Premier League Preview: Chelsea vs Arsenal

Written By Jacobs Dunga

Chelsea may have bowed out of the Champions League as they failed at the quarter final hurdle in the defence of the title they won last season but their ouster wasn’t short of a spirited fight as they gallantly fought in vain to overturn the first leg deficit against the record champions. The Blues however buried the disappointment of the UCL as they saw off Crystal Palace 2-0 at Wembley to book yet another final date against Liverpool in the FA Cup.

Thomas Tuchel’s men host Arsenal in a London derby on Wednesday having already picked up a 2-0 victory in the reverse fixture earlier in the season. Chelsea are more than assured of a place in next season’s Champions League as they comfortably sit in third place with five points over fourth placed Tottenham and having two games in hand. The European champions will look to pound further misery on Arsenal who are looking for their first win in four games.

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Arsenal this time last month looked like they were giving third place a chase after consecutive victories in the league, Mikel Arteta’s men are however farther from fourth than the distance they have to travel for this fixture. The Gunners have seen their Champions League aspirations hit a snag with three consecutive losses which now see them sit sixth on the log with a game in hand. Arteta’s season will be measured on the decision to let Aubameyang leave for free should they fail to make the top four and the Spanish coach might see himself under pressure from the owners. Arsenal are looking to avoid a third consecutive London derby defeat away from home for the first time in their history while a victory for the Gunners will mean Chelsea have now lost three consecutive games at home for the first time in 29 years which makes for an interesting matchup.

TEAM NEWS

Mateo Kovacic is ruled out after sustaining an ankle problem in the win over Crystal Palace in the FA Cup.

Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney are ruled out of the tie on Wednesday.

Ben Chilwell and Callum Hudson Odoi are still out to long term injuries.

Alexandre Lacazette has tested positive to Covid-19 while Takehiro Tomiyasu could be back for the tie.

STYLE

Thomas Tuchel is an admirer of the three man defence and he seems to have found the best balance with playing two energetic midfielders rather than a deep lying playmaker. His 3-4-2-1 set up has been yielding positive results and we should expect no changes to his line up come Wednesday night.

Mikel Arteta has alternated between different formations of late which makes it difficult to predict what setup will be adopted by the Spaniard coach. The most probable line up against Chelsea would however be a 4-2-3-1 which offers more balance to the North London side.

FORM

Chelsea are known for going on winning runs, they were on their way to a seventh consecutive win after losing on penalties to Liverpool in the EFL Cup final before Brentford pulled a shocker by running away 4-1 victors at the Bridge followed by another 3-1 defeat at the hands of Real Madrid after which they’ve won three on the bounce.

Arsenal have suddenly found themselves back in the same form as beginning of the season where they lost three consecutive games. The Gunners failed to score a single goal in the first three games of the season which ended in losses and after going on a five game winning streak, Arteta’s men have lost four of the last five matches.