₦airaland Forum

TEAM NEWS
Chelsea star Eden Hazard may return to the starting line-up after impressing as a substitute at Huddersfield.
Ex-Gunners midfielder Cesc Fabregas remains out, with an unusual injury causing him pain close to his knee.
Arsenal left-back Nacho Monreal could return from a knee problem, and may replace Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who is out for at least six weeks after fracturing his fibula.
Full-backs Sead Kolasinac and Carl Jenkinson are still sidelined.
Goalkeeper Petr Cech is expected to keep his starting spot.

MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
Chelsea have won five of their last six home league games against Arsenal, with the exception last season's goalless draw.
Arsenal have failed to score in four of their last five Premier League visits to Stamford Bridge.
The Gunners have kept clean sheets in their last two league and cup games at Stamford Bridge. They have not recorded three successive shut-outs there since 1924.

Chelsea
Blues boss Maurizio Sarri lost just four of his 57 home league games in charge of Napoli (W43, D10).
Chelsea's 3-0 win at Huddersfield was their biggest victory in their first league game under a new boss since 2008, when Luiz Felipe Scolari oversaw a 4-0 win against Portsmouth.
Alvaro Morata has scored only one goal in 15 Premier League appearances since Boxing Day.
Jorginho could become the fourth player to score in his first two Premier League appearances for Chelsea, following in the footsteps of Adrian Mutu, Deco and Diego Costa.
Olivier Giroud could become only the second player to score Premier League goals for both sides in this fixture, after Cesc Fabregas.

Arsenal
The Gunners could fail to score in their opening two Premier League fixtures for the first time since 2012, when they began with goalless draws against Sunderland and Stoke.
The last Arsenal boss to lose his first two matches in charge was Steve Burtenshaw, who suffered defeat in his first three games as a caretaker in March and April 1986.
The Gunners have lost seven of their last eight away league games, with their only win coming at Huddersfield on the final day of last season.
They lost 11 top-flight away matches last season, equalling their highest tally in the Premier League (set in 1994-95, in a 42-game campaign).
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's next league goal will be his 150th in the top five European leagues.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45153219

nihilistjnr:
hmm seems like you're right.
my bad

Yh. He scored a goal for Southampton but it was in pre-season.

nihilistjnr:
for United.
I think he scored for soton

BBC live commentator says otherwise

Jamie fucking Vardy. There goes De Gea cleansheet.

That was Shaw's first career goal? Wow

Thecassanova:
Is this where we're holding the first league party of the season?

Exactly is this the place?

Segedinho:
De gea z 6ft2.....

he is 6ft3, 1.90 to be exact.

obainojazz:
I'm 9ft

na jazz you use?

pamcode:
I just watched behind the scenes of the unveiling of Kepa. The guy is quite short(for a premier league goalie) he was just a little taller and bigger than Azpilicueta.

Just checked he is 1.89(6ft2). That my exact height, perhaps he is not so short after all

I just watched behind the scenes of the unveiling of Kepa. The guy is quite short(for a premier league goalie) he was just a little taller and bigger than Azpilicueta.

Afolabi6046:
I waste no time

He still has league title celebration as his profile pic. Perhaps he isn't a Viper just a Carpet snake.

Leyqute:
The day balaga go chop 3 ehn, this place no go contain us

Lol my guy I am sure you don't want to do that.

Goodbye Courtois. I hope that time with the family counts.

EarthXmetahuman:
emenalo won't advise buying unknown keeper for outrageous amount.

We probably won't even be a in a situation where we would desperately need goal keeper.

Curtois has been hinting that he wants to leave since last season.. they supposed to have been scouting for keeper instead of waiting the last minute.

Now that I think of it why didn't we go for Trapp of PSG. He was second choice behind Areola and with the arrival of Buffon he goes down in the pecking order. He can't cost too much and I believe he is good.

Melvyn11:
That is pretty terrible business. Selling the better keeper for half the price.

Do we have a choice? Courtois has Left us in a fix refusing to sell him will not only mean he would leave on a free it also means our season could be wrecked.

Segedinho:
Since emanalo cmot. ..transfer policy jst dey zigzag. ..later dem go say dem invest 4 sarri so no xcuse 4 am.....were as dem dem buy nonsense wt deir yeye mind.......even sarri no knw anytin Abt d kepa transfer self

Follow this link and read. https://mobile.twitter.com/ChelseaFC?p=s

Kepa, Fekir, Kovacic what a turn around in transfer news. Things heated up suddenly.

