Since we are not Manchester City who have impressed the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, plus a lot of unbiased lovers of the beautiful round leather game with their sleek attacking style of play... Lest I forget, and unrivalled firepower in front of goal -there will always be for us some good news and some bad news especially when it has to do with a short trip to Stamford Bridge to engage our under-achieving neighbours.
Recently, we have had to put up with a lot of what I prefer to call 'acceptable news' (for now) from a vast majority of our players. They claim they are currently as fit as crouching tigers, and thanks to their new-found fitness levels are ready to reclaim their lost glory in a stadia, where Chelsea has not lost since their last home league defeat against Liverpool on 6 February.
As usual, I not only wish that our players up their game a notch as they have done recently, but also hope that they avoid conceding, if not limit the score-line to an acceptable numeral -depending on whatever negative scoreline the supporters are ready to condone this time. With the incessant media hype being generated in respect to this highly anticipated twice in a league season clash, I think a draw does not feature prominently in the plans of both teams regardless of who is playing home or away.
Chelsea will be hoping to score their 6000th goal in the league when they take to the field against their fellow premier league competitors this weekend. Apart from the ever present injuries, the official website of the blues stated in unequivocal terms that Arsenal's loanee: "Yossi Benayoun is not eligible to play for Arsenal due to the terms of his loan." That not withstanding, I expect our under-fire boys knowing what might happen to their current league position if they win, lose or draw to give it their all.
The best news I've heard all month (football-wise) is the confirmed absence of one of Chelsea's most dangerous attackers of all time when the two London clubs meet... Didier Drogba, does the name ring a bell? The ivory coast international has scored 13 goals against Arsenal in 12 starts plus two substitute appearances since joining the blues in 2004. However, Andre Villas Boas still has plenty of options to quickly activate, chief among them is their £50m record mis-firing striker Fernando Torres. The entire gooner nation will hope that Robin Van Persie replicates the form that saw him score twice to hand the Gunners a famous 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge almost three years ago.
