It’s Friday, it’s a couple of days before we go to Chelsea and it’s a trip into the Chelsea fans forums for me to see how they are feeling. It’s certainly a mixed bag, with as much of them saying they can’t see themselves losing, as well as the reverse. I think this season has probably broken their brains a little bit and I’d feel that way if I was a Chelsea fan too; they had a poor performance at home to Sunderland, they drew 2-2 to Qarabag, they were beaten at home to Brighton, they beat Barcelona, they drew away to Brentford, but they beat Liverpool.

Chelsea feel like a proper box of Revels, so no wonder their fanbase can’t quite work out where they are at. It feels kind of wild that after some of their ropey performances, red cards and mixed form at times, they could be just three points off us come the end of the game on Sunday. But I guess the nature of this league is such that were the reverse to happen, they’d look so far from challenging for the title. It’s tight at the top and the swings that have happened already prove that at this stage in the season, it can all change again before you know it.

On match week five Liverpool were top by five points. Chelsea were seven points off them and we were five. By match week ten Chelsea were eight points off us at the top. By the end of match week 13 they could have the media calling them title contenders.

Weirdly though, their fans keep insisting they are not in the running. I mean, as it stands, they have the ability to look like a close challenger to us. But then again, City WILL beat Leeds at home this weekend, so the seven point gap we opened up over them could very well be eroded after one week, so there’s not really a lot to go on.

Mikel will have his press conference later and no doubt he’ll be asked about Chelsea’s title challenge, about the confidence in the team and about Arsenal’s ability to sustain the level of performance that we showed in midweek. He will, of course, give nothing away. Neither will he give us any inkling on player availability, but I really am hopeful that we’ve got Big Vik back on Sunday, because we really need him and Kai arriving sooner rather than later. It was great to see Noni come on and get minutes, it was awesome to have Martinelli back on the pitch and on the scoresheet, but we need our centre forward back in this squad because the volume of games are starting to ramp up.

We also need to know about Trossard. Arteta said he ‘felt something’ in his post match comments and usually that means he’ll be out. It’ll be yet another one added to the injury list if he isn’t around this weekend and whilst we have the depth to cover it via a job share of Madueke and Martinelli, it is a much bigger blow to us than we would have thought given his form. He’s our top scorer in all comps, he’s contributing with assists, he’s overall game play is the best I’ve seen for him since he joined the club and so to have him taken away from us – even if only for a week or two – is another blow that will be frustrating.

So, what then, are the pundits and prediction-makers saying about this one? Well, Merse has gone with a 1-1 and I kind of understand that; we’ve drawn the last two times there, they are in a rich vein of form, but so are we. Jones Knows on Sky Sports thinks the same with a 1-1 and cites the fact that Maresca and Arteta are both cautious managers in games like this, which I tend to agree with and with Merse saying things like “Maresca doesn’t need to win this one” it kind of feels like it might be one of those games in which two teams cancel each other out. I kind of feel like that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for us. It’ll be another tough away-day ticked off and whilst City will beat Leeds over the weekend, the fact a draw would keep us at least five points ahead of them, is good enough for me at this stage I think. If we win though, I’m not having Merson’s comments about the title being over. You can’t have that after 13 games. I get that it would be a massive statement, but after 13e games there’s just too much football to be played. If we’re on 25 games and you win a match like this, you’re starting to say “that’s probably it”, but with the swings I’ve already mentioned, it only takes a couple of back-to-back defeats and we’re back to square one. If you also think about how many games are played over the Christmas period too, if Arsenal just picked up two draws in their next two games, City and Chelsea are within touching distance.

Chris Sutton reckons we’ll win comfortably though and is going for a 2-0 to The Arsenal. I just don’t see it. I think Chelsea probably will score at home, but I am not sure they will ‘come at us’ enough to make this a game in which we will open up a two-goal lead. It could happen, for sure, but I just don’t see it. Gary Cahill is obviously going for a Chelsea win 2-1 which you’d expect given his partisan nature as an ex-Chelsea player, but for every Cahill we probably have somebody like Keown who will back The Arsenal. So it’s all good.

Right, I’ll leave it there for today and be back with some post-presser thoughts tomorrow, so you have yourselves a good Friday.

Laters kids.