Chelsea preview: Can Odegaard’s return help us find the spark?

Morning all.

It’s Chelsea away today, a game we really need to win. Not just because Chelsea are a loathsome club hated throughout the universe and beyond; not just because Man City lost again and Liverpool won again; but because it’s been too long since we took three Premier League points and the last thing we need going into an Interlull is another game which causes two weeks of sadness and introspection.

As yet, there’s no clue as to whether or not Declan Rice will play or not. A broken toe, even if it’s only a little bit broken, seems like a significant problem. I didn’t notice any updates on social media from people hanging around the team hotel as to whether he’s there or not. It wouldn’t surprise me if he played, but if he doesn’t, I also wouldn’t be surprised for that to be the catalyst for Martin Odegaard’s first start since his ankle injury. The captain could get the nod either way, but if Rice is absent, his presence in a midfield trio alongside Thomas Partey and Mikel Merino would become all the more important.

Further forward, the focus is on scoring, or not scoring to be more precise. We drew blanks away at Newcastle and Inter, and while I think the second half in Italy was encouraging enough, we still need to address that issue. The reconfiguration of the midfield would allow Mikel Arteta to play Kai Havertz up front, flanked by Bukayo Saka and one of Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus or Leandro Trossard.

I think I’d be comfortable enough with the Belgian international rediscovering his mojo from the bench, because it hasn’t been there from the start in recent appearances. There’s no Raheem Sterling today as he can’t play against his parent club, so it’ll have to be one of the two Brazilians. I think it’s more likely be Martinelli than Jesus, but let’s see if the manager decides the team needs something a little different. Whether it’s better, time will tell.

Chelsea will be difficult and dangerous. They have lots of pace and plenty of quality in the final third. I fully expect Cole Palmer to play after some injury worries, and he’s obviously their danger man. We’ll have to pay attention to the way he drops into space, whether that’s deep or high up the pitch, but I’m sure his threat is something the manager will make his team well aware of.

But it’s up to us to find a way to win this game. Arteta says:

Winning is the best formula for everything. For energy, for belief, for confidence, for the noise inside, for the noise outside. To create momentum, generate a positive surroundings around it. For everything. It helps for everything, even if you don’t deserve it.

I hope we deserve it, but I won’t care a bit if we win and we don’t. Ok, I’ll care a very small bit but not much. However it happens today, we have to rediscover enough of the elements that made this team so impressive last season to take three points. I don’t think we’ve become a bad team overnight or anything like that, but we’re not as effective as we were, and we need to get going again. Perhaps the return of Odegaard, and having that extra bit of creativity in the final third will be the spark.

It’s a lot to put on a player who has been out so long, but as we’ve seen during his absence, his importance and influence cannot really be underestimated, so let’s hope he’s ready to go if called upon from the start this afternoon. And, if necessary, Arteta leans into the players who can do it at the business end of the pitch. We dominated Inter in the second half having taken off a functional central midfielder for an attacker, so perhaps there’s something to be learned from that.

Right, I’ll leave it there. You can join us for live blog coverage later, plus all the post-game stuff on Arseblog News.

Come on you reds!

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