The Chelsea v Arsenal Preview: It’s Mourinho vs Wenger all over again

Throughout the years, fans of the Premier League have been able to anticipate many great rivalries between different football clubs, players and even managers. Rivalries between the likes of: Liverpool and Manchester United, Patrick Viera and Roy Keane and also Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have engraved themselves as some of the greatest ever rivalries in the history of football.

Tomorrow will introduce the new chapter between the two biggest managers in English football today: Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho. Not only will tomorrow be about the two managers, tomorrow is also about the war between London’s most successful football clubs: Arsenal and Chelsea.

Wenger and Mourinho have had conflict in the past (DailyMail)

Arsene Wenger’s team enters the match with three consecutive clean sheets in the league. However, the last game the Gunners played was a disastrous 2-1 defeat to Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb. Cech, Monreal, Bellerin, Ramsey and Coquelin were all dropped from the first team to be rested in preparation for the London derby. However, Coquelin was substituted on during the second half.

In recent weeks, Arsenal have introduced a new member to the first team in Gabriel due to Mertesacker being out with a virus. Gabriel has looked very impressive for Arsenal in every game he’s played this season, with him looking set to regain his position in the first team ahead of Mertesacker.

Jose Mourinho’s team enters the match with Chelsea’s worst start to a league season since 1986. Mourinho’s side has already experienced the same amount of losses this season in comparison to last with a 3-1 loss to Everton, a 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace and also a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City. Regardless of their form in the league, the Blues have regained some momentum going into the game due to their 4-0 triumph versus Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Champions League.

The game versus Maccabi Tel Aviv gave Chelsea fans the opportunity to see their summer signing Baba Rahman in action for the first time. Rahman was very impressive in his debut match and could earn his position in the Chelsea XI to face Arsenal. Another player in contention is Chelsea academy player Ruben Loftus-Cheek who put on a Man of the Match performace midweek before being withdrawn in the 77th minute.

Coquelin and Hazard during a previous meeting(Getty Images)

In the last meeting between the two London clubs, Arsenal prevailed versus the Blues in the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s goal being the difference. However, the Gunners triumph is the only victory Arsene Wenger has ever recorded versus Mourinho, with 6 draws and 7 losses in previous attempts. Chelsea are unbeaten in seven Premier League meetings versus Arsenal since losing 5-3 at home in October 2011 including their 6-0 win early last year.

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My Prediction:

This was not the start of the season that Chelsea fans had hoped for, with 4 points in 5 league games it shows how horrific the Blue’s start to their title defending season has been. With both Chelsea and Mourinho’s impressive records verses Wenger and Arsenal, they will look at this game as a way to finally end their nightmare start to the season and improve on their overall form.

Despite a good start to the season including three consecutive clean sheets, Arsene Wenger and a select amount of players have all received a lot of pressure from the fans. An Arsenal loss tomorrow would definitely pile on the hatred and pressure onto Wenger and these Arsenal players. Arsenal will look to this game as a must win situation in order to remain 5 points behind the league leaders Manchester City and to extend their lead in front of Chelsea to 9 points.

My Predicted Score: 1-1

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Predicted Line-ups:

Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Alexis, Ozil, Ramsey, Walcott

Chelsea: Begovic, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Terry, Baba, Mikel, Matic, Hazard, Fabregas, Oscar, Costa

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The Mesut Özil Story

Today marks two years since the decisive deadline day transfer where Arsenal confirmed the purchase of German International Mesut Özil from Real Madrid for an approximate £42.5 million. The transfer submitted the attacking midfielder as the worlds most expensive German and also Arsenal’s most expensive player ever. In his first two seasons at Arsenal he established himself as a key member to the Arsenal team, creating approximately 140 chances with 14 assists and 9 league goals in 48 league appearances.

Arsenal have been known to make last minute signings in the past with names such as: Andrey Arshavin, Mikel Arteta and Nacho Monreal joining the Gunners late on. Mesut Özil was no different as he completed his Arsenal transfer with just thirty three minutes left till the final deadline.

