Match Preview: Chelsea vs Arsenal
Written by Jacob Burt
We head to Stamford Bridge on Sunday as we face Chelsea and look to return to winning ways before the final international break of the year.
Both teams will enter this game following contrasting results in Europe. We suffered a 1-0 defeat on Wednesday when we faced Inter in the UEFA Champions League. Chelsea, who compete in the UEFA Conference League, faced Armenian Premier League side Noah. They put eight goals past them on Thursday night.
Nonetheless, we both sit on 18 points in the Premier League after ten games. Three points are vital as we aim to put pressure on Liverpool and Manchester City going into the final international break of 2024.
Our recent record at Stamford Bridge is excellent, having not lost in our last five games there since 2018 (W3 D2).
Resurgent Blues
After guiding Chelsea to a sixth-place finish in the 23/24 season, Mauricio Pochettino left by mutual consent after just one season in charge.
Chelsea replaced Pochettino with Enzo Maresca, who signed from Championship-winning side Leicester in June. Maresca made 200 million pounds worth of signings in his first summer in charge, hoping to push on from their sixth-place finish last season.
With only two defeats in their opening ten games, Chelsea have found themselves inside the top four. Only the top two, Liverpool and Manchester City, have beaten Chelsea since the Italian took reign.
Chelsea have only won two of their five home games in the league this season, failing to keep a clean sheet in any.
Maresca has chosen to make use of his huge squad in the Conference League by leaving out key players like Cole Palmer and regularly making 11 changes. Nevertheless, it hasn't held Chelsea back as they currently sit top of the Conference League with maximum points, scoring 16 goals in just three games.
Last Season at the Bridge
Goals from Rice and Trossard maintained our unbeaten start to the season as we came back from two goals down.
We arrived at Stamford Bridge looking to win four consecutive league games against Chelsea for the first time in our history.
Chelsea had the better of the game in the opening 45 minutes and were handed the opportunity to take the lead from the spot. The ball struck the arm of Saliba and after a lengthy period of play, Chris Kavanagh was sent to the pitchside monitor where he awarded the penalty.
Cole Palmer sent David Raya the wrong way and fired Chelsea into an early lead.
Just after the second half had kicked off, Mykhailo Mudryk caught David Raya off his line and doubled his team's lead.
With less than 15 minutes to play, our unbeaten start looked destined to vanish. However, a weak pass from Chelsea keeper Sanchez found Declan Rice, who smashed home a curling effort from 30-yards out.
This sparked inspiration within the team and just seven minutes later Saka sent in a teasing ball towards the back post that Trossard managed to convert.
We had to settle for a hard-fought draw that kept us undefeated at Stamford Bridge for five consecutive games.
What the managers say
Mikel Arteta:
On whether he's had to lift the players after recent results: "When you don't win it affects the mood and energy, but the positive thing is that it is impossible that anyone wants to win more than I do, and these guys in the dressing room do."
On what he's made of Chelsea's progress: "Really impressed about what Maresca's done, but what they've done over a year because with Mauricio [Pochettino] the last six months were extraordinary."
Enzo Maresca:
On if they will change anything for Arsenal on Sunday: "We're always looking for something different, no matter if it's Arsenal or another team, to see how we can attack and defend in the right way."
On if they are missing that 'statement' win: "For sure, I would like to win this kind of game. But since we started, I've always said the same that – for sure I analyse the result but first of all, I analyse the performance."
Team News
Declan Rice did not travel with the squad to Milan on Wednesday because of a toe problem and Arteta stated "there is no clarity on whether he's going to be fit for the weekend."
Kai Havertz suffered a nasty cut to the head against Inter and Arteta revealed that "we'll have to wait to see how he reacts."
Sterling is unavailable as he is on loan and cannot face his parent club.
Maresca announced that Cole Palmer is "getting better" and "hopefully we can have him for the session at least on Saturday" after he suffered an injury against Manchester United last Sunday.
Statistics and Facts
We have triumphed in three of our last four league trips to Stamford Bridge (D1), as many victories as we recorded in our previous 20 (D7 L10).
Chelsea striker Nicholas Jackson has 12 goal involvements in Premier League London derbies since the start of last season.
Since Palmer joined Chelsea last year, no player has more home goals in the Premier League (21).
Chelsea have won just one of their last nine Premier League games against us (D2 L6).
Chelsea's last three Premier League defeats have come against last season's top three sides. They're unbeaten in their last 21 matches against all other teams, winning 14 and drawing seven, while scoring 57 goals – an average of 2.7 per game.
We could suffer three straight away defeats in the Premier League for the first time since December 2021.
Match Officials
Michael Oliver will take charge of our match against Chelsea. It will be the third match he has officiated for us this season.
He has not officiated a Chelsea match this season. The last time he did, they won 1-3 away at Crystal Palace.
He was the referee for our 0-2 win over Aston Villa and our 2-2 draw against Manchester City.
He sent off Trossard in the first half of our match against Manchester City for a second bookable offence. This is the only red card he has shown this season.
He has an average of 5.33 cards per game in the Premier League this season.
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistants: Stuart Burt, James Mainwaring
Fourth Official: Andy Madley
VAR: Paul Tierney
Assistant VAR: Richard West