Are Arsenal capable of bus parking tactics vs Chelsea?

I’m never sure as to why ‘parking the bus’ is used as a term to lambast a team that sets up in a defensive manner. I mean, if Arsenal had decided to ‘park the bus’ for the first twenty minutes at Anfield last season, we wouldn’t have been 4-0 down. Furthermore, if we’d reversed over our goal at Stamford Bridge, I’m almost certain the final score wouldn’t have been 6-0.

Arsenal go to Stamford Bridge with an injury crisis that makes previous seasons list of players on the sidelines not look too eye watering. There is a real fear amongst our fans that we will be on the end of another mauling against one of the sides we want to be competing with for the top prizes in football.

Would any of us really object to a formation of 10-0-0? Probably not given the circumstances. If we can ground out a draw with a resilient performance it will go a long way in banishing last season’s demons and give this squad that mental edge and belief in the bigger games, something they so desperately need.

It is almost certain that Arsene Wenger won’t sacrifice his philosophy and we will try and play our own game against Chelsea and, although commendable, it does border on foolish.

Perhaps Arsene will surprise us, though, and let his head rule his heart? If he was considering on ‘parking the bus’,  though, are we even capable of doing it?

We’d most certainly have to scrap the 4-1-4-1 formation – hopefully Arsene scraps it forever – and return to our 4-2-3-1. The personnel, though, is limited with regards to carrying out the defensive side of the game.

The major change I’d make is playing Abou Diaby alongside Mathieu Flamini at the base of the midfield. Furthermore, I’d bring Alexis Sanchez back into the starting line-up, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the other side – Mesut Ozil behind Danny Welbeck – as we will need their strength, energy and power if we are going to get anything against Jose Mourinho’s side.