Özil officially unveiled for Arsenal (Arsenal Official)

Mesut Özil made an immediate impression to English football following his debut for the Gunners in a successful 3-1 victory versus Sunderland; giving an assist to Olivier Giroud just after 11 minutes and producing more chances in the game. Özil continued to show his quality to his new team by producing 6 assists and 2 goals in his first 10 league games. In addition to his contribution to his team in the league, the playmaker also helped in the Champions League and FA Cup.

Since 2005, Arsenal failed to win a major trophy including a Champions League defeat in 2006 and losing Football League Cup finals in 2007 and 2011. The signing of Mesut Özil boosted the overall mentality of the squad by pushing them to the top of the table for months and helping to end the trophy drought with a famous 3-2 victory AET against Hull City in the FA Cup final.

A unique player with a large amount of creativity and excellent vision, strong and key passing ability, Özil ended the season with an approximate 88% pass success rate along with nine assists. He proved to be a success in his debut season for Arsenal and quickly became a fan favourite at the club, with his shirt being the most bought shirt in England for the 2013/14 league season.

Arsenal fans hail their new signing (Arsenal)

During the Summer, Özil was selected for Germany’s World Cup squad alongside team mates Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski. Özil was one of the biggest names at the 2010 World Cup and guided Germany to third place. He secured the joint most amount of assists and was nominated for the Golden Ball Award. Pressure was applied on the German to see if he could have replicate the impact like he did 4 years prior.

Özil started all of Germany’s games on route to the final, scoring once and producing two assists. However, he was arguably the most criticised player of the tournament with some critics wanting him to be dropped for the World Cup final. Despite the large amount of criticism placed on him, Özil had more: total passes, key passes, chances created, and passing completion percentage than hailed players of the tournament such as Neymar and James Rodriguez. Germany manager Joachim Löw did not listen to the critics and started Özil in the final versus Argentina which they won 1-0 AET.

Özil with his Arsenal team mates with the World Cup (Alex Livesey)

A talent like Mesut Özil at the club along with a new desire for silverware following the end of the trophy drought gave confidence to the Arsenal team and Arsene Wenger himself as they entered the new 2014/15 league season. Wenger’s biggest signing came in Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona. Özil now had another world class player alongisde him to help lead attacks, something the Gunners lacked in the season prior.

Özil’s second season for Arsenal proved to be difficult for him to do better than the last. He missed the start of the season including Arsenal’s 3-0 victory versus Manchester City in the Community Shield because he needed extra rest following the World Cup. In addition to this, the German was out of action for around 3 months with a leg injury. One positive the injury gave him was that he was able to build up his physique in order to get stronger and challenge for the ball more. Regardless of missing time out, he recorded four goals and five assists in the twenty two league games he played that season.

One of Özil’s best games in an Arsenal shirt also came in the 2014/15 season where the Gunners beat Liverpool 4-1. With a 89% pass completion rate, 3 chances created and a superb free kick goal, he ran the show and showed how much quality he has a football player. He was also an important player in retaining the FA Cup for Arsenal and has never lost a game at Wembley Stadium. Another great display came from Özil as he started in the 4-0 FA Cup victory over Aston Villa. The German ran the show with his intelligence and regardless of where he was on the pitch, he always looked for an opening that could lead onto a potential goal.

Özil and team mates celebrate their FA Cup triumph (Getty)

Consequently, ever since his transfer to Arsenal, the German has been left in the centre of controversy with many critics judging the £42.5 million price that Arsene Wenger paid for him. “Overrated” and “lack of passion” are two of the many words that critics have used to describe the attacker. Although his goals and assists at Arsenal do not appear to look to be that impressive for a player of his quality, Özil’s overall intelligence and passing has been some of the best seen in recent years. Furthermore, despite being branded “lazy” by some critics,  Özil was also recorded to have had one of the highest distances covered for his team with just over 10km.

At the age of 26, the German still has many more years to his career with many more goals to achieve. The Mesut Özil Story is still being written.

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