Chelsea make the short trip to North London to face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, after the two rivals enjoyed mixed fortunes on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season.
The Blues registered a routine 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace last time out, completing dominating the Eagles at Stamford Bridge.
Getting down to business. 👊#LukWhosBack pic.twitter.com/HaTv4qTHYN— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 17, 2021
Getting down to business. 👊#LukWhosBack pic.twitter.com/HaTv4qTHYN
Meanwhile, the Gunners suffered a humbling 2-0 defeat at the hands of newly-promoted Brentford – putting manager Mikel Arteta under pressure early on in the campaign.
Arsenal saw 65% of the ball against the Bees and also racked up 22 shots. However, they only managed to record four attempts on target.
Missing both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, Arteta’s team were blunt in attack and conceded either side of half-time.
The Gunners made a very positive end to the previous campaign, winning each of their final five Premier League matches while reaching the Europa League semi-finals.
Still, there is no hiding from the fact that they have started the new season in the worst way imaginable.
Chelsea, on the other hand, could barely have wished for a better start to the 2021/22 campaign – crushing Crystal Palace 3-0.
Thomas Tuchel’s men enjoyed 62% possession and notched 13 shots last weekend, with Marcos Alonso, Christian Pulisic and Trevoh Chalobah getting on the scoresheet.
The Blues are now undefeated in 17 of their previous 20 Premier League matches, thanks largely to the impact of Tuchel.
Chelsea have been immense since the former PSG boss took over midway through last season, securing a top-four spot and winning the Champions League.
Head-to-head: Arsenal beat Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge when the teams last met back in May. Having also beaten the Blues 3-1 on home soil, the Gunners did the double over Chelsea last term.
Regardless of their impressive recent record against the Blues, Arsenal are likely to struggle to deal with Chelsea this time around.
Team news: Arsenal will be hoping that Aubameyang and Lacazette recover from illness in time to face Chelsea on Sunday. Gabriel, Thomas Partey and Eddie Nketiah are also injured for the Gunners.
Hakim Ziyech, N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are all doubts for Chelsea, although new signing Romelu Lukaku could feature this weekend.
Considering how both teams fared on the opening weekend, Chelsea are expected to claim a comfortable victory over Arsenal.
Forebet predicts that Tuchel’s men will keep a clean sheet on their way to seeing off the Gunners, with over 1.5 goals expected.