The season may be coming to a close, but that doesn’t mean Chelsea doesn’t have a few more important fixtures circled on its calendar. The Blues kept their FA Cup hopes alive on Sunday with a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium. They remain involved in two competitions during the final month of the season, with the final being played mid-May against Liverpool. Chelsea now turns its attention back to the Premier League following a Champions League exit, as it remains hopeful that it can secure a place in next season’s competition soon.
The Blues have spent the entirety of the domestic campaign thus far in the Premier League’s top three places. They led the way for a while until a rough patch during the winter saw them drop down to third in the table. Nevertheless, they’ve held a consistent lead on top four rivals Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham and West Ham all season long. It is the former that prepares to face off with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge later this week.
The Gunners have gone into a funk of their own recently—dropping points in four of their last five Premier League matches—after jumping into the top four. They were beaten 2-0 by their west London counterparts earlier in the season at the Emirates with Romelu Lukaku and Reece James the heroes on the day for the visitors. Chelsea is being presented with a golden opportunity on Wednesday both to secure its top four status with just seven games remaining and essentially knock Arsenal out of top four contention. They will undoubtedly be exhausted given the tremendous effort its taken them to overcome Real Madrid and Crystal Palace over the last week, but those opportunities are enough to motivate any professional player to raise their game.
It wouldn’t be a late-season London Derby between the blue and red portions of the English capital if it wasn’t for some high stakes. The eyes of the Premier League will be on the Bridge on Wednesday as a couple different teams will be interested in the result at full-time. All signs point toward Thomas Tuchel and his squad being the favorites in the latest installment of this rivalry. However, all history is thrown out the window when the Blues and Gunners get together.
Match information and preview for Chelsea vs. Arsenal in the Premier League
Date: Wednesday, April 20
Time: 2:45 p.m. ET (7:45 p.m. GMT)
Location: London, England
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Odds: Chelsea -110 (WynnBet)
TV Info: USA Network (USA), Sky Sports (UK)
Chelsea team news
For all intents and purposes, Chelsea is relatively healthy heading into this contest. The Blues have had injury woes all season long—particularly during the winter months—so as long as they can field a near-fully fit starting XI, they’re better off than they were a few months ago. This is especially true in regards to the wingbacks, where there is quite possibly the shallowest depth anywhere in Tuchel’s squad. This leads us perfectly into a bit of obvious team news, left back Ben Chilwell remains out as he continues to recover from his ACL surgery.
Higher up the pitch, Mateo Kovacic is expected to miss out due to an ankle injury he picked up in Sunday’s FA Cup semifinal. The Croatian midfielder was substituted in the first half after picking up a knock. Tuchel spoke on the injury after the full-time whistle at Wembley Stadium:
"“When Kova comes off, you know that he is in pain. The ankle is swollen, it’s a huge ankle right now. So let’s hope. It doesn’t look so good but we will wait for the examination and we can tell you more.”"
Luckily, the recent resurgence of Ruben Loftus-Cheek gives the manager more options in the middle of the park. The Englishman scored the opener against Crystal Palace following two sensational performances at St. Mary’s and the Santiago Bernabeu last week. He looks to have earned his place above Atletico Madrid loanee Saul in the midfield pecking order, right behind Jorginho and N’Golo Kante. Both the Italian and French international are also ready to start on Wednesday against the Gunners if called upon.
Callum Hudson-Odoi remains sidelined with a mysterious injury that seems to have only gotten worse as the weeks have gone on. What appeared to be a minor knock at first has since turned into a series of setbacks that’s seen Hudson-Odoi sit out for more than a month. Elsewhere in attack, Romelu Lukaku looks fully fit once again after returning to action against Crystal Palace.
Arsenal team news
The Arsenal injury list is just about as long as its London rival’s, but Mikel Arteta looks to be without some bigger names for the Derby. Kieran Tierney—similar to his Chelsea counterpart, Chilwell—is set to miss the remainder of the current campaign as he recovers from surgery. The Scottish defender suffered a knee injury in training a few weeks ago during the international break. It’s a huge miss for Arsenal, who has looked a bit out of sorts recently at the back.
Thomas Partey, another player who has enjoyed a breakout season in north London, also looks like he’ll miss the rest of the Premier League season. Partey has been a huge asset to Arteta in the middle of the park this season and part of the reason the Gunners have been so stable at the back. Granit Xhaka and Albert Sambi Lokonga have both played a lot of football this season though, so they look ready to step up in the Ghanian’s absence.
The two unknowns for the visitors on Wednesday are Alexandre Lacazette and Takehiro Tomiyasu. Both are presumably going to be out of the line-up after missing recent matches, but the manager recently hinted at Tomiyasu returning to training following the trip to the south coast. Luckily for the Gunners, they have plenty of depth both at the back and along the front lines to provide suitable replacements for the two for the near future.
Predicted XIs
Chelsea (3-5-2): Mendy, Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger; James, Kante, Mount, Loftus-Cheek, Alonso; Havertz, Werner
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Ramsdale, Cedric, White, Gabriel, Tavares; Xhaka, Sambi; Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe; Martinelli
Chelsea form
Chelsea 1-4 Brentford (Premier League)
Chelsea 1-3 Real Madrid (Champions League)
Southampton 0-6 Chelsea (Premier League)
Real Madrid 2-3 Chelsea (Champions League)
Chelsea 2-0 Crystal Palace (FA Cup)
Arsenal form
Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool (Premier League)
Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal (Premier League)
Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal (Premier League)
Arsenal 1-2 Brighton (Premier League)
Southampton 1-0 Arsenal (Premier League)
Prediction
We’ve seen this story one too many times, haven’t we? Arsenal was the beginning of the end for former manager Frank Lampard as his side was defeated by Arteta’s struggling squad. Tuchel suffered defeat, as well, against the Gunners at Stamford Bridge last season during one of the most frustrating performances he’s had in west London to date. No matter the circumstances, Arsenal seems to have Chelsea’s number over the last few seasons for one reason or another.
This time is different though (at least, that’s what I’m going to tell myself leading up to kickoff). Chelsea is riding the high of three immense performances. Tuchel has his team back firing on all cylinders as they have scored 11 goals in the last three games, none of which came at home. Mason Mount is on fire with his new haircut, Timo Werner seems to be finding his footing once again in this side and Kai Havertz is due for a goal after not scoring in the Blues’ last two matches. The mentality in this side is different than the one the Gunners met at the beginning of the season, never mind during the last campaign.
Arteta will likely make some unforeseen changes to his line-up that include getting Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe all in the starting XI. The aforementioned youngsters always manage to put on a good show against the Blues. They’ll manage to find the back of the net once, but the resilient home team will walk away with all three points in the end. It’ll be a defining performance from Tuchel’s men that see them come one step closer to officially securing a top four place.
My prediction: Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal
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