Arsene Wenger says his squad are determined to pass another test by beating Chelsea on Sunday at the Emirates.
Playing down the fact his previous squads have failed to overcome Jose Mourinho in 12 encounters during the Portuguese’s two spells at Stamford Bridge, the boss put the emphasis on the present not the past.
“We have not always lost, first of all, in 12 attempts,” reflected Wenger when quizzed on his record of seven defeats and five draws.
“We have come close to beating them a few times and they’ve always had very strong teams.
“I’m not a great believer in history. I just think football is down to the fact that the performance on the day will decide the game and the result, so let’s focus on that.
“We are on a good run and we have an opportunity to beat them at home, and we want to take it. From a good run of form you get a good belief and we have good solidarity. We know we have passed many tests recently where we were questioned.
“It’s the first time we’ve won away from home against Manchester City [in a while] and other things like that. We have passed many tests and we have another test on Sunday that we want to pass.
“It is very important for us to beat them. I think everybody on board is highly focused to achieve it. We will prepare well to do that.”
The last time the two sides met Arsene was involved in an unseemly touchline shoving match with Mourinho. That incident at Stamford Bridge in October, which the boss eventually apologised for, was merely one of a string of clashes that have peppered the last decade.
Asked about his non-existent relationship with his Chelsea peer, Wenger added: “I don’t know and I don’t want to talk about that.
“What is important is when the game starts at four o’clock, to have a great game. That’s what English football needs, to know that Arsenal against Chelsea is a big game and is not about the relationship between the managers.”
The other issue casting a shadow over the fixture is the return of Cesc Fabregas to the Emirates and the potential for abuse to be directed at him from the terraces. The Spaniard hasn’t set foot at the Emirates since his final game for the club in April 2011 and Wenger, as he did with the likes of Nasri, Adebayor and RVP, has called for calm.
“The regret I have is that he wanted to leave here,” said Wenger of his protégé.
“This club and myself had a very positive influence on Cesc’s life. I want every player to be respected, and [I want] Cesc Fabregas when he comes to the Emirates on Sunday to be respected like he deserves.”
we certainly have to defeat them..we just have to…we should try and capitalize on their weary legs..there’s no spark in the that team atm..we should take our chances be more direct..i see alexis and giroud being targeted for the game..i hope the ref punishes chelsea’s systematic fouling, because that’s the only way they gonna get a result..
nevertheless, every player has to be so switched on defensively, cautious of the counters and set-pieces..
The more they target Alexis and Giroud, the more space players like Ozil and Ramsey have to work their magic. Hon the Gunners
The problem is that our need and desire to beat them, and not just draw, plays right into Mourinho’s hand as he is ever so happy to park the bus at the 18 and try to knick one on the counter. As boring as it may be, he has been successful with it and we will need to make extra certain we are prepared to prevent that. That will require a very high level of focus by all 11.
This is why the Prof has been saving Diaby all season so his leg is fit enough to kick that cunt Terry in the face again. 3 points and a face full of studs for JT. Now that’s what I’d call an entertaining day out for all the family and I wouldn’t even whinge about the ticket price. Money well spent.
Funny how diaby got injured for that and Terry carried on playing..
Mourinho parks the bus… gets the 1-1… Football365 publishes ‘analytical’ piece on what a tactical masterclass blah blah…
they dont call him maureen 118 for nothing
one up front and 8 in front of the keeper
10 players & he is still winning most games, bloody good manager then.
Why thumbs down, not my fault the guy can’t add
That’s because you can’t add.. what does 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 add up to?
Yeah but gooner 44 said “one up front and 8 in front of the keeper” – omitting to mention the other 1.
so Arshavin’s Dietician derw the conclusion that the other 1 was the keeper.
then he made a joke and unfortunately and inadvertently praised the most ginormous cunt to ever walk the earth
So thumb him down to hell the jose loving bastard
Teacher! Teacher!
Correction!……he invented a new one when chelsea lost 2:1 against Newcastle …… he had the cheek to describe it as “newcastle parking the cow!” in front of their 18 yard box!……forgetting he is the master?
Well, yes.. Which is why you gotta change your own philosophy while facing them. You can’t go overly aggressive like we did last season against a quick team like this. They are very good at counter-attacks and very efficient. I hope Wenger has done his homework.
