Chelsea and Arsenal meet in another key Premier League clash on Sunday but both had the distraction of a Champions League Group match to navigate last night. Once again the obstacles were overcome without undue fuss, as Chelsea steered past Marseille 2-0, while Arsenal scampered to a 3-1 win over Partizan Belgrade.
Chelsea claimed their second Champions League Group victory with relative ease but it was far from a fluid performance from Carlo Ancelotti’s men. A controlled John Terry toe poke and a calmly executed Nicolas Anelka penalty proved the difference on a night when the Chelsea boss looked to blood more of his young talent.
Gael Kakuta earned a start on the right of Ancelotti’s 4-3-3 attack, with Anelka providing the spearhead with Didier Drogba serving the last match of his suspension. It was Kakuta’s corner kick that lead to Terry’s goal and he showed glimpses throughout that Chelsea have a real prospect.
The imperious Anelka and the energy and creativity of Florent Malouda particularly stood out here – Malouda put in a strong shift off the back of his blank at Eastlands on Saturday and reminded us again just how he has become a key Fantasy asset this term. After the weekend disappointment, our Fantasy faith was very much restored last night, with Marseille boss Didier Deschamps confirming Malouda’s impact…
“Florent is in a great vein of form at the moment. He found space and technically his skill was superb. He works well in tandem with Ashley Cole.”
Ancelotti’s team selection revealed a start for Yuri Zhirkov in midfield and his withdrawal on 72 minutes could hint that the Russian may get the nod over the disappointing Ramires (on the bench here) against Arsenal on Sunday. Paulo Ferreira was an unused sub and he could of course feature at right-back, casting doubt over who will partner Terry against Wenger’s side. Alex and Branislav Ivanovic continue to offer little security then; the Brazilian struck a post with another free-kick last night – he clearly has a goal in him but getting a sniff at set-pieces with Didier Drogba on the pitch is a tough proposition.
Andrei Arshavin and Marouane Chamakh both found the net for the second consecutive Champions League tie as Arsenal ran out 3-1 winners in Belgrade. That will offer encouragement but also plenty of frustration for their Fantasy owners; Arshavin has failed to score in his last three league appearances while Chamakh has notched just once in his last four league outings.
Wenger’s lineup clearly had one eye on the Chelsea encounter. Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy and Laurent Koscielny were all preserved, along with Emmanuel Eboue. All four look to be in line for starts at Stamford Bridge as a result.
It seems unlikely that Cesc Fabregas will be available to Wenger and the move to protect Nasri here suggests that he will be a key player, deployed in support of Chamakh once again. The performance of Lukasz Fabianski, culminating in a late penalty save, was of note and brought glowing praise his manager in the post-match reaction. This would suggest that he will retain the starting role ahead of Manuel Almunia who missed this tie with an elbow injury. Should Fabianski establish himself as number one, he would offer potential for Arsenal’s run of three home games in four that follow the trip to Chelsea. The Polish keeper is currently available for 4.8 in the Fantasy Premier League game.