The striker ended a barren spell with a hat trick against Lech Poznan, a nice way to warm up for the hotly-anticipated visit of the Gunners, against whom he scored a memorable goal in last season’s corresponding fixture.
The first of his Thursday night strikes featured one of the more unusual goal celebrations you will ever see, which Ade was happy to explain:
“I felt that bad luck had been following me, I couldn’t shoot straight so after that first goal I told myself I had to wash myself of this bad luck. I’ve done that in the Europa League, now I hope to wash myself in the Premier League against Arsenal on Sunday!”
It’s the right moment to play Arsenal. I know they scored five in the Champions League and they’re playing good football, but if we show character and personality, fight for every ball and show our togetherness we have a chance.
“We’re at home, and last season at home we found it quite easy. It won’t be so easy this time, they have got Chamakh up front and we’ll have to be careful. If we just have to play our football and stick together, no matter what happens.
“We are in top form, and that is what is going to make it even more exciting. We have only lost once in the league this season, but Arsenal are good and a team that love to pass it around. Carlos is scoring, I’m back on the goal sheet so everything is there to make it a beautiful game.”
The Blues go into Sunday’s match having won their last four league games in a row, and Ade accepts that even though his personal form is back to near its best, he won’t be taking his place in the side for granted.
“We’re doing well, in a good position to play Arsenal at home when we’re second in the league,” he adds. “We’ve got the players here, and I’m delighted to be part of what’s going on.
“All of the players knew it was going to be very difficult during the season. Today you play, tomorrow you could be sitting on the bench or maybe not even in the squad. That’s football - that’s life! We are used to it, so the most important thing is to keep believing in what we love doing the most, which is playing football, enjoy ourselves and keep working hard.
“I think that’s what I’ve been doing, and I think everybody else was pleased for me. I’d been working hard in training to get my form back, a striker who’s not scoring always needs confidence for his first goal, once it came the others came quite easily. I hope there’s a lot more to come.”
