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Mourinho's Blues set to gun down Arsenal
Petar Alavanja
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17th September, 2015
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What will Chelsea look like this season? (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)
Petar Alavanja
Roar Pro
17th September, 2015
10
1336 Reads

This Saturday night’s clash between Chelsea and Arsenal at Stamford Bridge already has title implications only six weeks into the 2015-2016 season.

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea have made a nightmare start to the defence of their Premier League title, accumulating a total of four points in their first five games and leaving them in 17th position.

Flat performances from last year’s standouts such as Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Fabregas, as well as shaky defending, has left the Blues already eleven points behind a resurgent Manchester City.

If Mourinho’s mini-tantrum after last week’s Everton loss is anything to go by, the team is feeling the pressure.

Arsenal also had a disappointing opening to the season losing 2-0 to West Ham. Once again Arsenal were linked to an assortment of players during the transfer window and fans’ hopes were that the Gunners would finally sign a big name striker to give them a shot at winning the Premier League for the first time in a decade.

Arsenal’s hopes of signing a proven name like Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema failed and they are once again led upfront by inconsistent Frenchman Olivier Giroud and makeshift centre forward Theo Walcott.

Unlike their cross-town rivals Chelsea, Arsenal have, however, been able to turn their poor start around and have won three of their next four games to slot back into the top four.

In Chelsea’s midweek Champions League fixture against Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Mourinho made tactical changes that may foreshadow this weekend’s game with Arsenal. Veterans John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic were rested in favour of a more youthful back four of Gary Cahill, Kurt, Baba Rahman and Cesar Azpilicueta.

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Along with a returning Oscar and seemingly resurgent Fabregas, the Blues managed a 4-0 home win. While Chelsea’s best result of the season comes against the lowly Israeli side, it provides them with a healthy morale boost at a time when they really need one.

Arsene Wenger also made his share of tactical changes for Arsenal’s away fixture at Dinamo Zagreb, perhaps overconfident of getting a result against the Croatian side while resting players for the Chelsea match. While leaving the likes of Walcott and Francis Coquelin on the bench and resting Petr Cech completely, it was Olivier Giroud’s missed chances and needless sending off that cost Arsenal the points and some momentum heading into the weekend.

In the league Arsenal have also struggled playing Chelsea as of late with only one victory at Stamford Bridge in their last five attempts. Chelsea are more vulnerable than they have been in years and Arsenal may feel that this will be their best chance to take all three points against Mourinho’s side away from home.

Chelsea have the attacking quality to get the victory regardless of poor form, but it is their defence that remains Mourinho’s headache. Arsenal on the other hand have questions to ask of their attack, which has only managed five goals in their first five games, the lowest total of the top nine teams.

Wenger’s pacy attack could pose problems for Chelsea’s ageing first choice backline but look for Mourinho to learn from their midweek game and infuse some youth into the defence and for Oscar and Fabregas to lead Chelsea’s attack to victory.

Final prediction: Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal

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