Unleash the Ox, Stop Hazard: Things Wenger Needs To Do To Win Against Chelsea

Arsenal will be making the short trip across London to Stamford Bridge on Saturday to take on Chelsea in what promises to be a key encounter in the race for the Premier League title. With Arsenal trailing Chelsea by four points, here are three things that Arsene Wenger needs to do to get the three points and keep their hopes alive in the title race.

1. Stop Hazard

Almost all of Chelsea’s offensive game is centered around the brilliance and creativity of Eden Hazard who has been the both the creator-in-chief as well as the leading scorer for the Blues this season. In fact, apart from scoring 13 goals, Hazard has created a staggering 83 chances, more than anyone else in the league.

With this kind of threat in the form of the Belgian, Arsenal will have to look to negate his threat by doubling up on him whenever he has the ball and mark him out of the game. His trickery and pace make him a difficult player to mark, but Arsenal will have to press him all the time and hope that he they are able to mitigate the threat he poses.

2. Unleash the Ox against Lampard

Ramires’ red card means that Chelsea will be forced to play Frank Lampard alongside Nemanja Matic in the defensive midfield role. While the Serbian has made the role his own with impressive performances since his arrival in January, Mourinho has fielded a makeshift option alongside him throughout this period in the form of Ramires.

With Lampard playing in the middle of the park, the Chelsea midfield will lack some pace and Arsenal will have to exploit this by allowing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to run at him. The Ox showed in his performance against Bayern Munich that he is more than capable of taking on the best midfielders and with an equally slow John Terry in behind Lampard, the young Englishman might find some joy with driving runs through the heart of the Chelsea side.

3. Shore up the left flank

Arsenal were torn apart time and again by Bayern Munich over the two legs despite the respectable scoreline, and much of it was down their left flank. With Santi Cazorla playing out there, there was inadequate cover for the left fullback. This was exploited by Arjen Robben and Philip Lahm/ Rafinha who doubled up on the left back to exploit this weakness.

Chelsea too might employ similar tactics against the Gunners and in Andre Shurrle and Branislav Ivanovic, they have two players who have the pace and strength to exploit this weakness in the Arsenal armor. Wenger will have to ensure that the left flank does not become his Achilles’ heel once again.

Stats via squawka