Morning! Later than normal blog today as I had an early meeting in North London!
It is only Tuesday so it feels a little early to be looking forward to this Saturday’s game, but there is little else to talk about.
We have had an excellent start to the season.
Whilst the naysayers keep going with their “Arteta has been found out this season”, we actually only sit 1 point behind where we were at the same stage last season.
Those same moaners have been in huge praise of Eddie Howe and Newcastle’s start to the season. “Eddie showing he is the real deal whilst Arteta is all PR” is one Tweet I saw. Newcastle are in 8th.
We have already faced Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham in our opening 3 games, getting 7 points out of 9.
Yes, it is frustrating that it was not 9 from 9, and with the Fulham draw as well an argument could be made we should have had a 100% start to the season. But that argument is probably made play people who are new to football, or trying to fit a narrative to their agenda.
Chelsea this weekend will be a huge test for us.
The 3 games against other former-big-6 teams have been at home. This will be the first visit of the season to a tricky away ground.
Whilst Chelsea are not the team they once were, they are on their best run for some time having won 2 Premier League games in a row – away to Burnley and Fulham; throw in the Brighton League Cup win and it is 3 wins from their last 3 games.
The Fulham game was a little fortuitus – Fulham dominated the play and had some good chances – but the victory away to Burnley was decisive.
Last season we beat Chelsea by a goal to nothing and it felt like a bit of a statement win having only beaten other big 6 sides at home up to that point.
Gone are those bad old days under Jose Mourinho et al where Chelsea seemed to take 3 points off us twice a season. They have beaten us just once in 8 games, with The Arsenal winning 6 of them. That victory was against a patched up, Covid hit team.
Our good form against Chelsea extend a long time prior to Covid as well.
In the last 23 games, our head to head against Chelsea reads: P 23 W 12 L 6 D 5. A run that goes back to April 2015.
Compare that to the previous 23 games: P 23 W 4 L 14 D 5, a run back to the 2005 Community Shield, and you can perhaps see why fans like myself are fairly confident about Saturday.
Saying that, having a good record against Chelsea means nothing if you do not win trophies, and I would much prefer having their record over the last 9 years against us and winning the trophies they have won!
So we have England tonight. Hopefully any of our players involved (basically Declan Rice) gets through unscathed. Then it is just prayers overnight with the two Gabi’s and Thomas Partey representing their countries I the early hours of tomorrow morning.
Have a great day!
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
Pochettino’s team always play with high intensity and high tempo. It’s inevitable that he will achieve great things with Chelsea’s collection of young exciting footballers once they are steady. They are beginning to hit their stride so I think we are facing them while their confidence is high. It’s going be difficult and I don’t fancy our chances.
LikeLike
Only see a Chelsea win this Saturday
LikeLike
We`re actually 2 points better of this season than we were last against the same opposition. As for Saturday, think we`ll just edge it but I`ll be happy enough with a point. Wish we`d played Chelsea a few weeks back but it is what is. Thought they played quite well at Fulham myself, had the game won at half time and saw it out fairly comfortably in the 2nd half. Its always a test when we go to the Bridge but we`ve got a good recent record there and if we turn up at our best we should have too much for them again.
LikeLike
Might use that stat for a blog!
LikeLike