The first London Derby of the new season sees Arsenal host Chelsea at the Emirate stadium with pressure already on the Gunners to cause an upset.
After enduring a turbulent campaign last term, Mikel Arteta and his side would have been hoping for a positive start to the new season, yet they’ve ultimately put themselves under more pressure following a desperately disappointing defeat to newly-promoted Brentford in the Premier League’s last weekend.
The £50m arrival of Ben White wasnt able to prevent the 2-0 opening-day defeat at newly-promoted Brentford and Arsenal must pick themselves up quickly if they are to better last season’s eighth-placed finish.
Chelsea comfortably beat Crystal Palace 3-0 with Marcos Alonso finding the back of the net before Pulisic added one more to make it 2-nil at half-time. Trevoh Chalobah wonderful goal put the nail on the coffin and make sure Patrick Viera’s men left the Stamford Bridge on empty handed.
Chelsea travel to Emirate on Sunday to look for revenge over the Gunners after Arteta’s side surprisingly completed a league double over them last season.
Arsenal vs Chelsea-Team News
Arsenal
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette both missed the trip to Brentford due to illness, and Arteta is unsure whether the forwards will be available for this weekend.
Auba tested positive for Covid-19 and was unavailable for last Friday’s match at Brentford and he’s now negative on Covid-19 testing, and will be assessed prior to Sunday’s match while Lacazette misses out.
Eddie Nketiah(ankle injury) , Thomas Partey (ankle) and Gabriel (knee) are also sidelined. Willian And Runnarson are still recovering from Covid-19 alongside Lacazette. Arteta could be tempted to deploy Gabriel Martinelli up top with Bukayo Saka coming on in the flank for his first start of the season.
The Gunners will be buoyed by the imminent arrival of playmaker Martin Odegaard, and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale who have both passed their Medical ahead of dreams move to the Emirate.
Chelsea
Chelsea club-record signing, Lukaku, has declared himself fit to face the Gunners, with the only question mark over whether he will start or come off the bench for his second debut for the Blues.
N’Golo Kante should be back from an ankle injury, though Ruben Loftus-Cheek is out after testing positive for Covid-19 – and Hakim Ziyech is recovering from the shoulder injury he picked up in the Super Cup win.
Trevoh Chalobah has started the season on with a memorable performance and could start once again here – though Tuchel may be tempted to bring back Azpilicueta as Right Central Back .
Arsenal VS Chelsea – Predicted Lineups
Arsenal
Arsenal Predicted Lineup(4-2-3-1): Leno; Chambers, White, Mari , Tierney; Xhaka, Lokonga; Saka, Smith Rowe, Pepe; Martinelli
Chelsea Predicted Lineup (3-4-3): Mendy; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger; James, Kante, Jorginho, Alonso ; Mount, Werner, Harvetz
Arsenal VS Chelsea – Key Players
Arsenal – Bukayo Saka
After being named on the bench for Arsenal’s opener, Bukayo Saka is expected to start against Chelsea. The England international was the Gunners’ standout player last season with five goals and four assists in the Premier League.
The young Englishman was part of the Euro squad that lost to Italy in Final and will certainly take confidence of being in the Euro squad despite missing the last penalty that gave Italy the win over England.
The Gunners lack creativity from midfield and Saka is expected to test the Chelsea defence with his speed and dribbling ability. He Scored against the Blues last season and will be one of the players to cause problem for the Tuchel’s men.
Chelsea – Kai Harvetz
With the Summer Signing, Romelu Lukaku, likely to start from the bench.
Harvetz, the £72M German international, who was signed from Bayern Leverkusen, shut down his critics with his sensational run towards the end of last season, is likely to lead the Line on Sunday.
Kai Harvetz Scored the first goal in the pre-season against the Gunners and is one of the Key players to look ahead to in the London’s fixture.
The Champions League goalscorer is expected to put the fight against the Gunners.
With the System that relies on the Fullbacks, Kieran Tierney and Marcos Alonso are expected to keep the ginger on the flanks.
Arsenal VS Chelsea – Prediction
On paper, Chelsea are firm favourites for this derby – but given Arsenal won both meetings last season, it is unwise to back a comprehensive victory.
- Arsenal won both of their Premier League matches against Chelsea last season, last winning three in a row against the Blues in the competition between January 2003 and February 2004.
- Chelsea have only won three of their last 14 games against Arsenal in all competitions (D5 L6), losing each of their last three games against the Gunners (2020 FA Cup final, both 2020-21 Premier League meetings) @optajoe
Much will depend on out-form Arsenal striker, Aubameyang, who is doubtful for the match as Arsenal looked short of attacking ideas against Brentford in his absence. The World record signing, Nicolas Pepe, could also cause upset for Chelsea on the flanks.
Despite all these, The World Champions have enough firepower to overcome their London Rivals in an hard-fought victory.
Lukaku will be hoping to hit the ground running against Arsenal and fancy his chances of dominating the Arsenal back-line by coming off the bench to score the winning goal.
Arsenal 1:2 Chelsea
Possible Goalscorers : Pepe ; Harvetz, Lukaku