Key events
Arsenal are unchanged from last weekend’s North London derby. Well, if it ain’t broke. Club captain Martin Ødegaard and Ben White miss out altogether.
Chelsea are coming off the back of a disappointing 1-1 home draw with Burnley, and make two changes. One is enforced, with Wesley Fofana suspended; Mamadou Sarr takes his place. Meanwhile Jorrel Hato comes in for Malo Gusto, who drops to the bench.
The teams
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Rice, Zubimendi, Eze, Saka, Trossard, Gyokeres.
Subs: Kepa, Mosquera, Jesus, Martinelli, Norgaard, Madueke, Havertz, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly.
Chelsea: Sanchez, James, Sarr, Chalobah, Hato, Caicedo, Santos, Palmer, Fernandez, Neto, Pedro.
Subs: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Tosin, Badiashile, Gusto, Lavia, Garnacho, Delap, Guiu.
Referee: Darren England
VAR: John Brooks
Preamble
Yesterday evening, this happened …
… and now the table looks like this …
… so Arsenal will be feeling the pressure all right, even though they’re on a three-game winning run in this particular fixture, which includes a record-breaking 5-0 win, and haven’t lost to Chelsea for ten matches in all competitions, a sequence that stretches back to August 2021. But that’s the unique pressure of the title race for you. Arsenal dealt with all of these emotions last weekend against Spurs wonderfully; against Wolves a few days previously, not so much. Let’s see which way they go today. Kick-off is at 4.30pm GMT. It’s on!
