• Fabrez

  It is absolutely amazing to see what has happened to our squad this season. Casulaties in midfield and up front before and now in defense. Very stressful! I can’t believe we have Gallas, Djourou, Sagna, Clichy and Gibbs injured in defense…it’s crazy! I think that back 4 is spot on dev…we really have no other choice… It sounds as if Sagna is the most likely to b back for Chelsea…but let’s see how the next 48 hrs treat us. I’d imagine Gibbs has a little chance of being fit from what i’ve read but I think that time is against us in terms of those guys being fit in time. Rough times! We need 2 defend like a team just as we did against Villareal! Cesc got stuck in which was good to see. I kno Arshavin get’s back and helps out too…so it’ll need 2 b one of those days where we defend well as a unit.

• Pissed off

  Yeah, not really a nightmare.

• Pissed off

  Whatever happens, to be the best you have to beat the best regardless of what you have. I wont allow the injury worries weigh me down, not now, not after so much belief. We really have to keep on and make the most of our attack, Ade needs to be aware of the situation and raise his game to a maximum, that’s all I need.

• Fabrez

  < ![CDATA[Are all these injuries just a coincidence? I think Arsene and the medical staff in particular need 2 do research into anything they suspect may be the problem over the course of the summer. We need to be strong next season...can't afford a poor start with players getting injured again. Is there something they should do in training that they don't? Or are they doing something they shouldn't? I don't know. I've been thinking about how and when our players got injured...

  Injuries (both recent and present):

  Edu (groin) - understandable since he's been out a year
  Diaby (thigh) - Injured on international duty
  RvP (groin) - Injured on international duty
  Clichy (back) - In fairness, he hasn't been injured for a very long time...injury free last season and this season till now
  Gallas (knee) - That was just unfortunate
  Djourou (knee) - Another unfortunate case
  Gibbs (groin) - Wonder if his recent increase in work-load perhaps caused it?
  Almunia (ankle) - Diouf is an idiot...and his collision in the 1st Villareal game didn't help...

  Well i don't see a trend with our injuries...so i think maybe we are just unfortunate... I'm not in the medical field but that's all i can conclude...]]>

• JDD

  < ![CDATA[fabianski
  eboue toure song diaby
  arshavin fabregas nasri
  walcott
  van persie adebayor]]>

• JDD

  or

• JDD

  < ![CDATA[fabianski
  hoyte toure song
  eboue fabregas arshavin nasri
  walcott adebayor van persie]]>

• Shawn

  been reading this blog for a while just decided to leave a comment today . . . i think we couldn’t ask for a better time to play chelsea, they have had a couple of very exhausting games 4-4, 4-3 and besides dat i think if we take the same approach as we did against villareal attack- attack- attack!!! and keep chelsea in their half as much as possible we will be fine

• Yemi

  < ![CDATA[JDD, u have a very wonderful lineup !!!!! You wish! Who the will put diaby in leftback ? arshavin on the right of midfield and nasri on the left ?
  Gavin Hoyte is out on loan and justin is sold. so no hoyte or do we have another hoyte ?
  I guess this is the time for the defenders with gallas, djourou, gibbs (doubt), clichy, alumina and sagna(doubt).
  Arsene has said he might have to play sagna in leftback if gibbs is out. That means we might have a lineup like:
  i think we will likely see

  fabianski
  ebuoue -- toure -- silvestre -- sagna
  theo -- cesc -- song -- arshavin
  VP -- ade

  or

  fabianski
  ebuoue -- toure -- song-- silvestre
  theo --Diaby/denilson -- cesc -- nasri/arshavin
  VP -- ade

  with vela, nasri, bendner, and others on the bench
  We have 3 left backs, 1 has been deployed to centre back and 2 are out. quite fustrating.
  But i think what we have lost in defence, we can make up in attack by putting chelsea under pressure.
  so fustrating. but i am so so so so so so so so so so confident.]]>

• Pete

  Whoa, we really are short in defencive numbers aren’t we! It could go either way really. My head says Chelsea will nick it, but my heart just keeps saying Arsenal Arsenal Arsenal!!!! It’s realistic to say that we could cause an upset. Anything can happen in a game that could swing things in our favour, penalty, player sent off etc. Having a someone like Arshavin who can play well in important games could be something that ma edge it for us. Chelsea haven’t played against him or Eduardo before, so maybe thats our joker card. But like everyone else, the defence is what causes me some nerves, but hopefully we’ll defend as a team and make things as difficult as possible for Chelsea. Fabianski, Eboue, Toure, Silvestre and Song will really need to be solid and not put a foot wrong. I really hope we pull this one off. Chelsea are a good side and to beat the likes of them in a game like this will show how far our young players have come. Good luck to the lads!

