The Premier League’s top two meet at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon, with Chelsea aiming to close the gap on table-toppers Arsenal to three points.
The London rivals enter what feels like the most significant iteration of this fixture in years off the back of stellar midweek victories over European behemoths. Chelsea produced their standout performance of the Enzo Maresca era so far to beat Barcelona 3–0, while Arsenal were once again convincing in their 3–1 win over the previously unbeaten Bayern Munich.
Many will now argue that Mikel Arteta’s side are currently Europe’s best team, but the Spaniard will know that titles aren’t won in November. Still, should they prevail here, the Gunners will open up a seven-point gap at the Premier League’s summit.
The Blues, meanwhile, usurped Manchester City in the table after the Cityzens were beaten 2–1 by Newcastle United last Saturday. Earlier on, they’d cruised to a 2–0 victory at Burnley.
Now, though, they’re searching for a rare triumph over the north Londoners. Their last win in this fixture arrived in August 2021, when Romelu Lukaku was scoring goals for a Thomas Tuchel-led Chelsea.
Chelsea’s outstanding performance against Barcelona will mean it’ll be hard for Maresca to make changes to his starting XI, but the opponent is crucial in determining the Italian’s personnel, and he’ll likely shuffle a few things around on Sunday.
João Pedro is set to come back into the team, having been an unused substitute on Tuesday, but Maresca will have to decide whether to use the Brazilian as a No. 10 or as a withdrawn centre forward. It may be worth having a presence in Liam Delap up top against this Arsenal defence.
Estêvão surely has to start down the right, but Maresca also has Cole Palmer to call upon. The Englishman trained ahead of the Barça game and is be ready to start if needs be this weekend.
Levi Colwill, Roméo Lavia and Dário Essugo remain sidelined for the hosts.
Arsenal have gradually welcomed back their attacking stars from injury since the November international break, with Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli among those to recover. Both were on the scoresheet against Bayern.
However, Leandro Trossard was forced off with a knock on Wednesday night and is a doubt for Sunday’s game. Arteta is also unlikely to have Viktor Gyökeres available for this one, while Kai Havertz will return at some point next month. Gabriel Jesus is close to making his long-awaited comeback from a knee injury.
Piero Hincapié and Riccardo Calafiori are poised to return to the left side of Arsenal’s stout defence, while captain Martin Ødegaard could come back into the engine room with Eberechi Eze drifting out wide.
