Florent Malouda has insisted that ‘big four’ rival Arsenal will be a huge challenge for Chelsea this weekend but expects the Gunners to give his team more space than Manchester City.
The Premier League champions suffered their first defeat of the season last weekend after being suffocated by Roberto Mancini’s counter-attacking style in a 1-0 setback at City of Manchester Stadium.
Malouda anticipates a more open game against Arsenal’s purist style at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
“Everybody knows the passing game of Arsenal,” observed Malouda. “They have quality. We have seen many times teams coming here and try to close the game and it depends if you score early in the game but I think that Arsenal have always played the same way with their passing game and technical quality and they try to do the same against everyone.
“Manchester City was a tough opposition and our first defeat. I will speak from our point of view. We must expect a good reaction in front of our fans. We lost against Man City and now we have an opportunity with a home game to get back the winning atmosphere.
“It will be a big challenge for us to win against a team of the 'big four'. Chelsea-Arsenal games are always important because they are just behind us and we want to increase the gap.
It won’t be easy because there are no easy games for Chelsea but now is time to recover and then we have time to think about Arsenal.”
Speaking after Chelsea cruised to a 2-0 Champions League victory against Marseille on Tuesday – their second comfortable victory in the competition this season – Malouda said it was important for the team to put the defeats to Newcastle United and City behind them.
“I’m happy because we had two defeats before this game and it was great to get back to winning ways,” he explained. “We take the lead in the group and now we want to confirm qualification for the next round.
“After seeing the first game of the season people think we are going to score four goals every time. Every game is different.
“We played at a very high intensity in the first half and paid the price in the second half. In the second half we were in control and we hit the post twice so winning was not really a problem.”
The Premier League champions suffered their first defeat of the season last weekend after being suffocated by Roberto Mancini’s counter-attacking style in a 1-0 setback at City of Manchester Stadium.
Malouda anticipates a more open game against Arsenal’s purist style at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
“Everybody knows the passing game of Arsenal,” observed Malouda. “They have quality. We have seen many times teams coming here and try to close the game and it depends if you score early in the game but I think that Arsenal have always played the same way with their passing game and technical quality and they try to do the same against everyone.
“Manchester City was a tough opposition and our first defeat. I will speak from our point of view. We must expect a good reaction in front of our fans. We lost against Man City and now we have an opportunity with a home game to get back the winning atmosphere.
“It will be a big challenge for us to win against a team of the 'big four'. Chelsea-Arsenal games are always important because they are just behind us and we want to increase the gap.
It won’t be easy because there are no easy games for Chelsea but now is time to recover and then we have time to think about Arsenal.”
Speaking after Chelsea cruised to a 2-0 Champions League victory against Marseille on Tuesday – their second comfortable victory in the competition this season – Malouda said it was important for the team to put the defeats to Newcastle United and City behind them.
“I’m happy because we had two defeats before this game and it was great to get back to winning ways,” he explained. “We take the lead in the group and now we want to confirm qualification for the next round.
“After seeing the first game of the season people think we are going to score four goals every time. Every game is different.
“We played at a very high intensity in the first half and paid the price in the second half. In the second half we were in control and we hit the post twice so winning was not really a problem.”
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