What a night that was on Wednesday! I was lucky enough to be in the stadium to see us dismantle Bayern Munich in what was an electric atmosphere. The way we are all feeling seeing this brilliant team win game after game in the pursuit of the trophies we have craved for so long is wonderful to be a part of. Remember these moments because we’re doing something special this season.
Onto Sunday’s game and the tests just keep getting tougher. Chelsea have won three on the bounce in the league since Sunderland snatched it in stoppage time at Stamford Bridge five weeks ago. Wins over Wolves and Barcelona in the Carabao Cup and Champions League make it six unbeaten for the Blues in all competitions. They rightly sit second in the Premier League table. With our six point buffer at the top in place, a draw here wouldn’t feel like a bad result. A loss is hard to comprehend right now, while a win would make a real statement of intent.
It does feel like a really big week of Premier League football, given the short turnaround between games. Chelsea on Sunday, Brentford on Wednesday and then Aston Villa on Saturday lunchtime is going to challenge the fortitude and physical capabilities of the players. It’s more or less the same for every team though during this period, so we have to hope our squad depth plays a decisive factor in what will probably be some quite tight games. Seven points from this week of three matches feels like an excellent return – let’s hope we can get them starting with Chelsea on Sunday.
As for Mikel Arteta’s team selection, it feels fairly straightforward to predict most of the 11. Raya obviously in goal with Hincapie and Calafiori returning to the left-side of defence alongside almost ever-presents Timber and Saliba. Zubimendi and Rice with the nigh-on telepathic understanding in midfield and Eze remaining in the 10 position for now, with a view to Odegaard possibly starting against Brentford. That could go either way though, as a fully fit Odegaard would be more suited to the tactical battle of a tough away game, but Eze is still flying off his hat-trick on Sunday and probably just has the edge at the moment. Saka and Merino lining up in the front three after more excellent work on Wednesday night, with Madueke edging out Martinelli to complete the front three due to a slight fitness edge and the ex-Chelsea factor possibly at play too.
In terms of a score prediction, I’m going to back us to win it 2-1. My head says it will probably be a draw, but I’m still on a high from the Bayern game and with our mentality and quality fresh in the mind, I’m not in the mood to back against us winning right now. Fingers crossed we can extend our lead at the top to seven points, assuming Man City overcome Leeds on Saturday. I’ll be back to review the game on here on Sunday night. COYG
Featured Image Credit: Vespa125125CFC at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
AFC Writer 