Liam Rosenior speaks to Sky Sports. “We’re in a decent shape … we’ve created a really good connection with the players … but for a few lapses of concentration it would be ten wins out of 12 and would put us in a really good spot … we have many games to go and improvements to make … overall it’s been a decent start for me and my staff … we have different ways to play and different shapes … those two games in the League Cup were very early when I came in … we had a lot of injuries … those team-sheets were very different to today’s team-sheet.”
Pre-match reading. And plenty of it.
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, making his Premier League debut, takes his place. Meanwhile Jorrel Hato comes in for Malo Gusto, who drops to the bench.
Updated
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
Updated
Preamble
Yesterday evening, this happened …
… and now the table looks like this …
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 28 | 35 | 61 |
| 2 | Man City | 28 | 32 | 59 |
| 3 | Aston Villa | 28 | 8 | 51 |
… 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!
