Arsenal vs Chelsea preview - Chamakh feeling the strain - Wenger - 7M sport

Arsenal vs Chelsea preview - Chamakh feeling the strain - Wenger



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Posted Monday, December 27, 2010 by PA

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admits Marouane Chamakh's form has suffered due to a heavy workload.

Chamakh made a strong start to his debut season in the Barclays Premier League, but his influence has waned in recent weeks.

The 27-year-old free transfer from Bordeaux has failed to hit the target in his last three matches and Wenger must decide whether to rest him against Chelsea on Monday night.

With Robin van Persie ready to start and Nicklas Bendtner also available, Wenger has options should he decide Chamakh needs a break.

"Marouane has given a lot. He has played a lot on his own up front. He is a bit tired at the moment," Wenger said. "He's used to having a winter break in France at this stage of the season.

"He has played nearly every game since the start of the season. He feels that he had a little dip physically, but he's working very hard in training to come back."

Arsenal have lost their last five matches against Chelsea, conceding 13 goals in the process.

The Premier League trophy has resided at Stamford Bridge three times since the Gunners last won the title in 2004 and Chelsea are the reigning champions.

But Wenger insists they can hold can hold their heads high against their London rivals, who sit two places lower in the table in fourth spot.

"Let's say we look at the number of points we have and we have nothing to envy," Wenger added.

"We just need to get over that hurdle of winning a trophy. As long as the team has not won one trophy, people wonder: 'Can we win?'.

"It's a mental thing. We have the quality, we are maybe a bit young, but not so much now. We still have to build a new team and manage to stay at the top.

"There are a lot of teams who would be happy where we are, but we want more and that's our purpose this season. Our target is to deliver and respond to the demands that people have."

John Terry has warned that Chelsea are ready to inflict another home humiliation on Arsenal.

The Barclays Premier League champions crushed the Gunners 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium last season and 4-1 in the previous campaign.

Last November's victory was widely described as "men against boys" and although Chelsea go into tomorrow's game on their worst run of league form for a decade, captain Terry believes a repeat performance is on the cards.

"We think we can go there and do what we did last year," he told his club's official website, www.chelseafc.com.

"If we're not thinking that, we shouldn't be playing."

Chelsea have won only one of their last seven league games and have not tasted victory in any competition for more than a month.

That was partly because of the postponement of last Sunday's home clash with Manchester United, who the Blues could find themselves six points behind when they take to the field on Monday.

Terry added: "Everyone is in the right frame of mind; it will be two weeks by the time the game comes around since we've played.

"We're raring to go and want to get off to a flying start."

Chelsea's miserable run has seen them slip from top spot to fourth in the table, a point behind Monday's opponents.

They have only found the net four times and kept just one clean sheet in that period, which coincided with injuries to key men Terry, Frank Lampard and Michael Essien.

But all their star names are back for Monday's game against a side who have scored plenty of goals but have been unable to keep them out at the other end.

Terry said: "Defensively they've conceded goals, and with our strikeforce and the threat we pose opposition sides all the time, one goal and a bit of confidence and everything is looking bright for us again.

"It just takes that one thing to set it off, and hopefully a goal away at Arsenal will do that, and we want to get back to keeping clean sheets."

However, manager Carlo Ancelotti does not believe Chelsea will find winning at the Emirates as easy as they did last term.

"I think Arsenal changed a little bit compared to last season," he said.

"They've improved their experience.

"I think that it could be a different game compared to last season."



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