Fuente: © Arsenal
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ARSENAL: Focus: Blues shrug off rare setback

/noticias.info/ By Chris Harris

Remember the sixth of November? Final score from Old Trafford - Manchester United 1 Chelsea 0. Suddenly, the unbeaten run was over. The champions looked fallible. Was a comatose title race about to spark into life?

Not a bit of it. Chelsea picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and rattled off four straight Premiership wins while their closest challengers lost valuable ground. United, despite beating the Blues, still trail by nine. Arsenal, albeit with a game in hand, are 17 points adrift.

Chelsea's response to a rare setback speaks volumes for their resilience, and a tally of seven goals conceded in 16 league games says much about a defence which snaffles clean sheets as greedily as George Graham's class of 1991. But look beyond those statistics and what stands out is the sheer efficiency of Jose Mourinho's side.

"Chelsea have become exponents of going ahead and then shutting up shop," says Paul Warburton of the Kensington and Chelsea News.

"People look at games like the narrow win against Wigan and say that they scrape by, but that is by design more than anything. Chelsea take their foot off the pedal and hold something back for the next game. They don't concede many goals and they don't give chances away."

Mourinho's plan when he arrived at Stamford Bridge was to assemble a squad boasting two top-class players in every position.

He appears to have reached that goal already but are there areas in which Chelsea can improve?

"If the world was your oyster then you can never be short of someone who will bang in the goals for you," says Warburton. "The trouble is, at Chelsea's level you are only interested in a very small handful of players. Adriano, Ronaldo, Shevchenko have all been talked about but not with any great promise.

"Otherwise, there is nothing that Chelsea really need. There is the possibility of them shopping for someone who can play a defensive role on the left but Mourinho already has his two players for each position.

"I also maintain that the pivotal players at Chelsea are English - Frank Lampard, John Terry and, increasingly, Joe Cole. If they keep playing the way they are, it can certainly help the national side at the World Cup next year.

"The only problem he has, like any manager, is that he has to juggle the squad and try to keep them all happy. Eventually, players leave for regular first-team football."

It's not that long ago that, try as they might, Chelsea just couldn't get a result against Arsenal. Roman Abramovich's spending power and Mourinho's management have changed all that and they head to Highbury as favourites on Sunday.

"I'm surprised by how quickly it has changed," says Warburton, referring to Chelsea's recent success against the Gunners. "Chelsea have steadily improved and Arsenal have dropped a little bit.

"I can see Chelsea winning on Sunday. If they score first then they will be very hard to break down, but a lot could depend on how Thierry Henry plays.

"He is Arsenal's talisman and if he sneaks a few half-chances then that could make all the difference. On his day he can beat any defence in the world - even Chelsea's." notas_de_prensa_archivo