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Chelsea vs Arsenal Match Preview: Team News, Prediction, Lineups

Published

3 years ago

November 5, 2022

Chelsea vs Arsenal Match Preview: Team News, Prediction, Lineups

Chelsea host Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon in a London derby, a potential revenge game for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Chelsea will be looking to suppress high-flying Gunners as the Blues deal with a mountain of injuries, but I’ve just got a funny feeling about this game. Arsenal was pretty poor against FC Zurich on Thursday and outside of the second half against Nottingham Forest, their performances have trended downward in the past couple of weeks.

The Gunners certainly won’t fear Potter’s Blues, but the home side will be desperate to respond from last week’s shellacking on the South Coast.

Thus, a tough outing is in store for Arteta’s side, who I fancy to start Sunday’s contest brightly before fading in the second period.

The tactical battle between a pair of meticulous managers should be enthralling, but I fancy Potter to get the edge and secure the biggest win of his short tenure so far.

Arsenal

Victory for the Gunners against Nottingham Forest last Sunday saw them return to the top of the table and they’ll have their eyes on securing another major scalp this weekend. Graham Potter was beaten for the first time as Chelsea boss at his former club Brighton last Saturday and the new Blues incumbent is currently dealing with an injury crisis at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal, meanwhile, are on the mend and they’ve had joy on this ground in recent times.

Triumph at the Bridge would send yet another statement out to the rest of the division as Mikel Arteta’s side seek to head into the World Cup break as league leaders. Manchester City are hot on their heels, while Chelsea are ten points adrift and down in sixth.

Is Chelsea ready for this Derby?

Having acknowledged that his team did not match Brighton’s intensity in the opening stages of last weekend’s Premier League defeat at Brighton, Potter is looking for that lesson to have been learned when we take on the league leaders.

‘If you don’t do that in any game, it’s a challenge for us,’ he pointed out. ‘It was a unique situation at the weekend and now we have to learn from that and be ready for a London derby. It’s a special game. It’s an exciting game. We have to be ready to play the football that can get us a result.’

When it comes to energy levels on Sunday, Chelsea will have had an extra day of recovery from our Champions League match, with Arsenal in Europa League action on Thursday night.

The fact that we’ve all been playing so much, it’s almost like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic to a certain extent, it’s just not that big a deal,’ said the Potter on the difference in the schedule.

‘But it’s helpful in a way the extra 24 hours, we take what we can at this at this point of the season. We’re all used to the quick turnaround, we’re used to short space in between games, but any time you have you have to use it well.’

If Chelsea did not already have enough defensive absentees to worry about with long-term knee victims Wesley Fofana and Reece James – as well as midfield duo N’Golo Kante (thigh) and Carney Chukwuemeka (hamstring) – Ben Chilwell had to come off with a hamstring injury in the win over Zagreb.

The sight of the left-back limping off the pitch was bad news for both Chelsea and England fans, who will now have to await for the results of a scan, but Chilwell will definitely be absent on Sunday.

Potter has already ruled Kepa Arrizabalaga out of contention too, so Edouard Mendy will keep his place in goal, and Mateo Kovacic should be fine to return to the engine room after missing out as a precaution in midweek with a tight calf.

Zakaria’s strong debut ended with a minor contact injury, which should not rule him out of this game, but Potter may be hesitant to throw the Juventus loanee in the deep end and give him his first Premier League start against the league leaders, so Kovacic’s return to the first XI would not be a surprise.

As for Arsenal, fans witnessed the familiar yet painful sight of Takehiro Tomiyasu coming off injured in the dying embers of the win over Zurich. The severity of the defender’s muscular issue is still unclear, but it would be a shock to see him line up here.

Emile Smith Rowe – who has scored in each of Arsenal’s last two wins at Stamford Bridge – is still out after undergoing groin surgery, and a problem in the same area could also force Matt Turner out of contention, but Arteta was handed two major boosts in midweek.

The injury that Saka sustained against Nottingham Forest was only a minor one, and he was able to come on as a substitute in the Europa League, while Oleksandr Zinchenko was finally back in the squad after a troublesome calf injury.

Zinchenko did not earn any minutes as Tierney produced a man-of-the-match performance, which has certainly given Arteta food for thought here, but the Ukrainian’s ability to help overload the midfield could ultimately win over, assuming he is deemed fit enough to start.