How Arsenal can stop high-flying Chelsea

Our analyst suggests how Arsenal can stop high-flying Chelsea.

1 STOP DISBELIEVING

The statistics don't look good for Arsenal.

The Gunners have lost 16 out of 20 away games against top-five teams in the English Premiership in the last five seasons.

Last season, they lost at Manchester City 6-3, got beaten 5-1 at Liverpool and, of course, there was that 6-0 drubbing at Stamford Bridge.

It could be the nine-year trophy drought that led to a lack of belief.

Mentally, they just didn't seem strong enough.

But I believe that last season's FA Cup win has created a more positive mentality in this team.

I believe the Gunners will not do as badly in away matches as they did last season.

They have already scored late goals against Crystal Palace, Everton, Manchester City and Tottenham when, in seasons past, they would be the ones who suffer from sucker-punches.

Arsenal have a good chance to win the league this season.

They will go far in the Champions League and I don't think they will lose to Chelsea tomorrow.

They are a different team this year with greater strengh in depth after signing Calum Chambers, Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck.

The former Manchester United man looks like a great signing now playing in his preferred centre forward role, and he will score a lot of goals for Arsenal.

The pace of Sanchez and Welbeck could well make John Terry and Co very uncomfortable.

2 STOP BEING PREDICTABLE

This is one weakness Arsenal need to improve on.

Everyone knows just what they are going to get when they play the Gunners.

Regardless of who their opponents are, Arsenal will seek to dominate possession and try to pass their way to goal.

That's a big risk against Chelsea, who are masters of the counter-attack under Jose Mourinho, who preaches an entirely different, win-at-all-cost philosophy - whoever makes the least mistakes wins, and whoever has the ball most is most likely to make mistakes.

A lot of criticism has been levelled at Arsene Wenger because it seems he is tactically limited.

But perhaps the players themselves should make certain decisions out on the pitch, curbing their attacking instincts and keeping things tight.

3 STOP DIEGO COSTA AND CO

Diego Costa has had a great start to life in west London even though there are question marks over his hamstring.

But he wouldn't be as effective without good support.

And Costa has very good support in Eden Hazard, Oscar, Willian and Andre Schuerrle, out of whom Jose Mourinho will pick three to start.

Each of them has the ability to penetrate defences in one moment of brilliance.

Yet, in Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, Arsenal have one of the best centre back pairings in recent years.

Mertesacker has improved tremendously since he arrived in England and so has Koscielny, and they work really well together.

They will need all the help they can get from Kieran Gibbs and Chambers in the wide positions, which means the normally overlapping fullbacks have to be tactically disciplined and avoid leaving gaps at the back.

4 STOP FABREGAS

I never thought one player can make such a big difference, but Cesc Fabregas proved me wrong.

Not only has he improved to be a better player, he also has the ability to raise the game of others around him.

The Spaniard has given what Chelsea missed - the creative spark in the middle of the park behind the front four.

For Chelsea to be stopped, Fabregas must be stopped.

Arsenal have to make sure he doesn't see much of the ball to play his deadly assists to his teammates up front.

Five of the six goals they put past Arsenal in March were from fast breaks, and they need a holding midfielder in the mould of Nigel de Jong or Javier Mascherano to make sure that doesn't happen.

I've been told that Chambers was brought to the club for that role, and he's got good physique and technical abilities.

With Mathieu Debuchy out injured, Chambers will most probably play at right back and Mathieu Flamini will have a big physical part to play in central midfield.

He knows Fabregas from their time together at Arsenal from 2004 to 2008, and he must keep a tight leash on his former teammate.

It's always tough to go to the Bridge and try to take points off a Chelsea side led by the wily Mourinho.

But I think Arsenal are a different side this season and they will at least get a draw. With both team capable of scoring goals, a 2-2 draw is on the cards.

Dietmar Hamann has played for Bayern Munich, Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester City. He won the Bundesliga in 1994 and 1997, and the treble of the FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup with Liverpool in 2001, besides the Champions League in 2005. The ex-German international is the author of The Didi Man: My Love Affair With Liverpool.

This article was first published on Oct 4, 2014.
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