{"id":6935,"date":"2022-11-06T00:07:13","date_gmt":"2022-11-06T00:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6935"},"modified":"2022-11-06T22:17:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T22:17:13","slug":"all-change-at-the-bus-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6935","title":{"rendered":"All Change at the Bus Stop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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My favorite memory of the bus stop in Fulham is the vision of the former Chelsea captain executing the calamitous slip that allowed RVP to score his critical goal in Arsenal\u2019s 3-5 win in October 2011.  I couldn\u2019t find a picture of the exact moment he hit the turf but Terry\u2019s face in this image taken a few seconds later pretty much tells the story. To adapt a phrase that basketball announcer Chick Hearn often shouted when his Los Angeles Lakers allowed the other side to score without resistance, Terry\u2019s dive was a sterling example of \u201cmatador defense\u201d \u2014 sweeping aside his cape to let the bull rush onward toward the goal. Still photography tells one story, but I thought you would enjoy watching the whole play one more time, so here<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s where they\u2019ve stashed in on the web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After last week\u2019s home win against Nottingham Forest, Arsenal travel across the capital to the bus stop in Fulham, otherwise known as Stamford Bridge, where the ghost of Roman Abramovich hangs heavy, and I suspect will continue to do so for some time.  This year\u2019s model though is American Todd Boehly who, together with co-owners Clearlake Capital Group, are rumored to be rich enough so that Chelsea should still be able to afford some very expensive players.  Right off the bat, to use either a baseball or a cricket phrase, Boehly sacked Thomas Tuchel for no particularly good reason I can see, and brought in Graham Potter to manage but so far Chelsea are doing no better than hovering in the Europa League places.  It\u2019s hard to say if the culture of Abramovich, who seemed to replace his manager every other Monday, is still hanging around too but it will be interesting to make a judgement for ourselves on that score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Sunday\u2019s match has a different feel to it than other recent meetings of these two clubs, with Arsenal standing in a better position in the table, and with a younger and might I say, sexier set of players.  As reported by Simon Johnson in The Athletic, \u201cthe average age of Arsenal\u2019s squad members who have played in the Premier League this season is 23.8, the lowest figure in the division. Chelsea\u2019s is 26.5, the 11th highest\u2026 The youthfulness of Arsenal\u2019s players suggests their emergence as one of the main contenders again isn\u2019t temporary, that they will all get to play together for the long term. This is what Boehly-Clearlake want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chelsea had conceded just twice in seven games (including European matches), having drawn their league games with Brentford and the Red Mancs, and defeated Aston Villa, Wolves and Crystal Palace before conceding four goals in last week\u2019s loss at Brighton that featured two own goals.  Based on that evidence it would appear that Potter was able to tighten up their defence for a spell, but a screw managed to came loose again.  Chelsea conceded to the Seagulls as early as the 5th minute, and as late as second half injury time, but the one that appeared to polish them off may have been their second own goal, conceded damagingly just before halftime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chelsea played Champions League football at home on Wednesday, defeating Dinamo Zagreb 2-1, but had already won their group so may not have fully exerted themselves. In any case they will have enjoyed one more day of rest than Arsenal who defeated FC Zurich 1-0 in a match of actual meaning in UEFA\u2019s lesser competition.  Against Zagreb, Chelsea fell behind early when their defence reacted poorly to a cross, and allowed their opponents to score on a close range header. Chelsea equalised when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang backheeled to Raheem Sterling who slotted in.  Chelsea debutant on-loan midfielder Denis Zakaria completed the scoring midway through the first half.  Full-back Ben Chilwell injured his hamstring late in injury time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One angle of viewing this game is as a reunion of Arsenal with Aubameyang, their former captain.  \u201cWhat in the world is he doing at Chelsea\u201d could be the words on the lips of many an Arsenal fan.  Chelsea signed him at the end of the transfer window to increase their goal threat, but Auba already seems to be dropping down in the Chelsea pecking order.  Most of us can attest that he has lost a step, but he also may be Potter\u2019s odd man out as he was signed under the previous manager.  What\u2019s more, we may not get a chance to see him because Auba featured in midweek, and he has started only three of the seven league games since he arrived back in London.  But the wily Mikel was not being fooled in his pre-match press conference: When asked about the threat he still poses aged 33, Arteta didn\u2019t tempt fate when he said: “He’s very dangerous. You know, if Auba’s got something it’s the ability to put the ball in the back of the net and he’s going to be doing that until the day that he decides he’s had enough of football.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Arsenal must pay attention to a number of other new faces at the bus stop including left back Marc Cucurella, who was signed for big money from Brighton, and has been a constant in Potter\u2019s team selection.  Potter had re-instated goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, who had been thrown onto the scrap heap by Tuchel, but Kepa is currently injured so we can expect to see Edouard Mendy.  Other players on the Chelsea injured list include Ben Chilwell, who hurt his hamstring in midweek, N\u2019golo Kante, Reece James, and newly signed central defender Wesley Fofana.  Chelsea have brought in to their attacking rotation 22 yearold Conor Gallagher and 21 year old Armando Broja, who enjoyed impressive loan spells last season at Crystal Palace and Southampton, respectively.  Both players featured in nearly all of Chelsea\u2019s Champions League games (Gallagher with more minutes than Broja) and each has scored once in the Premier League.  But with both first choice fullbacks missing for Chelsea, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli will be hoping to take advantage down the wings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bukayo Saka was injured early in last week\u2019s win against Nottingham Forest, and as Bathgooner posted in the drinks, the only blemish on Arsenal\u2019s day was how long it took to replace him after he was clearly hurt.   The upshot is that Saka is a doubt to be available to face Chelsea, but he was back in training on Wednesday, and featured as a substitute on Thursday so he seems to be alright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To repeat TTG\u2019s comment in the drinks after the Forest game, \u201cWe have beaten the Chavs on the last two visits to the Bus Stop. Let\u2019s make it a hat-trick.\u201d  And I didn\u2019t get a chance to see Brighton-Chelsea but c100 reported that \u201cChelsea were woeful\u201d so Arsenal must nip in the bud any improvement of their opponents\u2019 form, and give a statement performance against a big club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s hoping that Arsenal will repeat their pattern of last week, when they followed a sleepy performance in the Europa League with a five-star bashing of Nottingham Forest in the league.  It would be beyond greedy to predict another 5-0 win but knowing that several players were rested in midweek I think Arsenal should have enough energy to nip the points in an exciting 3-2 victory, which would keep us top of the league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The match kicks off at noon GMT, making for some awkward pre-game preparations for Gooners in the various time zones but no matter where you are watching, enjoy the game, \u2018holics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My favorite memory of the bus stop in Fulham is the vision of the former Chelsea captain executing the calamitous slip that allowed RVP to score his critical goal in Arsenal\u2019s 3-5 win in October 2011.  I couldn\u2019t find a picture of the exact moment he hit the turf but Terry\u2019s face in this image taken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6935"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6935"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6948,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6935\/revisions\/6948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}