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Chelsea: Three things to look for in the Boxing Day bout at Arsenal

By Gabe Henderson

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 01: David Luiz of Arsenal battles for possession with Olivier Giroud of Chelsea during the Heads Up FA Cup Final match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on August 01, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Chris Lee - Chelsea FC/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 01: David Luiz of Arsenal battles for possession with Olivier Giroud of Chelsea during the Heads Up FA Cup Final match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on August 01, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Chris Lee - Chelsea FC/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 01: David Luiz of Arsenal battles for possession with Olivier Giroud of Chelsea during the Heads Up FA Cup Final match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on August 01, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 01: David Luiz of Arsenal battles for possession with Olivier Giroud of Chelsea during the Heads Up FA Cup Final match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on August 01, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Getty Images) /

2. Which Arsenal side shows up?

Speaking of inconsistency, we’ll now revisit the topic on a more broad spectrum. A team is often defined by the type of players it possesses and Arsenal is the perfect example of this. The Gunners’ core is comprised of the aforementioned Brazilians, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mohamed Elneny (this season, at least), Rob Holding, Dani Ceballos, Granit Xhaka and a few others. Aside from Kieran Tierney and Gabriel, all of Arsenal’s core has been incredibly inconsistent throughout the season. Arteta’s been forced to show his hand and at the moment, it seems as if the Gunners are too reliant on Aubameyang to score goals and even create them. As his struggles continue up top, Arsenal’s also drag on as they plummet toward the bottom of the Premier League.

All of that being said, the Gunners are capable of producing magic on the pitch. They comfortably advanced through the group stages in the Europa League and were just recently knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the quarterfinal stage by Manchester City, a worthy opponent to say the least. While many will shrug their shoulders at those results, Arsenal has strung together some impressive wins during this season.

The first contest of the campaign marked what was thought to be a turning point when Arteta’s men defeated Jurgen Klopp’s reigning champion Liverpool in the Community Shield. That win included, the Gunners have defeated Man United, Liverpool (x2), Leicester and West Ham in all competitions since the season’s beginning. They’ve had some awful results in recent history, but they have been known to up their intensity and overall game against the big six or local rivals. This spells potential trouble for Chelsea—especially seeing as the Blues tick both of those boxes.

Many Chelsea fans will categorize this as a “trap game”, meaning that even though the Gunners are in poor form, this contest could go either way. The Blues need to be on their toes and alert in order to avoid an upset.

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