And how can you argue with such sentiments? It is crunch time, make or break or however you want to put it. It is the time of the season when brushing off a defeat and looking to bounce back in the next game is no longer possible if you really want to have a chance of the title. It is the most open race in many years now. We are currently sat four points behind them with a game in hand so even if we win at Stamford Bridge at lunch time, we will still require more dropped points from them if we are to have our destiny in our own hands. I think we will beat Manchester City at the Emirates if we are aggressive enough so a positive result could be a great springboard.

Arsène Wenger: ‘It is the game of the season for us’

And how can you argue with such sentiments? It is crunch time, make or break or however you want to put it. It is the time of the season when brushing off a defeat and looking to bounce back in the next game is no longer possible if you really want to have a chance of the title. It is the most open race in many years now. We are currently sat four points behind them with a game in hand so even if we win at Stamford Bridge at lunch time, we will still require more dropped points from them if we are to have our destiny in our own hands. I think we will beat Manchester City at the Emirates if we are aggressive enough so a positive result could be a great springboard.

We may have to do so without Tomas Rosicky who is a doubt for today. I have no idea how much of a doubt he is so it’s impossible to know his chances. Should he not be available for the game it seems logical that Mathieu Flamini will come back into the team pushing Oxlade-Chamberlain back to the right. I don’t expect any other changes to the team that beat Tottenham.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up:

Chelsea have both Ramires and Willian suspended and it feels like a pleasant surprise to be facing one of our rivals losing key players for a change, maybe that’s just my perception and not reality I don’t really  know but it certainly feels like whenever we play a rival we are always suffering with mass injuries while our opposition have a full squad to choose from.

Ramires would have been a key player for Chelsea today, his engine would have been used to close our players down and stop us from playing. Willian is often chosen in these games as he works back for the team as well as offering quality in attack.

I am expecting a very cagey approach from both teams, both sides will not want to lose this game and if it is played with a defence first attitude then it may take a bit of brilliance to win the match. I hope we do ourselves justice defensively (and offensively obviously)

We have gone away from home in these big games and not defended the way we have done all season. We have gone to both Dortmund and Bayern and shown how good we are at shutting the opposition out, we need to transform that into the game today.

Maybe the Ox was saving his shooting boots for this week? I’d quite like him to power past Terry and smash the ball past Cech into the top corner, Tomas Rosicky style. Oh how I would love that.

From what I have read, many Gooners are desperate for Arsène to get one over the odious one today. There is no longer a need to fear Chelsea on the pitch. The points difference tells you how much the gap has been closed. So let us go and do this, whatever it takes let us break Mourinho’s home record in Arsene’s 1000th game. It just makes sense, surely the footballing gods see that it is the right thing to happen.

Win this game and anything is possible.