Arsenal vs Chelsea. A tale of two London clubs who have seen contrasting days in the past decade. While Chelsea managed to win league titles under Mourinho along with a historic Champions League success under the management of Roberto Di Matteo, Arsenal, on the other hand, had to go through a transitional phase following their move to the newly built Emirates Stadium.
The initial years were quite difficult since the club had to repay the stadium debt and hence had a very limited budget to spend on big players. Key players like Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Robin Van Persie all left the club in search of success elsewhere.
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The decision to leave the club looked justified since all of them managed to win the league title after leaving Arsenal. Cesc Fabregas won it with Barcelona and Chelsea. Samir Nasri with Manchester City and Robin Van Persie with Manchester United.
While Arsenal are still in search of the league title since that famous 2003/04 season – where they did the impossible by going an entire season unbeaten – the wait just seems to get longer and longer. Arsenal came the closest to win the biggest honour in club football, the Champions League in the year 2006, but had to face disappointment at the hands of FC Barcelona.
The period between 2007-2012 was full of ups and down with no fruitful results. However, Arsenal always managed to achieve one thing consistently – securing a top 4 finish in the Premier League to ensure Champions League participation. Arsenal have qualified for the Champions League for the past 20 seasons under the management of Arsene Wenger, though they are yet to put their hands on of the most glorified trophy.
Since 2013, Arsenal look like a formidable unit with the signings of Mesut Ozil, Petr Cech, Alexis Sanchez, Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka.
Recent fixtures between the two
The most recent memory of an Arsenal vs Chelsea match is the infamous touchline incident between Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho. The game, which was Wenger's 1000th in charge as the manager, turned out to be an absolute nightmare as the Gunners faced a 6-0 thumping at Stamford Bridge.
The same fixture at Stamford Bridge the following year was full of controversies as well. Diego Costa got away with an obvious red card but got Arsenal defender Gabriel sent off when the game was equally poised at 0-0 minutes before the half time whistle.
Chelsea went on to score and won the game 2-0. Chelsea managed to win the league comfortably, with Arsenal managing 3rd and FA Cup success, for the second time in two seasons.
2015/16 season was one of its kind with Leicester City shocking the footballing world by winning the biggest prize in English football against the heavyweights like Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, and Liverpool.
On the last day of the 2015/16 season, Arsenal managed to clinch the 2nd spot after Spurs’ 5-1 loss against the already relegated Newcastle United. Chelsea performed terribly in the first of the half the season resulting in the sack of their most successful manager Jose Mourinho.
After the sacking of Mourinho, Dutch manager Guus Hiddink took charge and managed to take the Blues to 10th in the league.
The current season
Chelsea have a new manager in former Italy and Juventus manager Antonio Conte, whose job will be to turn it around for the club and ensure that the club finish in the top 4.
Arsenal, on the other hand, have strengthened their squad by signing likes of Granit Xhaka, Shkodran Mustafi and Rob Holding in the window, though they are still short of a world class striker. The Gunners signed striker Lucas Perez from Spanish club Deportivo la Ccoruna, but the Spanish striker is yet to prove himself at a big club and on a big stage like this.
At present both these teams are looking equally good to challenge for the title and both have had similar starts to their season. While Arsenal will look to capitalise on that win against Hull City last week and keep up the pressure on Manchester City, Chelsea will be looking to bounce back from the defeat against Liverpool.
With Jose Mourinho no longer in charge of Chelsea, the spice is missing from this fixture with, which even kept neutrals excited. The touchline battles between Wenger and Mourinho and the teams on the pitch meant that the fixture was one of the toughest and closely competed games in the Premier League.
But when Diego Costa is playing, a controversy is always on the cards.
The recent games between the two clubs goes against the Gunners; Arsenal haven't won against Chelsea in the league since that famous 5-3 win at Stamford Bridge in 2011, while Theo Walcott’s strike during Chelsea’s 2-1 victory in January 2013, was the last time the Gunners managed to breach the Blues’ backline in the league.
That is 578 minutes of football without a goal against Chelsea in the league.
Arsenal will look to forget about that damning fact and win against Chelsea this weekend.