• Pissed off

  < ![CDATA[I don't mean to be superstitious, but the stats and odd seems to be against Guus Hindink in semi final games. In fact a friend of mine always call him the semi final man.

  The Stats

  Holland vs Brazil - semis world cup
  South Korea vs Germany - semis world cup
  Russia vs Spain - Semis Euro finals
  PSV vs Ac Milan - Semis Uefa CL

  The stats clearly states his achievement recently. However looking closely there is a pattern in these achievements, he achieved them with what you may call a less fancied side. Why ? You lads may ask, may be his scared of loosing something with big teams or he has preference for smaller teams. I don't know but what am sure of is that come tomorrow he might still hit the stumbling block (Semis). Though he has a more fancied team this time. WHAT DO YOU LADS THINK.]]>

• Gooner Get Ya

  < ![CDATA[Not good news especially since Drogba is starting to find some decent form.

  Do you guys think Essien will man mark cesc as he did Gerrard in the CL against Liverpool?]]>

• Pete

  < ![CDATA[Maybe you're onto something Pissed Off. Hopefully we'll reinforce this Hiddink Semi-Final curse :P What irony there'll be if Arshavin, his best player in the Russia team, is the one who knocks out his club team? :D Hopefully Andrey will know how Hiddink works and use that to our advantage!

  The Fabregas - Essien midfiled contest is certainly shaping up to be an intersting one. There's a nice piece about the two over at the BBC Football site, conparing the differnt styles of the two. Essiens' a very good player, though I think Rafa said that Gerrard was carrying an injury when they played each other. A fully fit Cesc might hopefully be a different story.]]>

• Fabrez

  I think Guus wiil want to have Essien mark Arshavin instead… It could b Cesc…but i think he’ll want Essien to be on Arshavin bcuz he knows very very well the threat he carries. Unlike Liverpool, we have more than 1 man who is heavily influential to our game. I think if Guus tries 2 have Cesc marked out of the game, we’ll need Arshavin to play with as much freedom as possible. Having him up front with limited service wud b a problem…so Arhsavin mite have to be very mobile. And Cashley Cole against Theo shud b interesting! Hope the boys can take Chelsea down!

• Pissed off

  < ![CDATA[Hiddink will probably put these things into consideration and as such wont consider any man marking. He should be intelligent enough to know that. At this point there is nothing he can do but to only attack. Because he will sense the weakness of the team in the flanks and will be very happy to exploit them at any slightest margin. Like I mentioned sometime he is a master in exploiting very weak position and especially when players are been played off position, and tomorrow looks that way for us at the moment until Wenger confirms what and who is available.

  On a positive side, Arshavin and Theo should be the key, and again VP is very difficult to mark in games considering how slick he is. But I foresee Eduardo starting ahead of VP; I wont be confident if that happens but I wont be fuming either coz I know what stuff Edu is made of.]]>

• zohaib

  < ![CDATA[Who does Chelsea have unavailable ?

  Is Terry injured ? I think Ferreira is. And does Cole's Champions League suspension mean he can't play in the FA Cup too ? Bosingwa is also out ? What about Deco ?]]>

• Fabrez

  I believe Deco is fine, Cole is available, Bosingwa is still injured, Terry is available…dunno about Ferreira but don’t think he’ll b starting.

• Fabrez

  < ![CDATA[Chelsea might go for:

  Cech

  Ivanovic - Terry - Carvalho - Cole

  Ballack - Essien - Lampard

  Anelka - Drogba - Malouda]]>

• Fabrez

  I guess Mikel could come in if they wanna b a bit more defensive…but we’ll see…just a matter of hours now!

• Dan

  < ![CDATA[Essien wont man mark Fabregas like he did Gerrard. He would be too far up the pitch and it would leave a big old hole in front of the back 4.

  This game could go either way but i fancy us to win it. Just got that feeling.]]>

• Yemi

  < ![CDATA[pissed off, as for guus being a semi-final man, there is always a beginning and an end to all things. I just hope he doesn't end his semifinal runs with arsenal.
  like fabrez has said, its just a few hours left !!!! Its going to be wild and i forsee a few cards either ay]]>

• zohaib

  < ![CDATA[Since when did 24 hours become 'a few hours' !?

  I'm getting impatient. Too much of a wait.
  Let's kill some time.

  Chelsea have these players available as I understand :

  Cech, Hilario, Beletti, Ivanovic, Terry, Carvalho, Alex, Cole, Mikel, Essien, Deco, Lampard, Ballack, Kalou, Malouda, Quaresma, Anelka, and Drogba.]]>

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