Arsenal are playing their best football in years. Chelsea, regardless of what they say, have the title wrapped up and they know it. This is a great opportunity for Wenger to get the Mourinho monkey off his back, and to send those horsefuckers a message for next season.
I’ve not seen horsefucker used in a sentence for a long time.
Erm…where else have you seen it?
In the Ruud van Nistlerooy autobiography, chapter 1 – i was born…
Brilliant. Now let smash moronio and his chavscum cunts.
In the farmers gazette situations wanted section
Yeah, what an insult to horses!
Be nice to Cesc everyone! Show our class over them horrible wankers that support him now
just gonna thumb you down
Fuck cesc fabregas. You don’t whine for 2 years about being home sick and get the club to sell you at a deflated price, only to sit back in spain and go shit… im home sick (for london) & move back to our rivals. He was our captain. We deserved better
Yep. Did he think Arsenal Football Club was sitting by the phone waiting for him to change his mind?
Would be booing him, but wn’t be applauding him either.
You also don’t try fancy backheels on the edge of your own penalty area in Champions Leage matches against the team you are trying to impress.
Here’s that missing ‘u’. Help yourself.
I personally think he did that to lower his price. I also think that Bush did 9/11 *fades into the background*
Lost us the game. Will never forget.
Dead right Goontang. Aswell as that he went on to sign for a manager who called Arsene Wenger (one of the most decent men in world football and the man who made fabregas a superstar) a ‘voyeur’ and ‘specialist in failure’. Just not acceptable.
@partyparlour: totally agree with you on this one. Cesc did his best while he was with us, players go players come, the arsenal remains. Booing him or throwing tantrums will only motivate the guy to want to perform against us. Why not ignore him, and watch him and his new found cronies run themselves to the ground whilst we teach moronho led chelski the lesson of their life.
Don’t agree that he always did his best whilst with us, but do agree that ignoring is a far more powerful tool than booing.
Cesc was a fantastic player for us. Carried us. Can’t believe some people on here saying he didn’t do his best for us. So weird. Criticise his methods of getting out, ok. As a young player he was flawless. Nit pickers mentioning one back heel. Bloody hell. Which top players haven’t made bigger mistakes!!!!!
In my opinion, he was great for a few years, then stopped trying for quite a while once he decided he wanted out and that backheel perfectly encapsulated his loss of focus and application, hence I contend that he did not always do his best for us.
“The regret I have is that he wanted to leave here,” says le Prof, and that’s how I feel, at least now the dust has settled. He should not have left when he did, and he certainly shouldn’t have left the way he did. I’m resigned to not having him back, but I still find it difficult to believe he had the nerve to take the blue shirt after all his avowed lovce for the Gunners. He’ll be booed, but not with the same vehemence as Cashley or the Skunk. There are still a lot of Gooners who remember the… Read more »
The Match isn’t about him, we get the 3 points, ignore him and look forward to the FA Cup finals!
Yeah right. But remember Rocky played played for the chavs.
He’ll be wearing a blue top with a Chelsea badge on the chest won’t he?
Once they pull on that blue top they’re cunts TO A MAN.
I’d boo Henry in a blue top with a Chelsea badge on the chest …
It all depends on context. There’s a reason we wouldn’t boo Sagna in a Man City, but are happy to boo Nasri.
I just can’t ever imagine booing Henry no matter what shirt he wore. And that’s because Henry is not a dick.
We all booed him in the Emirates cup when he played for NY Redbulls. I love the bloke but only for what he did for US, not for anyone else.
Who is “we”?
Because I certainly do not remember TH14 getting booed. There were a lot of cheers for him.
*shirt
Cesc gave an interview this week saying he wants to beat us to quickly win the title he has been waiting for 27 years. All statements about how Arsenal was his life gone.
Respect aside. Let’s beat them. I think its game of a season for us and we would like to show Chelsea what we are made of. I am sick of losing to Chelsea and Morniho.
Taking a loss against Chelsea i can deal with after a couple of days… But losing to Maureen with his cuntie “tactics” and self proclaimed genius view i can not…. I hate that man more than having sand on my wet feet, being stuck i traffic and having a empty toiletpaper roll after taking a dump. He is an abomination and represents everything that is wrong with todays football.
[I want] Cesc Fabregas when he comes to the Emirates on Sunday to be respected like he deserves.
He’ll get the respect that he ‘deserves’.
That is, none at all.
It’s like when people say ‘with all due respect’… That can actually be a pretty big insult!
This is the first time facing a Mourinho team that Im confident Arsenal will win. We are on such a good run of form and have our best players available. Also, the gap between Arsenal and Chelsea isn’t much. If we can beat them, it would remove that mental block we have against Mourinho. Hopefully after finishing second (or first! Just kidding) and winning the FA Cup, we can build on it in the summer. I think this Arsenal team is stronger than 07-08, 10/11. And is also stronger than the squad we had in summer 2005 when Vieira and… Read more »
Even though they will still probably win the league if we beat them,I think if we win it will bode well for next season where the title might be decided on our head to heads with chelsea
‘he should be respected as deserved’,,, he does not deserve any respect from me
The respect i have for Fabregas is thus. Great player for us, and we gave him respect in the captain’s armband and structuring our team around him. He had the number 4 jersey and a first team spot for life if he wanted it. But then he went on strike, refused to train or travel to Asia on the pre-season (unlike Nasri that year and RVP the next). Cesc was pictured in a Barcelona shirt and didn’t apologise. Frankly if he gets booed on Saturday, it’s not for the fact he’s playing for Chelsea but for the way he left… Read more »
I don’t want to hate cesc, but i read in yesterday’s newspaper in my country why he choose chelsea over arsenal. He said he has been hunger to win the pl for 27 years of his life. He shouldnt ever said that, it’s such a disrespectful to arsenal who have built him as the player he is today. It’s like he never believe that arsenal could win the title again. It totally break my heart to read that, he has always been my fav great arsenal player. So i see this as it’s not 100% wenger’s fault of not bringing… Read more »
Worst about the whole Fabregas coming back to the Emirates thing is, he’s been in such bad form since Christmas (surprise sur-f*cking-prise) that he’s destined to have the game of his life.
Hopefully he gets the ball on the edge of his own penalty area and tries a backheel that gets intercepted and a goal comes of it -_-
Haha. Yeah, that. Hmm.
fabregas did not “choose” Chelsea over Arsenal.
He wanted to come back to Arsenal but Wenger felt like we didn’t need another player in that role, which I actually disagree on.
so after being rejected by Arsene he chose Chelsea despite previously saying he would never wear a Chelsea shirt
I’d like to believe that myself but I do tend to think he had his heart set that disgusting blue shirt playing for that annoying disgusting manager.
We had first call but I reckon he didn’t really want to come back to us. Don’t forget he was thinking about a move to manure the season before.
Actually heard that arsenal were open to him returning but his wage demands were insane. Lowering his price by being a sulking test and engineering a move to Barcelona at a low price – then wanting to return at an inflated price. No respect here.
I read in the paper, tho. The quotes came from cesc himself. I, myself dont want to believe it either but i was totally devastated to read those quote till i tear his face on the paper (lol) his desire to win the pl made him choose chelsea over us which is shit for me. If he still has his heart on arsenal, he should believe he could help the team to lift up the title again & not turning around by wearing the blue shirt with chelsea badge on it. If it’s me, i couldnt help myself to see… Read more »
I look forward to treating Cesc with the respect he deserves. A talisman of tantalising failure from the whining generation who “left to win trophies” because despite all the faith placed in them by their manager they bottled it every time they had a chance to win them with Arsenal. Fuck you Cesc. And please get his picture down from the Ken Friar bridge and replace it with someone who achieved more for the club, like Martin Hayes
Completely agree on that last point. We’ll be putting up a picture of Denilson next.
Thought his picture already came down…
I look every time and it’s was still there last I looked – and moaned
That’s rubbish logic right there. Alan shearer is a Newcastle legend who won nothing. Cesc is one of the best players I have ever seen in an arsenal shirt. He could not win trophies on his own. For fucks sake, criticise his sneaky exit but he carried the team for years especially in the heart breaking 2008 season.
