Scout Notes – Gameweek 17 – Monday

Gameweek 17 comes to an end with a goalless draw at the Emirates. Jose Mourinho shifts to a 4-3-3 to stifle Arsenal, as the hosts fail to score for only the second time this season:

Gunners Backline in the Points Again
While Arsene Wenger’s side failed to find the net last night, their defence continued a series of impressive performances at the Emirates. In a Gameweek that had harvested a single home clean sheet in the previous nine matches, Arsenal’s resilience came to the fore yet again as they collected a third shut-out in four in front of their own fans in a run that has seen them concede just once. Indeed, the Gunners have now racked up six clean sheets in the last nine Gameweeks and, with West Ham, Newcastle, Cardiff and Villa in the next four, they could be poised for further returns at a time when most of their title rivals have failed to show the same level of defensive consistency.

Wenger’s Lack of Changes Increases Ozil Rest Fears
On Sunday afternoon, the Gunners boss had admitted he was considering the prospect of handing his record signing a slight rest over the festive period:

“In Germany, they have a break and we had this same situation with Jens Lehmann in his first season here. We have to give Mesut a break – but not tomorrow night. He has played a lot. But we have had a little break since we played last Saturday at Manchester City and, hopefully, he has recovered.”

It was intriguing, then, that Wenger failed to make a single substitution over the 90 minutes last night. Since arriving from Real Madrid, Ozil has started every league match and has missed just 10 minutes of the last 11 Gameweeks – with Santi Cazorla and fit-again Lukas Podolski both warming the bench last night, the Gunners boss has obvious options if he chooses to freshen up his side for back-to-back trips to West Ham and Newcastle over the next five days.

Mourinho Reverts to 4-3-3
It was perhaps telling that the Blues boss switched systems in order to frustrate the Gunners last night. Chelsea had managed a single clean sheet in their previous 11 league fixtures – back in Gameweek 12 at West Ham, where they also played with a 4-3-3 – and, despite having more efforts than their hosts, Mourinho’s decision to sub off Fernando Torres for David Luiz late on pretty much sums up his contentment with the point. Clearly, though, Chelsea are still very much in transition under the Special One – whilst a three-man central midfield affords his side extra stability, they remain far from resilient in a 4-2-3-1 system. Indeed, the previous three away games using this formation saw them concede a total of eight goals at Newcastle, Sunderland and Stoke.

Worryingly for Mourinho – and owners of Chelsea’s main Fantasy assets – his side have now travelled to five of the current top eight (Arsenal, Everton, Newcastle, Spurs and Man United) and scored just a single goal over those matches, back in Gameweek 6 away to Tottenham.

Hazard Looks Jose’s Only Attacking “Untouchable”
Regardless of formation, the Belgian seems to be the one attacking midfielder Mourinho simply cannot afford to do without. Last night’s change of tactics ended a run of four straight starts for Juan Mata – Chelsea scored 11 goals over that period and, while Hazard produced two goals and a pair of assists, the Spaniard was unconvincing and managed a single assist by comparison. Despite returning from injury, Oscar has now been handed two brief sub appearances in the last four and played just two sets of 90 minutes in the previous 10 Gameweeks. After just a couple of starts in the first 13 Gameweeks, Willian has now featured in the first XI in three of the last four – aside from Hazard, then, Mourinho’s multitude of midfield options continue to cancel each other out as the season unfolds, with the Blues boss still struggling to find the ideal combination.