Arsenal look to boost their title dreams in a huge home clash against Chelsea at Emirates Stadium.
Victory would see Arsenal return to the summit of the Premier League for at least 24 hours, whilst Chelsea can go 11th with at least a draw.
Team News
Arsenal have no fresh injury concerns to report after their defeat at Manchester City last week.
Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mohamed Elneny (both knee) and William Saliba (back) remain ruled out.
Chelsea could welcome Kai Havertz back into contention following his recovery from a knee injury.
Marcus Bettinelli (unspecified), Kalidou Koulibaly, Reece James (both hamstring), Marc Cucurella (quad), Mason Mount (groin) and Armando Broja (knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Arsenal face Chelsea at 8pm on Tuesday 2 May at Emirates Stadium, live on Sky Sports in UK.
Stat Attack
- Arsenal have lost just one of their last six league meetings against Chelsea (W4, D1, L1).
- Chelsea are unbeaten in three of their last five visits to Arsenal (W2, D1, L2).
- Since Mikel Arteta took charge of Arsenal in December 2019, his Gunners have failed to keep a clean sheet in three home games against Chelsea at Emirates Stadium (W1, L2).
- Arsenal have kept just two clean sheets in nine home games in 2023 (W5, D3, L1), which came in a goalless draw against Newcastle in January and 4-0 win over Everton in March.
- Defeat would see Chelsea lose four consecutive league games for the first time since March -April 1997.
Prediction
Having lost control of the title race with a four-match winless streak and slipped to second, Arsenal now must reset after a lacklustre display at Man City where their attack failed to make much impact amidst a poor defensive effort with shambolic marking.
Chelsea meanwhile are yet to win in five games under Frank Lampard during which they scored once and conceded nine goals, yet their attack looked more positive in creativity against Brentford but a lack of clinical end product proved their downfall.
Now unless they can sort out their final touch, I just can’t see them beating Arsenal who hopefully will be fired up for this game and back to their attacking best in front of home fans, although their defence has struggled at home since the turn of this year.
Arsenal will also be aware that victory is imperative if they want to put pressure back upon Man City in the title race, and I do see them indeed going back top because Frank Lampard’s Blues just won’t have the confidence to get a win.
Prediction: Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea
Result: Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea
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