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Tottenham due to pile on the pressure
Written by Sawyer | 16th December 2005 | 0 Comment(s)
By the time Arsenal takes the field to face Chelsea; they will know whether they will be four, five or seven points adrift of their North London rivals.
Many years of dominance has generally made Spurs a laughing stock in some quarters, but their threat is nevertheless a very real one at present. Since Martin Jol was given full managerial control a White Hart Lane, Tottenham are in the top five on total Premiership points that have been scored.
Arsenal continue to boast a 100% home Premiership record, but further investigation will show that none of their opponents are actually in the top eight before this weekend’s fixtures got underway.
Rob Styles is due to referee the match, and quirkily Arsenal has never lost a Premiership match when this particular official has been in charge. However, the fact that until this season The Gunners were so rarely beaten, there could easily be another couple of referees in the same position.
At the beginning of the season, the clash at Highbury would have been regarded as a definite Championship pointer, even in December, but in reality even the most ardent of Arsenal supporters must be readjusting their expectancy accordingly at present.
Chelsea’s arrogance, or is it just their fans, has become a source of annoyance to many, and even Sir Alex Ferguson has dispensed with any ‘mind games’ to be firmly entrenched in Arsenal’s corner come Sunday afternoon.
The Premiership probably does need a Gunners victory, but whether that is possible remains to be seen. It wasn’t long ago that many Premiership observers wished for a third team to compete with the dominance of Arsenal and Man United, and Abramovich’s money enabled that to occur.
Unfortunately these days money talks rather loudly and now instead of a monopoly of two, we now appear to have a monopoly of one. Sometimes maybe it’s better to be careful what you wish for!!
Of course, Man United fans will point out that their team were able to preserve Arsenal’s 49-match unbeaten run, and will be hoping that the Gunners can now return the favour.
Some may view the ‘European chumps’ Premiership ambitions as rather hopeful, but with a relatively good chance to gain many points over Christmas they may not be dead in the water quite yet?
Arsene Wenger’s team will be without Gilberto following his somewhat unfair dismissal at Newcastle, but in truth the way he has been playing this could easily be a blessing in disguise.
Defensively Arsenal looked a lot stronger last week as the ‘Cygan experiment’ was finally put on hold, and hopefully Wenger will not be tempted to recall the Frenchman fearing Chelsea’s aerial threat at set-pieces.
It has to also be hoped that Wenger doesn’t leave Robin Van Persie on the sidelines following three scoreless games, as the Dutchman coupled with Thierry Henry are good enough to blow any team away on their day. The rest of the Premiership, well Man United and Liverpool to be precise, will be hoping that their day will be on Sunday.
Chelsea come in to the game reasonably unscathed, and while they haven’t really hit top form of late they are still gathering points almost as quickly as Abramovich gathers interest on his accounts.
Of course, much of the pre-match talk may surround the Anglo-Spanish contests that are on the horizon in two months time, but when the first ball is kicked they will pale insignificantly in to the background.
Most would expect Chelsea to be happy to let Arsenal come on to them during the game, confident in their ability to soak up any onslaught. Their Premiership points cushion decrees that a point would be more than satisfactory.
However, if Arsenal can gain quality possession and use what width there is in the famously narrow Highbury pitch, it may be possible to win the day. Being able to keep the ball and pull Chelsea’s midfield out of position will be vital.
The way to goal could be for the Gunners to try to get to the by-line and cut the ball back on the floor, as any aerial threat would probably be dealt with by John Terry and co. The other main threat should come from long range shots, especially with the two aforementioned strikers that should play.
Sounds simple enough, but as ever Chelsea will be as tough as ever to break down, and in Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, among others, they have the ammunition to also win the game.
Drogba and Jose Reyes have predominantly staked each corner’s claims through the media this week, which at least makes a change from the rants and retorts of Mourinho and Wenger, but the talking will cease at 4pm on Sunday and if the game is as good as the 2-2 draw the sides played last season, the neutral will be in for a treat.
Quite how many neutrals there will be is open to question. Undoubtedly Mourinho will feel the whole country is against him: well, Alex Ferguson and Rafa Benitez will certainly be two of them.
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