Under new management, the Blues will hope to kick off in a better fashion than they did last term by putting three points on the board

Chelsea's 2018-19 Premier League campaign begins on Saturday with an away match against Huddersfield Town , as the Maurizio Sarri era gets under way in earnest.

The Italian, who replaced his compatriot Antonio Conte at the helm of the Stamford Bridge club during the summer, has been imprinting his philosophy on the team in pre-season and there will be an air of expectation at Kirklees Stadium this weekend.

The Blues were already in action last week, falling to a 2-0 defeat against Manchester City in the Community Shield , so they will be eager to bounce back from that by securing three points in the first league game of the season.

Source: goal.com

airmark:
Midfielder again?

we don't have lots of quality midfielders and I don't think we would buy another striker.

Segedinho:
Yea..it z oks.....maybe we go 4 schmichel or butland. . Also hear say chelsea dey fekir neck also....

I wish we could land one quality midfielder sha

I hear Pogba is about to leave? If that happens this season go long for una o.

Segedinho:
Report say courtois don go awol oooo

I am reading reports that Kovacic is doing the sane with Madrid. A swap plus money is good business to me.

Segedinho:
Report say courtois don go awol oooo

I am reading reports that Kovacic is doing the sane with Madrid. A swap can't be so bad.

Ibime:
Does Hazard look like someone ready for the season? Dude has been eating akpu daily since WC. This is how he came back in 2015

I still can't understand how players get fat so quickly. Na money dey show sha.

I predict a 2-1 win for Manchester City. But my blue heart says we win through penalties.

raumdeuter:
Congrats on signing Arturo Vidal

finally your club found a maga isn't it? So you came to wish them mocking congratulations?

http://www.skysports.com/boxing/news/12183/11456439/the-boxer-with-300-fights-279-defeats
Nihilistjnr ever heard of this guy? How did he manage to keep his career?

Repeat of six years ago? - the stats
City last lifted the Community Shield in 2012, defeating Chelsea 3-2 in a fixture played at Villa Park.
Chelsea are looking to win the Community Shield for the first time since 2009, when they beat Manchester United 4-1 on penalties.
This will be the third meeting between Chelsea and City at Wembley, with City winning the most recent one in April 2013 (2-1 in the FA Cup semi-final).
Chelsea have lost each of their past two games against City - they haven't lost three in succession against them since September 2010.
The past four editions of the Community Shield have been won by the FA Cup winners, with Manchester United in 2013 the last reigning league champions to do so.
City have won their past two matches at Wembley, both in 2017-18 - beating Spurs 3-1 in April and Arsenal 3-0 in the League Cup final in February. They haven't won three consecutive matches at Wembley since March 1970.
Chelsea have won 20 matches at Wembley - only Spurs (32), Man Utd (23), Arsenal (21) have won more times.
Only one of Chelsea's past 17 goals (excluding own goals) in games played at Wembley has been scored by an Englishman (John Terry v Spurs - League Cup final March 2015).
Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero has scored five goals in his past five appearances against Chelsea, including a hat-trick in April 2016.
No Manchester City player has scored more goals at Wembley than Sergio Aguero (3 - level with Yaya Toure).

BBC Sports.

Ibime:
These are not impressive passing stats.

Someone on Reddit described him as an energetic player who likes to bomb forward. Same thing I thought of Bakayoko last season but I haven't seen his videos so I can't say.

diggz:
chopping bench for benteke was bcuz benteke was a big money move for loserpool then...

There is a part of me that is hoping Morata suceeds at Chelsea. I wish I could meet the man and give him some words of encouragement.

diggz:
maybe he has given up on us.....

Meanwhile I read somewhere that Liverpool wants to sell origi…. I use to like him a lot and I think he is worth taking a gamble on..

Is he good? did he not chop bench for BENTEKE? can he play sarri ball?
I think the guy has been seating on the bench comfortably for too long.

BlueAngel444:
and Batshuayi and Cahill are still flexing

Cahill is nearing retirement and might not mind seating on the bench. Only Bathshuayi can say what he is thinking perhaps he feels he can get another Club after all he practically walked into Dortmund first eleven.