Lay off Ashley Cole! He is the reason we have Gael Clichy!

We have been getting some stick as well some praises from readers about our position on A. Cole’s return to Arsenal – if he plays.

Lay off Ashley. He made his decision and that is his prerogative. We should thank him for his services to the club and also for creating the space for Clichy to blossom!

It’s like when you break up with your girlfriend. Move on... Don't begrudge it when you see her with another guy! Time will show if she made the right decision but you have to get on your life and get another partner!

Don't you think that Gael Clichy is a beautiful footballer? He probably wouldn’t be there if Ashley stayed on. So thank Ashley for it!

Gael is in our opinion a much better player than Ashley was at this stage of his career.

We all knew when the Ashley Cole dispute with Arsenal was going on that he was not going to be a big loss! During Clichy’s appearances for Arsenal it was obvious that he would fill Cole’s boots more than adequately.

And his temperament is calm and focused which minimizes the number of mistakes such a young player is bound to make. He also has fantastic pace and this also allows him to recover if he is exposed which is usually due to his lack of positional awareness. Something that will improve with experience.

But developing left backs with the characteristics apparent in Clichy and Cole (short, pacy, tenacious, good in defence, offensively minded and with dribbling skills going forward) are one of Wenger’s specialties!

Look at Armando Traore!

What we said on Friday in our preview for today’s game still holds! Chelsea have to go for a win. And this will suit Arsenal even more as the opponents are not likely to park buses in front of their goal. An open game always suits the better and more footballing side!