Arsenal’s Bacary Sagna spoke to French newspaper Le Parisien in an article titled “Stamford Bridge, heaven or hell?”. The French international was honest and told the paper that “Stamford Bridge is intimidating” and that he clearly does not enjoy playing there. This must be particularly true when the Blues are lead by Jose Mourinho as he has never been defeated by Sagna’s current manager Arsene Wenger.
Bacary Sagna’s comments on Stamford Bridge:
"“Stamford Bridge is intimidating. The pitch is small and the spectators are very close. There is a lot of intimidation and agitation. You really hear the chants and whistles. There are not many, but they noise is like they were twice as many.”"
Stamford Bridge is a relatively large stadium for the Premier League with a capacity of 41,798, making it the eighth largest in the league. However that capacity is dwarfed by stadiums like Arsenal’s Emirates (60,361) or Manchester United’s Old Trafford which seats 75,731. The fans at Stamford Bridge are closer to the action than at many other grounds and that makes for an impressive noise factor and homefield advantage for the Blues.
Former Arsenal player Robert Pires has backed the traveling PSG support to help their team through a potentially rough night at Stamford Bridge and said, “The PSG players will need to hear the support of their fans. They will be pressurised immediately and encouragement of their fans will be very important. This allows you to get your head above water in face of the pressure created inside the stadium”.
So Chelsea faithful at Stamford Bridge, you have a relatively straightforward task ahead of you, sing and cheer louder than the folks from France and help your boys in blue move on the next round. So sing loud and proud, put away your phones and iPads, and cheer your heart out!
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