Central game changers at Arsenal have been targeted in the past so this is nothing new. Cesc Fabregas spent game after game trying to avoid that shadow that followed him around. Dennis Bergkamp was the same, always having to think a few steps ahead to find the space to get on the ball. Recently, even Mikel Arteta has had to deal with special attention as opposition teams knew that he was the player that started our attacks from deep. But Jack Wilshere has something that all of those players do not. Wilshere has

After yet another rebuild, Arsene has been stuck in his garage day and night since the season started, scratching his head as to why his new engine was not running correctly. It was purring beautifully in the second half against Swansea on Wednesday. But it is one thing running well in your garage at home to taking it out on the road and today Arsene may well be taking his reshaped Arsenal for a test drive at Stamford Bridge.

With the physical, driving dribbling runs of Abou Diaby alongside the tenacious tackling and hassling of Francis Coquelin in the middle of the pitch, we had a solid platform to play our football on, it gave a freedom to Jack Wilshere to express himself. It will be interesting to see what treatment Wilshere will receive from the Chelsea midfield and David Luiz in particular. If you was Rafa Benitez and you watched that second half display against Swansea then surely the first thing you would utter to your players would be to stop that number 10.

Central game changers at Arsenal have been targeted in the past so this is nothing new. Cesc Fabregas spent game after game trying to avoid that shadow that followed him around. Dennis Bergkamp was the same, always having to think a few steps ahead to find the space to get on the ball. Recently, even Mikel Arteta has had to deal with special attention as opposition teams knew that he was the player that started our attacks from deep. But Jack Wilshere has something that all of those players do not. Wilshere has the ability to skip past his marker and open up the game even if  he has players hacking away at his ankles. It is this attribute that gives Wengerball a wonderful new dimension.

Opposition players will have to run towards Wilshere while Theo Walcott can tip toe in behind his baffled full back, hopefully said baffled full back will be Ashley Cole this afternoon, should the game go ahead. I’ve just looked out of my window and the snow is still falling from the sky so I will be crossing all sorts of body parts because I really want to see our team again.

So what about squad rotation you might ask, we have played a number of games in a short space of time and we have another in midweek against the Spammers but frankly, I’d be surprised if any changes were to happen mainly because we played so well in our last 45 minutes of football. What that means for Lukas Podolski for the short term, I am not quite sure. I’m not entirely sure that he can play as our center forward, like Theo Walcott I am not sure he has enough about his game but he has only had a couple of chances to prove himself. If the game does go ahead and we do start with the same team then I suspect that Lukas along with a few others will be drafted in against West Ham in midweek.

I agree with Arsene’s recent comments about needing to be more aggressive.

Arsene said:

“Maybe we have to go back a little bit, not less technical but a bit more physical and aggressive,” Wenger said. “I think that when [referees] see Arsenal on the sheet, they say ‘oh fantastic’ [to referee them].

“This side are physical players, but we have to restructure the balance of the team a little bit. The players have the character to do it. The [likes of] [Jack] Wilshere are technical players, but they are also physical players.”

I get the feeling that if we are more aggressive off the ball, we will be more aggressive with the ball also. A snappy challenge high up the pitch raises the tempo of our game and it takes much less to create a goal scoring chance. This while jockeying players around the pitch without really putting in a great deal of effort to win the ball back reminds me too much of our ‘patient’ football which often translates into complacent football. The type that we saw at Norwich and Bradford amongst others this season.

Chelsea have spent vast amounts of money this summer as well as previous summers obviously yet should we win our game in hand we will be only 5 points behind them which given there fantastic start to the season is quite amazing. It just shows that even spending big bucks doesn’t avoid the difficulties of gelling new players together.

The danger man will once again be Juan Mata who remains the one that got away. He has been fantastic for Chelsea since he moved from Valencia, he has been even better this season. Like my rather crude headline suggests, I want Coquelin on him whenever he receives the ball. Give Chelsea a taste of their own medicine after they shut off Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla at the Emirates

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up:

This game better happen today, when I want to clear my doorstep pathway I boil the kettle and melt the snow. Roman should invest in a giant kettle or something, hell he can afford to. A victory could do wonders for this team and could give us the kick start we need. We need a good run of results and it has to happen soon because games are flying by.

Fingers crossed all around.