Chelsea
host Arsenal in the first part of Super Sunday knowing a victory will heap
more pressure on Arsene Wenger’s shoulders.
Arsenal have not won any of the last 13 Premier League away games against
last season's top-six teams and have suffered defeats on seven of their last
eight visits to Stamford Bridge.
Wenger last tasted victory on the road against one of the big boys nearly
1000 days ago when they saw off Manchester City 2-0 in 2015.
Despite winning the FA Cup in May, the heat is already being turned up on
Wenger after the Gunners suffered two straight league defeats on the road
against Liverpool and Stoke.
The last time they lost their opening three league away games was in 1954.
Chelsea - the Premier League champions - have been ticking over nicely since
their opening weekend defeat at home to Burnley.
Victories against Tottenham, Everton and Leicester followed which have put
Antonio Conte's men in a strong position going into this intriguing clash.
Team news
Chelsea midfielder Danny Drinkwater is expected to be out until the October
international break.
Drinkwater was an unused substitute against his former club Leicester last
Saturday and missed the midweek Champions League win over Qarabag with a
calf problem which means he could be out for four weeks.
Chelsea are likely to rotate their options after making changes for the
Qarabag contest, with playmaker Eden Hazard in contention to start for the
Blues for the first time this season.
Arsenal are likely to recall a host of first-team regulars for the short
trip.
Wenger made nine alterations for the Europa League win over Cologne but the
likes of Petr Cech, Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny and Alexandre Lacazette
will all return to the squad at Stamford Bridge.
Alexis Sanchez will feature after playing the whole game on Thursday night,
where Theo Walcott (calf) hobbled off. Francis Coquelin (hamstring) and
Santi Cazorla (ankle) are definitely out.
Opta stats
After winning just four of the previous 16, Chelsea have won their last five
home Premier League games against Arsenal, since a 3-5 defeat in October
2011.
The Gunners haven't kept a Premier League clean sheet at Stamford Bridge in
their last 12 visits there, shipping at least twice in each of the eight.
Arsenal have lost their last five away Premier League games versus Chelsea,
their joint-longest away losing run in the competition against a single
opponent (also 5 in a row vs Man Utd between 2009-2013).
Should Arsenal concede here, it will equal their longest run of away games
without a clean sheet against a specific opponent in Premier League history
(13 against Liverpool between 1999 and 2012).
Chelsea have scored in 23 successive Premier League games at Stamford Bridge
with over half of these (12) seeing them score three or more goals.
Arsenal have lost their first two Premier League away games of the season
(0-4 vs Liverpool and 0-1 vs Stoke) - the last time that they lost their
first three away games in a league season was 1954-55. Interestingly, this
was also the season of Chelsea's first top-flight title win.
Arsenal last won a Premier League away game against a side that finished in
the top six last season, back in January 2015 (2-0 at Man City) - they've
since lost eight and drawn five of their 13 matches on the road against
these clubs.
Paul Merson's prediction
It's all about the first goal. If Arsenal score first you will watch and
think 'wow, they look decent'. They will be confident and they have good
players who look decent when they are winning.
But when they are losing too many of them just go completely and utterly
missing. The shape goes out of the window and if they let in the first goal
it could be anything. People are saying to me 'what a good result against
Bournemouth' but if you could have handpicked any team to play last week it
was Bournemouth.
If Arsenal score first it will be a very interesting match but I don't think
they will.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0 (14/1 with Sky Bet)
top