Few changes but lots of options for Chelsea away

Morning.

It’s another big one today as we travel to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea. After wins in the North London derby and against Bayern Munich in midweek, this is an Arsenal side that should feel good about its chances of getting a result today, while also respecting the difficulty of the challenge.

Man City’s late win yesterday pushed them above Chelsea in the table but they spent all week in second place, and that says something about how their season has been going. So, when it comes to picking today’s side, I can’t see that there’ll be too much different from the team that won last Sunday.

The one question will be what Mikel Arteta will do if Leandro Trossard isn’t fit to start on the left. He went off with a calf problem in midweek, which the manager played down in his press conference saying ‘It doesn’t look much’ but he has to be a doubt so soon afterwards. The good thing for Arteta is he has plenty of options. Noni Madueke came on for the Belgian on Wednesday, and would obviously relish the chance against his former club. Tellingly though, he got on the scoresheet when he’d moved over the right to replace the substituted Bukayo Saka.

There’s Gabriel Martinelli who also got on the scoresheet in midweek, and he also has a couple of goals at Stamford Bridge under his belt in the past. And while it might be strange to consider moving Eberchi Eze after his hat-trick in the derby, it’s another option if Martin Odegaard is fit enough to come back into the starting XI. Much like the ability to replace Gabriel in different ways, there isn’t necessarily a wrong option on the left, but it’s down to Arteta to decide which one suits the game and the opposition best.

I think we’ll see Piero Hincapie back in the defence, fitness allowing of course, and after that, even if we have Viktor Gyokeres back in the squad, Mikel Merino will continue in his role up front. As I said, Chelsea aren’t where they are by accident, and they will pose a real threat to this Arsenal team, particularly from wide areas where they have a collection of pacy, tricky wingers to deploy. If there is a vulnerability though, I think it’s in the centre of their defence and having to contend with someone like Merino will challenge them in a way that, perhaps, a more traditional 9 would not.

The way he drops out of that central position to allow others to get beyond him to provide the attacking threat leaves the centre-halves in a state of uncertainty. Do they go with him? If they do, there’s a gap. If they don’t, there’s an overload somewhere else. I’m sure it’s something Enzo Maresca will have worked on this week, but as we saw last weekend, it was something Thomas Frank tried to deal with and simply couldn’t, so it’ll be interesting to see what tactical adjustments Chelsea try to make today. And, if we need to change something later in the game, hopefully we have those options on the bench to do exactly that.

The midfield battle will be an interesting one too, with both sides very strong in that area. It’s not really Declan Rice v Moises Caicedo, but both have been very influential this season, and I do wonder if, as Lewis pointed out on the preview podcast, there might be a plan to occupy him and thus leave space for others to hurt Chelsea in that area. What’s certainly clear is that we’ll once again have to combine the technical quality this team possesses with a very hard-working performance to get the points we want.

Arteta says of another potentially very big win:

Those are statements that we are talking about every three days. After beating Spurs at home, then we have to make a statement against Bayern Munich, we’ve done that and now we have to go to the next one. That’s where we are, we knew the importance of the week, not only that, but what is coming after three days is going to be exactly the same, nothing is going to change. But we are super motivated for the game.

Let’s see what happens. Both sides will be confident after midweek wins over storied European opposition (although Barcelona did play the second half with 10 men), but if we can continue our recent form, we’ve got a great chance to come away from Stamford Bridge with all three points. A bit more of the same would be very nice indeed. Fingers crossed.

As ever you can join us for live blog coverage, as well as the report, player ratings, reaction, and all the rest on Arseblog News. For now, have a good one, and come on you reds!