Chelsea look to recover from Saturday’s late defeat at Newcastle as they welcome London rivals – Arsenal to Stamford Bridge in a London derby.
Chelsea can move to within three points of third-placed Leicester with a win whilst Arsenal could go eighth with victory.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesChelsea could be without Reece James due to suffering a knock to his ankle during Saturday’s defeat at Newcastle United.
Christian Pulisic (adductor), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Achilles), Marco van Ginkel (knee) and Marcos Alonso (glute) are ruled out.
Arsenal could be with Sokratis Papastathopoulos for this match through illness, which sidelined him as they drew with Sheffield United on Saturday.
Reiss Nelson (hamstring) and Sead Kolasinac (thigh) are still out but nearing first-team returns.
Kieran Tierney (shoulder), Calum Chambers (ACL) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (suspension) are still absent.
Stat Attack
- Chelsea have won three of their last five meetings against Arsenal in all competitions (W3, L2).
- Arsenal have won just one of their last six league games against Chelsea (W1, D2, L3).
- Chelsea are unbeaten in their last five home league games against Arsenal (W4, D1), scoring ten goals to Arsenal’s three.
- This Premier League fixture has seen 223 yellow cards dished out with Chelsea picking up 123 yellow cards to Arsenal’s 100.
- Chelsea’s Jorginho is one of four players to have picked up a league-high eight yellow cards so far this season.
Prediction
Chelsea just weren’t clinical enough on Saturday so this will be a welcome boost to their morale because they have been brilliant lately, whereas Arsenal’s defensive issues are still plaguing them.
I therefore am expecting a good game between two attacking teams but Chelsea’s home form has been quite strong this season, so am going for a home win here.
Prediction: Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal