First meets second as Manchester City visit Spurs, Theo Walcott looks to continue his hot streak and will this be the last we see of Francesco Guidolin?Given that the tactic of trying to absorb pressure had not worked for any of Manchester City’s opponents, it made sense for Swansea to try something different last weekend, as the Welsh side attempted to disrupt the league leaders’ momentum by squeezing their centre-backs when they had the ball. It did not work, of course, because City were still too sharp in attack. Yet Tottenham Hotspur’s feverish high press could yield greater rewards at White Hart Lane on Sunday. Both sides are without key attacking players – Harry Kane for Spurs, Kevin De Bruyne...
Son shines again for Tottenham, Chelsea and Leicester need defensive shake-ups, Palace signings prove their value and Southampton are ticking over againThe moment that summed up the discord in the Chelsea defence came on 64 minutes, when Gary Cahill wanted Thibaut Courtois to come to collect; the goalkeeper stayed on his line and Branislav Ivanovic bludgeoned the ball into touch. Cahill and Courtois argued. But errors had disfigured the performance to leave Chelsea 3-0 down at half-time: it was shocking, for example, to see how easily Mesut Özil accelerated away from the defensive midfielder N’Golo Kanté before he scored Arsenal’s third. Antonio Conte did not cancel his players’ day off on Sunday but they can expect a video inquest when...
The Premier League does not do anniversary awards. But if it did, Arsenal could have designed this defeat of Chelsea as a perfect homage to their managerClose your eyes, Arsène. Now … Open them. Happy 20th anniversary! Yes, that’s right. It’s exactly what you’ve always wanted. For one perfect half at the Emirates Arsenal produced something sublime, 45 minutes that contained pretty much the full set of Wenger-isms entwined in a relentless performance of sinuous passing football.This was Wengerball in excelsis on a muggy, grey north London late afternoon, the footballing equivalent of one of those Evening-With-Ronnie-Corbett-style affairs, where some garlanded old ham gets to stand centre-stage and beam munificently while his favourite anecdotes, his most wonderful personal qualities are...
The new man in the Stamford Bridge hot seat has made a mixed start to the campaign and a win over Arsenal would help settle the nervesAntonio Conte has been in situ at Chelsea for only a little more than 10 weeks but, even at this early stage, he deemed the time right to deliver a reminder of the merits of long‑term thinking. The Italian spent much of his pre-match media conference on Friday fielding questions about Arsène Wenger’s durability over two decades across the capital.Like eight of the nine permanent managers, and two interims, who have held office at Stamford Bridge while Arsenal have been overseen by the Frenchman, he spoke respectfully of an underlying admiration for his opposite...
A crunch London derby as Arsenal host Chelsea, Michael Carrick could be key for Manchester United, and Vincent Janssen gets his chance to shineOn a weekend when much will be made of Arsène Wenger’s 20th anniversary as Arsenal manager, the Frenchman would not be human if he didn’t recall the manner in which Chelsea ruined the occasion of his 1,000th game in charge. It was March 2014 and on a strange afternoon at Stamford Bridge, Andre Marriner sent off Kieran Gibbs in a case of mistaken identity, as José Mourinho’s side hit their visitors for six without reply. Arsenal had already lost 6-3 at Manchester City and 5-1 at Liverpool that season, capitulations that rendered Wenger’s team and any aspirations...