Arsenal vs Chelsea: Remembering Didier Drogba’s incredible goal record against the Gunners
With Gonzalo Higuain’s move to Chelsea imminent, there are reports suggesting he could feature against Arsenal, LIVE on talkSPORT, this Saturday should he sign in time.
While Chelsea may have struggled up front this season, there was once a time when this fixture was dominated by one striker, Didier Drogba.
The Ivorian was a consistent thorn in the side of the Gunners, as he bullied and dominated their defence to score eight goals in 12 Premier League matches against them.
talkSPORT.com takes a trip down memory lane to relive each strike.
Chelsea 1-0 Arsenal – August 2005
Despite winning the title in his first season with Chelsea, Drogba initially found life tough at Stamford Bridge. Beginning his second campaign with two goals against Arsenal in the Community Shield, Drogba would open his league account against the same opponents in fortuitous circumstances. A free-kick from Frank Lampard was curled in an his attempts to control the ball, it ricocheted off his knee and rolled beneath Jens Lehmann to give Chelsea a first top-flight win over Arsenal since September 1995.
While he did not score in the league against Arsenal during the 2006/07 season, Drogba reminded Arsene Wenger’s side they were still very much on his radar, netting twice in the League Cup. Another double was to be served up a year later, when after falling behind to a Bacary Sagna header, Drogba came to the rescue netting twice in nine minutes to keep Chelsea’s title challenge alive.
Under Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea were powerful and efficient with Drogba the focal point. Epitomising everything that made the Blues so successful that season, Drogba, as he usually did, reserved his most ruthless display for Arsenal. His first was an expertly guided effort into the top corner from an Ashley Cole cross and the powerful forward added his second four minutes from the end with a thunderous free-kick.
Same season, same scorer. Three months after his destructive showing at the Emirates, Drogba was once again the scourge of Arsenal. A corner from Florent Malouda was flicked on by John Terry and guess who was waiting at the far post. With half an hour played, a Frank Lampard pass split the Gunners defence and found Drogba, who still had plenty to do, but brushed aside Gael Clcihy with embarrassing ease to fire beyond Manuel Almunia.
Even when he is not at his best, which he was far from here, Drogba still knows where the net is, even if it is from the tightest of angles. Six minutes before half-time, he provided a clever flick from a Cole cross that somehow found the bottom corner and set Chelsea on their way to another three points in a London derby.
Mesut Özil is in doubt for Arsenal's FA Cup third-round tie with Blackpool on Sunday. The German has not played since being substituted at half-time in the Boxing Day draw with Brighton. He has been sidelined with a knee injury ever since, missing out on matches against Liverpool and Fulham. And Emery has hinted he could spend another week on the sidelines to recover. When asked if Oil would be involved against the League One outfit, the Spaniard told reporters at London Colney: "This morning, he didn't train.
Arsenal have been boosted by the return to training of five first-team players ahead of the game against West Ham. . Mesut Ozil (knee), Nacho Monreal (hamstring), Hector Bellerin (calf), Konstantinos Mavropanos (groin) and Shkodran Mustafi (hamstring) are all available for Saturday’s match. Laurent Koscielny, who was removed from the starting lineup against Blackpool as a precaution last weekend because of a back injury, is also ready for selection. Henrikh Mkhitaryan is expected to return to full training next month following a broken foot, while Rob Holding (knee) and Danny Welbeck (ankle) are long term absentees. West Ham’s injury list is much longer but manager Manuel Pellegrini could have up to four players back in contention to face the Gunners. Marko Arnautovic was withdrawn early on in the win against Birmingham City last week due to a back problem but should be ready to play. Ryan Fredericks (shin) and Javier Hernandez (back) are also believed ...
Unai Emery has convinced Denis Suarez about a move to Arsenal from FC Barcelona as a the two clubs near a loan agreement for the 25-year-old midfielder. Here, we look at some of the top football transfer stories from the British and world media in The Sport Review’s Grapevine, published every day during the 2019 January transfer window. It was a busy summer transfer window in the Premier League as most of the top teams brought in significant reinforcements ahead of the start of the new campaign. Attentions will now turn towards the forthcoming January transfer window, as Premier League clubs begin considering brining in some potential reinforcements for the midway stage of the season. We’ll keep you up to date with the very latest transfer news concerning your club in our daily football gossip and rumours column. So, with the January transfer window now open, The Grapevine has the very latest football transfer news from the Premier League’s top clubs in the round-up belo...
Comments
Post a Comment