You sound like you like a good whine. Sorry but cesc was a fantastic player for quite a few seasons.
Wenger: “The difference between the teams is not only measured by the difference in points. But nobody has given Chelsea the points. They had to fight for it and they made it.”
Nobody except Begovic and Green. I mean, they literally gave them 4 points.
I was so godsmacked by those two goals i was half thinking it was fixed
Off course it wasn’t fixed. The campaign is AGAINST Chelsea, remember.
Don’t forget the Myhill for Hull a few weeks ago too!
The officials have given them a few as well!
Cesc is a bum!!! The chavs are [sing] “a 19th century, a 19th century bus, we know they are, we are sure they are, a 19th century bus”
“I’m not a great believer in history. I just think football is down to the fact that the performance on the day…”
“We are on a good run and we have an opportunity to… ”
Carbon copy of Arsene’s comments before we visited Man City in January. May the result be the same too!
Its a profession. A job to earn for a living. He had to do what he had to. To play a game he loves and fucking live a life. What I’m saying is Cesc doesn’t deserve Boos just because our club couldn’t pay enough to keep him. And yes money talks. So what if he went to Chelsea after that. Life goes on. Its a sport, and let’s show some respect as fans and earn respect from other fan groups too.
The way he left lacked class. Wenger had build his whole damn team around the guy. What he should have done was quietly tell the management: I would really like to go to Barcelona, so if they offer a lot of money for me please accept it. Instead, he told the whole world he wanted to go to Barcelona and that he didn’t want to play for us anymore, because it was in his DNA. This left everyone with a sour taste in their mouth and left the club not much other choice than to sell him for well below… Read more »
How on earth can anyone respect that guy is beyond me? He single handedly manoeuvred the move out of the Emirates to go back to his boyhood club, which is fair enough but to blatantly sit out games just hoping that a move to Barca masterliness is a joke.
So the kid wanted to go home to his friends and family and a team that wins trophys and wanted to go the season before but stayed because wenger was desperate. Fab won us points singlehandedly that helped us achieve that 4th place trophy. Cant disrespect him. Just his current employers. There is no loyalty its just a job to them.
That’s bullshit -he’s unprofessional. Wanted to return to arsenal with insane wage demands, after engineering a move away at a deflated price by being a sulking little twat.FUCK HIM
Win on sunday and as it seems we will probably play them again kick off community shield next season and win that one to and the momentum is ours. Tables turned Morron-ho
I never liked Cesc anyway, but that’s coz I didn’t think he was good enough to replace Vieira. Then he snaked us by joining Barca & snaked us again by joining Chelsea, don’t know about you guys but I don’t like snakes.
Me neither. Especially that type.
I don’t like snakes…..and glory hunter……(grab my coat…..)
All you guys talk about how he left. Like you are a part of the board and you know everything that happened leading to cesc’s. Being so divided as fans affects our team. The negativety is so high at emirates, that I envy manu fans bonding. Fuck you all. I love arsenal. You guys can boo cesc, boo our own team, do whatever. But until we get behind our team completely and whole heartedly. We shall never win a big title.
We won a big title last year.
There is no negativity among Manu fans because they do not care about the team. Their fans behave like they are the most loyal supporters in the whole country when their team is winning. Half the ManU fans that I know, during the last season do not even know if there is a game going on. Fuckin Gloryhunters. Can’t even name their starting lineup. We Arsenal fans aren’t like that (apart from Piers Morgan). We get behind our team and support. We express our opinion. That isn’t negativity. If you envy ManU fans so much, you should think twice about… Read more »
If you want to express yourself. Then express in such a way that you make emirates electric instead of doubting your team lineups and stats and all that bullshit. That’s the managers job, our job is to back the team. And hell we can’t even do a good job of that. Booing berbatov? Sterling? Isn’t that negative? Don’t you think our own players think its stupid. This game is not about the fans, its about those 11 players on the pitch and how we can help motivate them.
We booed Sterling because he dived and claimed a penalty, Berbatov because he is a cunt.
At this rate, I think booing Shawcross , Na$ri, van purise is bad too?
Hope he gets slapped in the facemask by our hard coq.
I hope we beat them.The way they beat Man U is the same thing they’ll be looking to do to us. My concern however is should we play our way or surprise them and just sit back?
