up and a confidence boost by not showing up tonight. It’s over two legs, so there’s a lot of football to be played, but if you’re not on it then it can make the second leg quite difficult. I think we will be up for it, but we also need to be prepared for a fast start, because I think Chelsea might want to try to blow us away early and get the crowd on side by a good early display. If we can quieten them down early, it could be a good night for us.
That’s pretty much it from me for today. I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, for a bit of a de-brief, so I’ll catch you then. Hopefully, we’re talking about a positive night for The Arsenal.
Let’s do this.