Kalidou Koulibaly says Francesco Calzona helped his during his time at Chelsea
Talking to the media (h/t Evening Standard), Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly believes his team are prepared to take on league leaders Arsenal on Sunday after beating Dinamo Zagreb in the midweek.
The Blues suffered their first defeat under Graham Potter last weekend at the hands of Brighton and Hove Albion. At the time, people would have been sceptical of how this team would fare against the Gunners on Sunday.
Koulibaly thinks the 2-1 victory over Zagreb on Wednesday was an ideal preparation to face Mikel Arteta’s men at Stamford Bridge. Currently, the Blues are 10 points behind their London rivals after 12 games each.
Here’s what the Senegal international said regarding the game and his team’s preparation (h/t Evening Standard):
“We played well and it prepared the game well for Sunday. Saturday can happen [against Brighton], to have a loss, but this is what is good that you can give a positive answer and we did that. We now have to think about Sunday as it will be a tough game against a nice team.”
“[Arsenal] is a nice team, a tough team, they are winning. We know they have a lot of talents. They played together for years now. You can see it on the pitch. We will try to do our best on Sunday to win this game but it will be tough.”
Chelsea have generally been in good form since Potter took over as the manager. But, the league form reads two draws and a defeat in the last three games. They would want to put things right against Arsenal.
If they manage to beat the league leaders, it would not only boost their confidence but also cut the gap between them and the London rivals as we get closer to the World Cup break of the season.
Koulibaly recovered from injury and started against Zagreb. He has been in good form in recent weeks after a slow start to life at Stamford Bridge. He would expect a tough test against a dynamic forward line of the Gunners.
Although the kick-off time of this game is weirdly noon on a Sunday, we can expect the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge to be great for this encounter. The home side could do with their fans becoming the 12th man and helping them get over the line.
The Blues will face another top-four contender Newcastle United next weekend, so this is an important eight days for Potter’s men.
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