Premier League: Arsenal vs Chelsea! Five consecutive losses have become a joke, so why am I still hopeful for Chelsea?

Let's start today’s Premier League discussion with Arsenal vs Chelsea!

These two teams are quite intriguing — one can't keep a clean sheet against anyone, the other can't find the net against anyone.

When the weakest defense faces the dullest offense, who has the upper hand?

Chelsea is the team that fails to score against anyone.

Someone online put together their top five goals in April, and all five were scored by Gallagher.

Because in April, they played seven matches and only scored that one goal.

The laughable part is that even this sole goal was actually an own goal, blocked in by Brighton defender Dunk’s foot.

Although their squad includes10 forwards, none of them can find the back of the net.

These forwards have driven Lampard mad; in the last game against Brentford, he simply deployed Gallagher and Kante as wingers,with 11 starters, only Sterling is a true striker.

Despite spending billions on transfers this season,they spent 196 million euros just on forwards — roughly 1.5 billion RMB — yet only field one true striker? Even fiction writers wouldn’t come up with something this absurd.

In short, Chelsea’s most obvious problem now is — these players run a lot, jump a lot, and are professional footballers, but they just don’t know how to put the ball in the net; they are a unique oddity in football history.

But Arsenal’s problems are also significant.

On the surface, their defense is collapsing,letting even bottom-dwellers Southampton score three goals away from home?Southampton actually has the second fewest goals scored in the Premier League!

The deeper issue is — Arteta’s tactics never change.

Here’s a fact:Arsenal is the Premier League team with the least changes to their lineup this season,starting the same 11 players in 12 matches.

There are no weak teams in the Premier League, and opponents capable of managing a Premier League team aren’t dumb either; if your tactics never change, opponents will always find your weaknesses.

For example — fear of being caught on the counterattack.

This image shows Arsenal increasingly vulnerable to opponent counterattacks.

Even teams like Everton and Leeds United have exploited Arsenal’s weaknesses through counterattacks.

This season, Arsenal’s positioning is very aggressive, much more so than before.

Eight players press high into the opponent’s half, leaving only two center-backs behind to defend, making the entire backline very exposed.

So why were they able to defend effectively before?

Because the player holding the deepest position, wearing number 12, is Saliba.

Saliba is one of the fastest center-backs on the planet; last season at Marseille,he could even keep up with Mbappé!

This means that when he covers the back, no forward on earth can easily launch a fast break, allowing his teammates to push forward confidently.

Once reliance turned into dependence and he was absent, the defense system immediately collapsed.

Yet Arteta stubbornly refuses to change the formation and insists on sticking to this tactic.

But his replacement, Holding, is far less capable; not only is his defense weaker, but his passing — crucial for a center-back — is also much poorer.

In the last match, Guardiola exploited this by having De Bruyne play as a striker to mark Gabriel, creating a one-on-one chance for Haaland against Holding, effectively exposing Holding’s weakness.

It remains to be seen what clever tactics Arteta will use today against Chelsea to break out of this dilemma?

However, due to the long-term unchanged formation, substitute players lack match practice, so whoever comes on probably won’t make much difference.

People only think of old teammates in hard times, but old teammates can’t always fix things either.

Although Chelsea’s five-game losing streak is miserable.

On one hand, their previous opponents included strong teams like Brighton and Real Madrid.

On the other hand, their approach differs when facing weaker teams (actively attacking) versus stronger teams (defending and counterattacking).

As a team that won the Champions League relying on quick counterattacks, Chelsea still has that ability, while Arsenal, despite high popularity, has a weak defense and likes to press forward — is that really safe?

Overall, what do you think about Chelsea’s chances of satisfying their traveling fans? I’m hoping Chelsea can at least secure a point!

Alright, for today’s other matches, I’ll still send text analysis in the evening. If anything is unclear, feel free to ask me. Let’s watch and understand the game together — see you there!

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