Prove Us Wrong, Arsene

The season of festive goodwill may be well and truly upon us, but there’s certainly nothing charitable about the Gunners next opponents, Chelsea.

In fact, the Russian-backed Stamford Bridge outfit have surrendered in defeat to their London rivals just twice in their last 18 meetings across all competitions. It’s a record steeped as deeply in misery as it is in grudging familiarity for Arsenal, who, until the arrival of Roman Abramovich back in 2003, had the Blues held comfortably at arms length.

It’s a feeling that the fans of the side formerly known as ‘The Invincibles’ have grown unwillingly accustomed to.

Didier Drogba’s outstanding record of 13 goals in 13 games against Arsene Wenger’s men gives even more cause for discomfort in the build up to a contest as pivotal as this – particularly as he comes up against a defence that has chopped and changed all season, and has missed its key component in Thomas Vermaelen for the most part.

The lack of a commanding presence between the sticks will also outline the frailties in set piece organisation, as anybody who witnessed November’s cringeworthy second half collapse at the hands of those noisy neighbours from just up the Seven Sisters Road will testify.

But back to the matter in hand, big match build up seems to be offering Gunners fans increasing reason for scepticism as seasons come and go. For all of Wenger’s bravado at press conferences, proclamations of his side’s new-found maturity and ability to ‘get ugly’ when it matters, regular victories over the giants of English football remain elusive and lead supporters into labelling the pre-match statements of their most successful manager merely as professions, as opposed to triumphant proclamations.

Yes, the Gunners have had some close shaves more recently, it’s true, and they were perhaps unlucky to lose against a marginally more clinical Manchester United side at Old Trafford ten days ago. They’d have also comfortably beaten Chelsea at The Bridge back in October, had the game been scored on footballing principles rather than an opportunistic finish by that repetitive thorn in Wenger’s side, Drogba, and a venomous strike from Alex.

Supporter cynicism spilled over on to the official club website this week, with Arsenal – perhaps unwisely – staging a pole to gage whether fans believe the defence is now better equipped to deal with the threat of Drogba. Unsurprisingly, fans bet against their back line keeping the Ivorian international off of the scoresheet next Monday.

Although in fairness, it’s hard to deny that the defensive unit has improved in terms of individual talent. However, when last seasons defence contained Mikael Silvestre, an inconsistent William Gallas and the blundering Phillipe Senderos, even a die-hard Spurs fan would be hard pushed to deny this.

The additions of Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci have done little to appease the defensive shortcomings of Arsenal, and despite the improvements shown by Lukasz Fabianski, the Pole still appears to be capable of dropping an absolute clanger when under little or no pressure whatsoever. Wojciech Szczesny looked an assured pair of hands at Old Trafford, but the younger Pole has accused Wenger of bottling it when it comes to fielding a young, inexperienced stopper – and sadly, he’s probably right.

Wenger stated this morning that the Premier League is not a two-horse race between United and Chelsea, and that the Christmas period would not determine whether 2011 will be the year that Arsenal end their title drought. But if his side sink to another defeat to the Blues, it’s hard to fathom how the Gunners can resurface as champions. But come on Arsene, prove us wrong.