Yes, we all know how they chelski are gonna play. Arsenal should play to neutralize and then capitalize through the magic of ozil. (Ooh, this name makes me hard)
I don’t think we need to win and trying to win shouldn’t be the strategy. Wenger should try to out-Chelsea Chelsea. Sit back with a tight defense. Spring Ozil-Alexis-Giroud on the counter attack or build pressure up slowly, methodically and while keeping defensive bases covered. Mourinho doesn’t act like it but he wants to win, and he also uses a fairly set strategy to out-wait and frustrate opponents into opening up. Don’t give Chelsea the satisfaction. Turn they game against them. A high chance of a 0-0 draw is better than playing a game where we have a decent chance… Read more »
I agree completely. We shouldnt be too caught up with winning. I hope Wenger is saying all this to fool Chelsea into thinking we are going to go gung-ho all out attack. We should sit back and wait, dont want to attack? OK No problem, we won’t either lol.
Alexis,Ozil,Giroud,Santi are enough to counter attack if they do decide to switch up their gameplan and attack us out of frustration.
Long story short? Let’s not play into his hands.
I’d boo Cesc via twitter.
I did the Arsenal tour on Saturday before heading to Wembley to watch the FA game while doing this exhilarating 3 nights London visit from Chicago. The atmosphere and feel of the emirates stadium is so captivating I wonder if Cesc was in his right mind when he requested to leave. I doubt it. Does he deserve to get booed? Absolutely YES!!! Everything within the ambit of the law should be done to make the game difficult for this ugly away team (don’t wanna call them by name for a personal reason) to which Cesc now belong. So, taking a… Read more »
Fuck Cesc Fabregas, end of rant.
I loved Fabregas. He was my favourite player. Was distraught when he left and now the cunt has gone to Chelsea. What a prick! Made us look bad in the beginning of the season, but now our team is on form. Would love to see the sorry cunt walk off a loser in the mighty Emirates!
If they beat us, they need just 1 win for the title. But if we beat them, then they need another 3 wins for the title. Which means going out on pitch and getting them, not just being awarded the points on paper.
The most satisfying bet I ever placed was on Arsenal doing the Double just before we played Utd in 1998.
#COYG #Believe
we are overdue a win against Mourinho’s Chelsea
We really do need to beat them even if they going on to win the title
I loved Cesc so much that it was part of my daily routine to watch his videos every night.
I felt betrayed when he chose ChelShit
When Arsene said that we have Özil now,we don’t need him.Then i thought fuck yeah!!!!
#YaGunnersYa
Though it hurts to hate him but who cares…Fuck off cesc:(
Chelsea Fabregas!
Let’s just stuff Chel$ki, then mount Maureen and Fabregas on the wall of Wenger’s office.
Fuck Fabregas, dont care how he gets treated at the Emirates……he is no longer a gooner, and thats the end of that!
What i do care about is beating chelsea on sunday…..please please please lads?
God, if you are listening……this time pleaaaaase!…….and i promise i will never miss church again……and i will maybe also stop drinking? (after celebrating the win of course!)
Forgive and forget…
Axl and Slash need to read this!
We underestimate Chelsea at our own peril. Anyone who thinks they are “tired” or won’t come to The Emirates to fight for every single point is sadly mistaken. They are not enjoying a comfortable lead in the PL for nothing. We are in a better position to beat them than we have been in years but let’s not take anything for granted.
Fuck Cesc. Ramsey is miles better anyway.
I love Ramsey but that is really silly.
Yup, Fabregas is a fantastic player. But it is also easy to understand why Wenger didn’t want him back.
Win this one and the in invincibles part 2 is pretty much on the way COYG
All the BS surrounding Cesc aside, this IS an important game. We all know that since the last time we won the PL we had fleeting chances at winning the league, only to fall at the big hurdles, and that’s even when our teambuilding was hampered by a (relative) lack of funds compared to our rivals. We are slowly regaining parity in terms of funds, we have a team with the potential to win titles, and the FA Cup triumph shows we can (eventually) get over the line in a decider. What we have to do is show we can… Read more »
“The regret I have is that he wanted to leave here”
You can still smell the smoke from that bridge.
