MATCH DAY BLOG: CHELSEA (H)

6 POINTER AT THE GROVE

Well, my friends, I had to head to the basement with my family because my house was in the path of a tornado. Pretty scary… but not as scary as the potential of losing to Chelsea today.

If Arsenal can squeeze out a win, it puts us nine points clear of Chelsea in fourth. If we lose, they go just three points shy of us—not a great place to be considering the direction of this season.

Arteta has had a heavy hand in the destruction of this season, so he kind of owes Gooners around the world an uneventful stroll to second place. I don’t care about Liverpool now—that ship has sailed, even if half their team gets banned for PEDs. For Arsenal, it’s all about finishing second for the third season in a row. Not where you want to be, but at least it represents elite stagnation at worst, and at best, just another example of how Arteta isn’t a lucky general.

Chelsea is a bit of a basket-case team. They’re wildly inconsistent despite having a treasure chest of young, high-potential talent. You could put five past them… or you could find yourself on the end of a 1-0 loss. I don’t want to say their players are mercenaries—they’re not—but they’re definitely cut from the cloth of players who only show up for big games occasionally.

Maresca was not hired because he was the best coach on offer; he was given the job because he was the most compliant manager who interviewed. Over the long term, I don’t think that’s the best way to operate, and I think his one-dimensional approach, which was exposed at Leicester, might be hurting Chelsea right now.

Something else hurting them? Injuries.

My oh my, I’m on a roll with the segues today! (I used to spell it "Segway," like the machines—what a damn fool I was.)

Here’s where they stand:

• Nicolas Jackson (Forward): Suffered a hamstring injury on February 3, 2025, during a match against West Ham United. Expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks, aiming for a return in early April.

• Noni Madueke (Right Winger): Sustained a hamstring injury on February 14, 2025, with an anticipated return in early April.

• Marc Guiu (Centre-Forward): Incurred a hamstring injury on February 3, 2025, and is expected to return in early April.

• Wesley Fofana (Centre-Back): Suffered a knee injury on December 7, 2024, with a potential return date of June 30, 2025.

• Omari Kellyman (Attacking Midfielder): Has been out since September 1, 2024, due to a hamstring injury.

• Roméo Lavia (Defensive Midfielder): Sustained a hamstring injury on January 16, 2025, with an expected return on March 31, 2025.

• Reece James (Right-Back): Missed the last game due to illness and is currently doubtful for the upcoming match.

Sorry, people—I’d like to feel sympathy for them, but they have 617 squad players. I can’t hear excuses from a team that has dropped £1.3 billion on players.

I’m happy that Nico Jackson isn’t available. Same for Madueke. That outrageous pace and carnage ball they play won’t be missed.

We can also be thankful that they still have Roberto Martínez in goal. Sometimes, in life, you meet people who just fall up the stairs—they keep finding themselves in the most unlikely of positions, over and over again.

In football, Thomas Gravesen appearing at Madrid was pretty wild. Richard Wright ending his career at City? Strange. Alex Manninger having the career he had? Odd. But the most bizarre? Martínez at the biggest spenders in the world. How. Did. That. Happen?

I’d suggest that Arsenal take some shots from distance, shoot from corners, and try to make his afternoon extremely sad.

Arsenal’s injury news didn’t give us anything new, but Arteta is clearly excited about Bukayo’s progress:

“He is going to be here, hopefully more with the ball at his feet than he has had.”

“That will mean he is passing the ball and shooting and running and everything. He has done quite a lot already on the pitch working on his own.”

Three weeks to get fit for that Madrid game? Yes, please. Hopefully, they can get him in the mix for the Fulham game—that seems to be the target.

But for tomorrow, I think we’ll be watching Martinelli, Trossard, and Ethan have a crack as a front three against a defense they’ll fancy themselves to get at.

We’ll need Declan to bring the goods, and we desperately need a performance from our dearest Martin. He’s our captain—when he ticks, the whole stadium feels it.

Final piece today—Andrea Berta is apparently starching his Brioni suit and polishing his Ferragamo loafers so he can get to work THIS WEEK.

Very exciting stuff. From what I’ve been reading, he’s largely going to preserve the work that’s been done over the past year on player recruitment. His primary role under his new boss, Mikel Arteta, is to bring in Nico Williams.

Apparently, this deal is hard—it requires a lot of energy, and Bayern are sniffing around.

If he pulls it off, that would be a statement. Not quite Alexander Isak levels, but a statement all the same.

But, as I said yesterday, spending money is easy—bringing it in has been the weakness of the current setup. Hopefully, Berta speaks fluent Arabic and has a little bit of sauce at the negotiation table.

The bigger the sales, the bigger the buys.

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