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Can Arsenal break through a psychological barrier against Chelsea?

By on January 21, 2016

Arsenal have a psychological barrier standing in the way of beating Chelsea, who, with due respect to north-London rivals Tottenham, have been their fiercest London foes in recent years.  The Gunners haven’t triumphed over the Blues in their past eight league meetings dating back to 2012, with Chelsea outscoring Arsenal by an embarrassing 16-2, while having kept a clean sheet against the Gunners in their past five meetings.

This streak includes a 6-0 thumping of Arsenal on Arsene Wenger’s 1000th match in charge of the club along with several more hotly contested, feisty fixtures in recent years.  Chelsea have put more emphasis on leveraging their physicality and counter-attacking threat against Arsenal’s possession-based tactics and with the help of Diego Costa, successfully wound up Arsenal in their last league meeting, ending the game with a two-man advantage.

The matchup has come to embody a battle between aesthetics versus pragmatism and possession-based versus counter-attacking tactics more than any other fixture in English football.  Chelsea have clearly been winning both of these battles.

However, Arsenal now have perhaps their best shot at winning in years, standing a full nineteen points above their fourteenth-placed opponents at the top of the Premier League table.  This match will in many ways be a test of how far Chelsea have fallen since last spring and if they’ve lost that old resilience in embattled situations.

As odd as it may sound, they currently hold the longest unbeaten streak in the league at six matches, coinciding with Guus Hiddink’s appointment last month.  Yet declaring a renaissance appears premature given that Chelsea’s streak consists of four draws, against Everton, West Bromwich Albion, Manchester United and Watford, and just two wins.

Arsenal’s biggest enemy, however, may be their own mindset. They’ll need to keep cool heads to prevent them from losing control of the match, as a 2-0 loss to Chelsea in the fall exemplified, and lean slightly further towards a results-oriented philosophy than usual.

“We have to focus on our own performance and forget a little bit about Diego Costa,” Wenger said ahead of the match, per The Guardian. “But we have to be prepared for a battle because Costa gives you a fight. After that, it’s down to the referee.”

The hosts will be boosted by the return of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, and Francis Coquelin from injury, although Sanchez is expected to begin the game on the bench.

“A few players are coming back,” said Wenger. “It was important we showed we could cope without these players, and had that collective spirit and unity, but it will ensure we have more variety now. The forwards give you goalscoring [potential] and, as well, I think sometimes in games, when you have 70 minutes gone and you have a strong bench, it gives you a big chance to win the game. That variety of problems you can give to the opponent is very important.”

With the Gunners gearing up for a title battle, they’ll need all the ammunition they can get, perhaps including a few signings over the January transfer window.  Mohamed Elneny has already joined from Basel and Granit Xhaka is linked with a move from Germany, with ten days remaining to pursue additional deals.

Photo credit: Jason Jones, via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.