Arsenal host Chelsea to kick off the stretch run of the Premier League season. The Gunners have 10 league matches remaining and sit ahead of Manchester City by two points. Chelsea are 6th, three points behind Liverpool and Manchester United, with today’s match in hand. Liam Rosenoir’s side needs this one as much as Mikel Arteta’s team does.
Chelsea have done well enough with Rosenoir at the helm but have stumbled to two consecutive draws in the Premier League. The Gunners convincingly beat the Blues
in the Carabao Cup Semifinal, winning 3-2 at Stamford Bridge, a scoreline that flattered Chelsea, and 1-0 at the Emirates in a strange contest where Rosenoir set his side up to play extremely conservatively for most of the match despite needing to score a goal to level the tie and two goals to advance.
Arsenal have the measure of Chelsea lately, unbeaten in 10-straight matches in all competitions (7W, 3D). The sides played to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge earlier this season in the Premier League, and as mentioned above, Arsenal knocked Chelsea out of the Carabao Cup in the semifinal a few weeks ago. “Conventional” sports wisdom says that it is tough to beat a team three times in a season. It feels like Chelsea are due for one against Arsenal. From the stats side of things, (very) generally, if you’ve been beating a team, all else held equal, you’re likely to continue beating them.
The Gunners hadn’t been particularly convincing in the Premier League before thrashing Spurs last weekend 4-1. The attack has plodded along without Martin Ødegaard and/or Kai Havertz pulling the strings. The defense, which was elite earlier in the season, have been making mistakes that have cost goals and points. I’d like to chalk most of it up to fatigue and hope that with a full week of recovery and training (rather than a match every 3-4 days) Mikel Arteta and Arsenal will be able to sort out some of the issues. On the other hand at this point of the season, everyone is tired, banged up, and playing lots of games. It’s about finding ways to win.
Kai Havertz, who has missed the last four games with a muscle injury, is expected to be available for selection, likely off the bench. Ben White missed out against Tottenham with a “little niggle” according to Mikel Arteta may be available, too. Bukayo Saka was subbed off against Spurs but was not mentioned all week as having any injury concerns and should be good to go. Arsenal will be without Mikel Merino, who is likely out for the season. Max Dowman will also miss out but the youngster played for the U21s on Friday and is working towards returning to the first team.
Marc Cucurella is expected back from his hamstring injury soon but will not be available today. Jamie Gittens and Estevao are both out for Chelsea with thigh injuries. Wesley Fofana is suspended following his red card against Burnley. Levi Colwill tore his ACL in early August and may not be back before the end of the season.
Arsenal –
Chelsea –
WHO: Arsenal vs Chelsea
WHERE: The Emirates Stadium, London
WHEN: Sunday, March 1st, 11:30am EST/8:30am PST/4:30pm GMT
HOW TO WATCH: Streaming on Peacock
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