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UNAI EMERY faces another defeat today but at least he doesn’t have to worry about anyone poaching his best players, unlike Chelsea.
I can’t see Arsenal winning against the Blues at Stamford Bridge. It’s going to take time for Emery to get them playing how he wants.
But he doesn’t have to fear a big bid coming in from Europe for any of his players – because nobody wants them.
That’s not the case for Chelsea. Maurizio Sarri can say what he likes, but he will be sweating on the likes of Eden Hazard, Willian and N’Golo Kante.
If they lose Hazard or Kante, they can forget about the top four.
People say there’s no way Chelsea would sell now when they can’t replace them – but money talks in football. If someone comes in with a big enough bid, they will find it hard to say no.
I’m actually surprised they didn’t sell Alvaro Morata in this window. I think he’s a top player but he doesn’t seem very happy there and I just don’t think his game suits Chelsea.
He’s too nice. The ball bounces off him too much because he doesn’t have that physicality about him that you need to be a hold-up man in the Premier League.
I think Olivier Giroud will end up being the
®Êby PAUL BROWN
starter because he gives them more of a focal point and knows how to play as more of a target man.
Ironically, that’s exactly what Arsenal need right now. Someone who can hold the ball up and put themselves about when it’s time to go long.
Even Manchester City know when it’s time to do that, so watching Arsenal trying and failing to play out from the back against them was comical.
Disaster
It’s going to be hard work for them playing that way. Pep Guardiola tried it in his first season and failed badly until he bought players who could do it properly.
Arsenal don’t have the players to play that way. Emery’s trying to do it with players who just don’t feel comfortable. It’s a recipe for disaster.
Take Petr Cech. He’s a great goalkeeper. But he’s never been good with his feet and he’s 36.
It’s unfair to try and make him learn a whole new way of playing at that age. I actually felt sorry for him by the end of that game.
I don’t know what Arsenal fans were expecting, though. It’s going to take time for Emery to do anything there and they have a tough start. But they’re going to have to be very patient because it could take more than three transfer windows to get in the sort of players he needs. They are well behind the rest.
Arsenal are flat-track bullies. They won’t trouble the big clubs but will put away the lesser ones, so once they get past this game they should start winning. That’s when Emery will be judged.
Chelsea have had problems with Sarri’s new system, too, but they will be a much bigger threat to the top four, especially to Tottenham, who won’t be in their new stadium for months.
I like Sarri. The pace of the game here is very different to Italian football but what he’s doing could work if the players all buy into it.
Huddersfield was a good start for them. Now they’ve got to prove it against a big team.
Hazard is a cut above anyone else in either team today and could be the match-winner. He had a good World Cup and looks like he is in the form of his life. That’s why it’s so important Chelsea keep him.
But I worry about that back four with David Luiz in it. Sarri might have to change that because I don’t think his defenders are good enough to play in a four.
A three-man defence worked really well for them under Antonio Conte and they might have to go back to that. He’ll work it out.