Ibn Battuta

I have the same concerns. Torres II. Just seems like a very bad fit for how we play, and more importantly, how teams play us.

I'm getting flashbacks to Drogba. The guy that supposedly left every summer but ended up being a club legend. Fact is there is a reason why everybody but Chelsea fans want to see him out of the league.

Very interesting to see what Mounriho is building though. This is a team of a lot of big men and a few speedy tricksters. Sound familiar? He is going for the Chelsea side of 04-06.

I think most Chelsea fans deep down didn't want Lukaku. Truth is that keeping Costa has always been the best option. I hope ego and pride can be put to the side. Imagine ruining this great team because of a rushed text.

More importantly, he is not good at atyacking open space. Alonso may be slow but he is very aware of how to use space. Probably gained a lot from his time in Italy.

I agree that LWB shouldn't be a priority. But I see why we are pushing hard for it as Sandro looks like a better defender in isolation than Alonso and would give our left side attack a new dimension by freeing up Hazard even more.

Fantastic job he has done. We have taken all points in 27 out of 35 games! Let that sink in. Very impressed by the way we play as well. It is very very sustainable in that we don't run as much the other top teams. One of the reasons we have had so few injuries imo. Balanced and measured approach to football.

Everton played as if the match would last 45 minutes. Super intensive first half. After that it was much easier for us. Some praise for Fabregas but lots of credit should go to the starting XI for keeping calm and riding the rough treatment from Everton in the first half. Costa was really good! One of our best imo. Undone by the ref, a man marked Hazard and some poor play from Pedro

Remarkable rate of fouls by United.

Could Fabregas be the key to tying up the title? I need to see more but it seems like teams have figured that the best way to beat us is to push players up in the areas behind our full backs. Very effective because it puts a lot of pressure on our back 3/5 and makes things more complicated than before. Again I'm speculating because it hard to judge from the TV, but it seems like Conte has countered this by using Fabregas as a deterrent. A "you want to empty the middle and fill the flanks? Ok let's see what one of the worlds best passers can do with two, three more seconds on the ball" answer. With him on the pitch, there will be a lot, a lot, of chances to play deep through balls to Costa/Hazard/Pedro. Interesting.

Hazard, despite his goal, wasn't at his best. Which is telling, because he was still very productive. Matic and Kante with another monster performance. Really really world class stuff. If there is one thing Arsenal are good at then it's those little triangles in the middle of the pitch and sneaky runs from behind. Quite telling that they barely had a sniff through the middle all game long. Unprecedented. Matic has his weaknesses but this season Conte has done a great job of hiding them and playing on his strengths. Disagree with those who say that we played deep. I mean we did but there were periods when we were 1-0 up where we played quite offensive. We didn't sit and wait as much as we did against Liverpool. More than anything, Arsenal were just shocking. Looks like a team that has very little fight. I would worry about top four if I was them.

Very disappointing. We should be up by at least two. Arsenal have given us so much that I'm pulling my hair at how we have failed to capitalise in key moments. This could come back to bite us. Fabregas and Willian should come on. Hazard clearly carrying something.

This team played us really smart the last time around. Small details turned the game in our favour but it could easily have gone the other way. I think Fabregas should start over Matic. Last time around they just passed around or behind Matic, making him ineffective. He simply matches up badly against them because their system is designed to play direct balls through the middle and then out to the wide men. He doesn't have the positional sense of Kante to deal with them, nor does he have the stamina or mobility of a Essien. Neither does Fabregas but Fab is seven times better going forward. Another reason to start Fabregas is that Moses and Alonso will be pegged down most of the match. I expect 5 at the back for the majority of the game. That leaves our midfield two to provide creativity from our end to their end. Fab is the man for that. Once we get the ball to Costa or Hazard anything can happen.

Is he getting enough credit? Absolute monster run, incredible! While the media has been busy with Kloop/Jose/Pep, he has gone about his business like a mad man. All I could hear from him in pre season was "work work work". It's working, alright. The most impressive thing about it all is how we have done it. Low energy, low risk football. I saw that Klopp mentioned that we have been lucky with injuries. Very unfair to Conte, I thought. Maybe there is some luck, but I think it is mostly down to playing style. When you play high tempo high pressure football you will be more susceptible to injuries imo.

Well the reason we played like that was because Palace didn't have a playmaker. It's a completely illogical comment. "If Palace had Zidane and El Fenomeno we would have been in trouble". As far as Fabregas goes, he has been used well. The minute Palace started pushing higher and playing high pressure football, we brought in a deep and through ball specialist, which forced them to play a low defensive block again. Made it much harder for them to score.