The Billionaire Blues Club

DEC 5 — I am sure you are all excited too about the World Cup in South Africa next June-July now that the draw is done and the groups of death as well as the lucky seeded teams are known. So much to talk about, but that will have to wait for another day.  First, there’s the matter of a long league season left in Europe, as Arsene Wenger recently reminded the media. He said that it doesn’t matter whether Theo Walcott will be in the England team or not next June. The England youngster must first deliver the goods for Arsenal and help the Gunners to success in order to be recognised and picked by England manager Fabio Capello.

Uh-oh . . . looks like someone is not likely to be getting any reference letters anytime soon from Monsieur Wenger, like he did before the last World Cup and became the surprise pick by Sven Goran-Eriksson for WC2006 in Germany.

Walcott aside, all the players in the top leagues in England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France and the rest of Europe best take heed that no World Cup place is guaranteed, unless consistency in performance and some level of success (even without winning trophies) is achieved by them on a weekly basis.

One club that is likely to have more first-choice national picks than any other club in England, maybe even all of Europe, is Chelsea. Not that their mid-week performance in the Carling Cup demonstrated it of course.

So, ignoring the draw with Blackburn Rovers (and shootout elimination), I would have to admit that Chelsea actually looked to be in a league of their own last Sunday, operating in an entirely different sphere to the one occupied by their diminished opponents, Arsenal.

In a clash that pits two billionaire club owners against each other today, table-toppers (and once big-spenders) Chelsea travel up north to play current big-spending Manchester City in what on paper appears to be a tricky contest if one were to consider the home advantage and host of international stars City possesses.

Though these two sides enjoyed contrasting fortunes in the Carling Cup, but in the English Premier League (EPL), the marathon of football, the London Blues are looking absolutely irresistible right now with great pace, excellent work rate and a will to win without parallel.

While some may point to possession stats last weekend, the truth is that Chelsea brushed Arsenal aside last Sunday. It looked like men against boys, and while their style of play is not the most attractive, their perseverance must be both admired and respected.

Chelsea have won their last eight matches against City and I am still not convinced Mark Hughes knows his best side. Should City have any chance of making an impact on the top four, they firstly must start turning draws into wins, but they must also beat the big boys.

The win against Arsenal earlier in the season was a good start, but if they manage to take three points tonight, only then will people sit up and notice.

Were they to lose, as expected, then not even Hughes could argue that his side are in a reasonable or acceptable position. Were they to win, however, then Hughes could point at proof of competitiveness and an eight-match unbeaten run.

A draw would merely prolong the uncertainty. Only a good run of results, starting with a win against Chelsea could help him secure his position now.

Anything short of maximum points in December, especially during the critical Christmas period of three matches in a week will see the owners finally seeing the reality of how far a former thuggish player on the field and manager of a rough-it-up defensive team (read Blackburn) can take this billion-dollar club.

City have only lost once this season, but equally they have now not won in seven, with all of those games ending in draws. It's definitely not the form of title challengers – just ask Liverpool about last season – and in fact it's barely the form of Europa League challengers.

That's not the ideal way to gear up for a game against the only team that has most consistently looked like champions this season. If the respective form of both City and Chelsea continues in Manchester tonight, then Carlo Ancelotti's side will make the pretenders look foolish.

While Arsenal’s victors on Wednesday are likely to lose, the Gunners themselves must start to re-group before their season self-destructs. Wenger's problems this week have mounted with the news that England winger Walcott has picked up a hamstring injury and will miss the clash against Stoke City tonight.

No one can deny that Arsenal play the most entertaining football in England, and is one of the top three entertaining sides in Europe. But until Wenger gets the toughness to match the flair, title success will be pending.

No matter how technically gifted your players are, you still need physical presence. Barcelona know this and so they bought Eric Abidal, Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Yaya Toure.

The Gunners’ success under Wenger was built on a rock solid defence featuring Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Sol Campbell, and the great defensive midfield qualities of Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Gilberto. The players were taller and tougher overall back then and it seems crazy to me that Wenger appears to have forgotten this.

When Arsenal had bookings left, right and centre, as well as red cards galore, they still played beautiful football and often won games with 10 men but they did provide a more sustained, consistent challenge for honours.

Stoke will obviously not provide the same footballing threat as Chelsea, but may come close to the physical one. They barged three points away from Arsenal at the Britannia around this time last year, and on the evidence of last weekend’s performance there's a real danger of that happening again.

Not to mention, Stoke have already won on their last visit to North London this season, with a smash-and-grab win over Tottenham Hotspur in October.

Arsenal simply have to win this game, if only to stop a mini-slump that has seen them lose – worse, lose without scoring – the three domestic games they have played since Robin van Persie was ruled out for the majority of the season.

Of course, there's a better than decent chance that their passing play and creativity will be too much for Stoke, but Wenger should realise that it is no longer enough.

Another team facing a tricky tie this week is Manchester United (MU). They travel to Upton Park to play a West Ham United side that is currently eighth in the EPL form guide after a tricky start to the season.

Gianfranco Zola may have been an occasional thorn in MU’s side in his playing days, but he is yet to damage the Red Devils as a manager. The term inconsistency is one that can certainly be applied to the Hammers.

Their 5-3 victory over Burnley last week was only their third win of this campaign and they currently lie seventeenth in the league table. West Ham's failure to keep a clean sheet since August will also encourage MU, especially after their 3-0 and 4-1 wins against Everton and Portsmouth in the past two weeks.

MU have no fresh injury problems from the mid-week Carling Cup tie, but the existing ones remain at the back – John O’Shea, Jonny Evans and Rio Ferdinand will all miss the clash. However, having seen the brilliant display put up by Wes Brown and Nemanja Vidic against Spurs in mid-week, MU need not be worried by injuries at the back.

Also, with Alex Ferguson back in the dug-out, expect a solid display from his boys as they keep Chelsea in sight. The defending champions should keep up their good form this week with another 2-goals plus margin of victory.