Arsenal and Chelsea both win as the build up to the FA Cup Final continues

In the last two days Arsenal and Chelsea both won important Premier League matches as the two FA Cup Finalists continue their preparations before they meet at the last staging post of The Road to Wembley from Scotland on Saturday May 27^th 2017.

Arsenal simply to refuse to accept that they will not finish in the top four in the Premier League. They could still defy the odds and qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season. Every time it looks as if they have blown their last chance they seem to be granted another last chance by their rivals. With Liverpool dropping points it meant that a win against Manchester United at the Emirates would re-ignite the smallest of a dying flame that lights the way towards possible Champions League entry. On Sunday they did their best to fan that flame by beating United. It was a result that delighted the former Red Devil Mancunian Danny Wellbeck now playing his trade with The Gunners.

Well well well - Man United beaten. Wellbeck is well happy and Sanchez is well pleased

In a match where there was very little between the sides the game was decided early in the second half when Arsenal scored 2 goals in quick succession and then hung on to run out 2-0 winners. The first goal was scored by the Swiss international Granit Xhaka with the aid of a big deflection and the second was a powerful header from Wellbeck.

I feel for you Jose. Who can score for Arsenal? Xhaka can!

The result means that if Arsenal win their last four games they might just sneak into the top four. Their next test is tomorrow night when they take on Southampton. They then travel to Stoke on Saturday and they know that they must win both games to keep their top four dream alive. The Gunners have a lot of football to play before they take on Chelsea at Wembley at the end of the month.

In the blog posts over the last month I have lamented the fact that firstly Arsenal, then Man City and now Chelsea have no Scots in their current squads. Indeed it has been reported in this blog that it has been over 10 years since a Scot played for any of these teams. What about the other 3 teams (Man United, Liverpool and Spurs) in the big six I wondered. I am pretty sure that the last Scot to play for any of England’s elite sextet was Dalkeith’s finest, Darren Fletcher. However, it is well over two years since he left Man United. This Scottish drought was sort-of brought to an end in the game on Sunday. Scott McTominay a 20 year old born in Lancaster, but qualified to play for Scotland (and will – soon) by his lineage, came on a sub to make his debut for the Red Devils. Maybe a rare shaft of sunlight in an otherwise dreich and leaden Caledonian sky.

Scott McTominay: The first 'Scot' to play for one of England's elite clubs for more than two years

Last night the final Premier League match of the weekend was played out on ‘Monday Night Football’ on Sky TV. Chelsea showed Middlesbrough no mercy in this fixture and walloped them 3-0. The goals were scored Diego Costa, Alonso and Matic. The zealous English football media have gone into a tailspin interpreting Costa’s wave to the crowd after scoring as a wave goodbye hinting that he may be leaving in the summer. I am not so sure.

Waving goodbye of just waving? Ugly bloke Costa salutes the Chelsea faithful

In these e-pages I have described Costa as ‘an ugly bloke with a talent’ and also as ‘spectacularly ugly’. He does possess a face that only a mother could love. On Sunday at the Hearts v Aberdeen game I was sitting beside my good pal octogenarian Mary ‘Mary Doll’ Hope and she reckons that I am being a bit harsh. She says that Costa is not ugly at all and in fact looks a little vulnerable! I have heard the scary-faced Diego described as many things but never before as vulnerable. Nice one Mary Doll.

Next up for Chelsea are West Brom on Friday night and if they beat The Baggies in the Black Country they will win the Premier League with two games to spare and hence be able to focus fully on the FA Cup Final. Will Arsenal sink Southampton and then stun Stoke? Will Chelsea be frigid or frighteningly good on Friday night? Come back here for the answers to these questions and much more as the build up to the FA Cup Final continues … and … keep reading.