Chelsea face a trip across London to play Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday, as Thomas Tuchel looks to pile the misery on Mikel Arteta and his team.
After claiming the UEFA Super Cup by beating Villarreal on penalties, the Blues started the new Premier League campaign on a bright note by registering a comfortable 3-0 win over London rivals Crystal Palace last weekend. Goals from Marcos Alonso, Christian Pulisic and Trevoh Chalobah earned Thomas Tuchel’s side all three points at Stamford Bridge.
While Chelsea will enter the London derby at the Emirates Stadium as favourites, they should be wary of Arteta’s Arsenal side that did the league double over them last season.
Team News
Chelsea have further added to their squad with the big-money capture of Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan. He looks fit and ready to make his debut against the Gunners.
Christian Pulisic will miss the Blues’ clash at the Emirates Stadium after testing positive for COVID-19, Tuchel confirmed in his presser. While Pulisic will be a big miss on Sunday, the European champions got a double-injury boost with Hakim Ziyech and N’Golo Kante both training in recent days. The duo has a chance to return to the travelling squad.
Predicted Chelsea lineup vs Arsenal (3-4-2-1)
Goalkeeper
Edouard Mendy has been excellent for Chelsea since signing from Rennes last summer and will look to make it two clean sheets in a row on Sunday.
Defence
The three-man backline of Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger and youngster Trevoh Chalobah were rarely tested by Crystal Palace. Despite Chalobah impressing and scoring a notable first Blues’ career goal last weekend, Tuchel could give the experienced Cesar Azpilicueta the nod ahead of the youngster in central defence.
Marcos Alonso was solid at left wing-back against Patrick Vieira’s Eagles and will likely start with Reece James at right wing-back in the Chelsea lineup.
Midfield
N’Golo Kante has returned to squad training but he’s highly likely to start on the bench, meaning Tuchel will place his trust once again on the double-pivot of Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho against Arsenal.
A fit Mason Mount is indispensable to this Chelsea side, and with his incisive passing and box-to-box runs, will be a threat for the home side. With Christian Pulisic testing positive for Covid-19, the Chelsea boss may perhaps go with the pacey Timo Werner ahead of the crafty Kai Havertz in the Chelsea lineup.
Attack
Tuchel is unlikely to waste much time and start his marquee summer signing—Romelu Lukaku— at the Emirates Stadium. The Belgian international is back in the Premier League as a more-rounded striker and he’ll be raring to hit the ground running in the London derby. He will lead this Chelsea lineup and will be licking his chops facing an underconfident Arsenal defence.