Exactly! Cesc really burned that bridge bad.
The fact is Cesc would be our player again…..but Wenger didn’t want him.
Yes that’s the truth
And it really is understandable as to why he didn’t, regardless of what he says, Wenger is pissed that Fabregas left after all that he had done for him! Then there’s Ozil (who is much better btw) and also Rambo, it would have been Rambo’s position that would have been most affected by Fabregas returning and after the season Rambo had last year it’s easy to see why Wenger passed on his sloppy seconds to Maureen
Didn’t want him, didn’t need him, surplus to requirements with a acting like a spoilt ungrateful brat towards the end of his tenure with us on top. He doesn’t matter anymore so fuck him. What matters are three points and bragging rights to having twatted our main enemy good and proper after God knows how long. THAT in my opinion matters.
What good manager would take back a player that went ‘on strike’ to leave?
I wish fabregas wouldn’t get mistreated tomorrow. People, there’s something called respect and fabregas deserves it from us for all the moments he gave us when he was here. Yes, he left us for his beloved all conquering barcelona side back then, but wouldn’t that what we all would’ve done if we were in his place? He used to be the face of our club once. Let’s respect than abuse this once
This cesc situation is irksome. I’d suggest let’s stay classy ignore the c*nt completely and focus on the game. Three points against them would hold us in good stead for the next season.
Also watching Mourinho moan post match would be a delight to watch.
COYG
Rvp won the title his first year with United and then look. He sucks and will be discarded end of season and one he retires he’ll never have a club to call home. He’s a twat. You think United fans Will care about rvp in years to come.
Same goes for cesc. He’ll win it this year. Next Year his hamstrings will go. He’ll be replaced and when his career is over he’ll be clubless. Barca DNA be damned.
Same goes for nasri. And where the hell is adebayour. Lost on the u21 team for spurs.
The hell with cesc.
The fact is that pretty much every “great” player that left in our recovery years has turned shite eventually. Sure they won some things but their own “greatness” is in crumbles..Adebayor,Na$ri, RvCunt, Crybregas,Sagna,Song are all or will soon be forgotten. While the mighty Arsenal will rise once more to even greater hights.
“We want you back home
We want you back home,
Francesc Fabregas,
We want you back home!”
No we don’t!
On an aside, is it safe to say that we should offload Poldi and Campbell this summer to make space for one more winger?
Yes, Reus. Next question
Come on! We can beat them.. give it a good whack esp to JT and that back ’10’
Really hope we fucking smash those cunts like we did against Liverpool.. a win is not enough, we just need to humiliate them and hear Jose moan. Let’s hope this is the one! COYG!
Anyone going to Sunday’s game, please, boo Fabregas and boo him loudly. He’s only at a rival club because he kicked and screamed and bitched and moaned to leave Arsenal. Fuck him.
Who is Fabregas?
Oh the bloke with the defective DNA issue that is unwanted at the club he loves.
That chap.
Nah.
We need to win this. Even so there is very very remote chance that Chelsea will buckle thereafter sufficiently for us to catch them. But at very least, it will be feather in the cap again that we can beat them and we should take maximum points to end of season. The main concern will be Per. He has been absolutely crucial to our revival. All this talk about Coquelin reversing our fortunes is nonsense. Granted he has stepped up and it has been excellent but the real reason we are more solid now since Christmas has been the return… Read more »
why cesc chose chelsea?
do you see how much they pay him ?
north of 200k a week
who is our highest earner? ozil at 140? 150?
everything else is just stories for children……………
You don’t notice much difference if you earn £150k or 200k… It is still massive sums. Besides modern footballer earns a lot of money from commercial deals as well. No, I truely think that we didn’t want him back. And why would we? We got Cazorla and Özil who can play in that position who are atleast on his level. Other positions was needed. I think the guy was an amazing arsenal captain and I for one would never boe him. You don’t boo a person who has done a lot for our club. That solo goal against Sp*rs will… Read more »
The “not much difference” is about 2.6 million a year – it’s the difference between signing a top player or losing them to a team that will pay it. I think it is actually a pretty big difference.
But I do agree that it was probably more that we didn’t want him back.
Tax?