First of all, I would like to start by showing my gratitude to all those who e-mailed me to ask why I didn’t provide any ratings on Tuesday. I really appreciate the fact that many of you look forward to the ratings and choose our website to discuss games but as I said in the Liege preview, I was away and it would have been unfair to judge players based on the last 20 minutes I saw via streaming.

But that was then. On Sunday, we will face Chelsea in what is this season’s biggest game so far and although I agree with Thomas Vermaelen when he says that we could still go on and win the title if we lose, well, it’s also true it would be mighty difficult to do it if that happens.

But I’m confident.

Not because we won quite comfortably against Standard Liege because I’ve seen this sort of behaviour last season, believing that a win against an easy side should cancel a very disappointing defeat, in this case Sunderland. No, that’s not the reason for my optimism, it’s because we play at the Emirates that I believe we can grab all three points from the game. Again, it’s our away form that worries me and not what we can produce at the Emirates where it’s all been smooth sailing so far.

Chelsea

Contrary to what many of us thought a week or so ago, Carlo Ancelotti’s side will not miss all the key players they were supposed to as it is rumoured that Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard will both recover and face the Gunners. As for their current form, there’s no need for me to tell you they are leading the Premiership and already qualified for the next stage of the Champions League.

Favourite line-up

If William does not recover from his eye injury, I don’t think Mikael Silvestre or “Drogbaphobic” Philippe Senderos are up to the job so I hope to see Alex Song back there if that happens.

Also, I hope Emmanuel Eboue starts on the left as with Kieran Gibbs unavailable, I believe he’s the most experienced player to fill the gap. Traore didn’t convince me against Sunderland and I feel Sunday’s is too big of a game for him.

In midfield, Denilson should start if Alex Song goes at the back, if not, I would opt for an offensive midfield, just like Sunderland, but with some changes. Forget what you’ve heard, Carlos Vela is not a striker, his preferred position is on the left and that is where I would want him to see him start. On the right, I would start with Samir who I believe is in a better fitness level than Tomas Rosicky.

Finally, as I’ve been saying for weeks and weeks, this will be Andrey Arshavin’s game, he must have kept the best for this game and I want to believe he’ll delight us with a big game, just like Liverpool last season.

Pre-match Interviews

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti believes a win for his side would not kill Arsenal’s title hopes, also adding he likes the style of football of the Gunners.

The Italian said:

This is not a decisive match for Chelsea or for Arsenal. It’s an important match. Arsenal will want to win the game, and Chelsea also, but it’s not decisive for the title.

It would be 11 points if we won, but Arsenal would have a game in hand. It’s not so important for the title.

It is a very important game because Arsenal are one of the most important teams in England and Europe.

They’re playing very well. I like their style – they try to play and attack to create difficulties for the other teams. It will be a very good test for us.

Arsene Wenger believes our “moment” has come. In his pre-match interview, our boss declared we have a point to prove on Sunday, game in which we have to show our strength and not focus on too much on Chelsea.

He said:

There is a period for any team to come out and show its strength. For my team, this moment has come.

We have the strength and we want to show we’re strong enough to beat them.

I believe for us the most important thing is to stick to our game, do not focus on any special individual on the other side.

We are not anymore a team that has to be considered to be young.

I believe for us the most important thing is to stick to our game, do not focus on any special individual on the other side, because you win these kind of games by dominating the game.

If we focus too much on Chelsea it won’t help us.

The Gunning Hawk Coverage

As always, tune in for team line-ups, streaming links, half time and full time reports, post-match thoughts, video highlights and what the press is writing. And of course, do contribute if you want to by making use of the comment box available at the bottom of the post as it’s always nice to hear your opinion. And as a final note, if you want to go one step further than just leaving a comment and want to have your articles published on our website, take a look here for more information.