Chelsea vs Arsenal: latest Blues injury news and return dates

At the time of writing, Chelsea have eight Premier League matches to look forward to. On a side note, it is a terrible shame that more supporters will not be allowed in to Stamford Bridge due to sanctions. Let us hope that the disruption will be cleared up as soon as possible so the unfairly treated Blues faithful can return back to normal proceedings. And that’s the rant over. In addition to English top-flight outings, there is also an FA Cup Final against Liverpool to look forward to. Currently, date and time information is not available. However there will be an allocation of approximately 30,000 tickets for CFC spectators, according to the club’s official website.

Following the derby clash with Arsenal on Wednesday evening, the seven remaining ‘Chels’ games are as follows: West Ham United, Manchester United, Everton, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leeds United, Leicester City and finally Watford as a season finale. In that period, the Pensioners should easily wrap up their third place spot. I would expect many victories in this run – starting with the Gunners! There are at least 20 points realistically up for grabs, or as a minimum target. Achieving that EPL placing along with winning the cup would make for a quite satisfactory campaign because of all the turbulence.

Pride of London detail the latest Blues injury news and return dates prior to Chelsea meeting Arsenal in the Premier League

PoL will now switch focus to the Bridge as CFC ready themselves to entertain AFC. The home side have only won once against their capital rivals in five most recent attempts. Although the very last occasion ended in victory for Thomas Tuchel’s confident men. The North London outfit are currently fifth in the EPL table, and could consequently miss out to their closet enemy, Tottenham Hotspur, or even Man United, in the battle for a place in the 2022/23 Champions League. This will be a fiery affair, as always, especially with much on the line for both; expect a timely improved performance from Mikel Arteta’s squad. Yet consolidation of 3rd is the only thing on Blues’ minds.

Injury news also emerged as we look ahead to the contest via Tuchel at the pre-match press conference. Unfortunately for Mateo Kovacic fans – I am one of them – he had a swollen ankle when withdrawn from the semifinal win over Crystal Palace after around 30 minutes played. “It” doesn’t look good, says the gaffer, who sounded pessimistic about the Croatian’s chances of playing in mid-week. Ross Barkley remains “sick” and therefore unavailable. We hope to see Ben Chilwell back in the summer. Meanwhile Callum Hudson-Odoi is still sidelined through an achilles issue. My expected XI is below:

Edouard Mendy; Reece James, Thiago Silva, Antonio Rudiger; Cesar Azpilicueta, Marcos Alonso; N’golo Kante, Jorginho; Mason Mount; Timo Werner, Kai Havertz.

Finally, I would like to leave you with a quote from Azpilicueta whilst the Chelsea roster prepared for the Palace encounter. On the subject of chasing down Liverpool and Manchester City in general , the Spanish defender said: “That is what we are looking for. Keep on closing the gap, improving our team.” Ambition.