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Preview: Chelsea vs Arsenal: Team News, Line-Up & Prediction

By on September 18, 2015

theo walcott arsenal

Arsenal will be looking to open up a nine point advantage over Chelsea when we take on the Premier League champions at Stamford Bridge tomorrow lunch-time.

We currently sit fourth in the table on 10 points after our 2-0 win over Stoke last weekend while poor-old Chelsea are way down in 17th on just 4 points following their disastrous start to their title defence.

Jose Mourinho has somehow ‘eased’ the pressure after beating the mighty Maccabi Tel Aviv at home on Wednesday night but hopefully we can bring the axe a little closer to his neck once again this weekend.

If we’re to do so, we’re going to have to play a lot better than we did in Croatia on Wednesday, that’s for sure. Obviously it didn’t help being down to 10-men but we were coasting in second gear even before Giroud’s dismissal.

All eleven players are going to need to be on top of their game tomorrow if we’re to come away with all three points and Chelsea are there for the taking if we get our game plan right.

Team News

Arsene Wenger confirmed earlier today that Mertesacker remains a doubt as he’s still not fully recovered from the virus that’s kept him out for nearly a month.

Even if the German giant is passed fit, I think we’ll see Gabriel keep his place alongside Koscielny at the back as he’s been excellent of late.

Ramsey and Bellerin will return to the starting eleven after being rested in midweek with Debuchy and The Ox likely to drop out.

Arsene is set to make a number of changes after resting several players against Zagreb with Petr Cech and Francis Coquelin among those to come back in.

The big question is who’ll start up front. Giroud will be low on confidence right now following his sending off while Theo is on a good run of form so I think we’ll see him given the nod.

As for Chelsea, Willian is out after suffering a hamstring injury on Wednesday so he joins Courtois on the sidelines. Pedro, Oscar and Falcao are all supposedly doubts. Expect all three to be in the squad then.

Preferred XI

This would be my team and unusually this is actually the side I think the boss will pick on Saturday. It’s currently our best eleven and hopefully it will be good enough to come away with a positive result.

Prediction

History is most definitely against us in this fixture, especially at Stamford Bridge, but we ended our winless run against Chelsea in the Community Shield so hopefully the players will go in to the game with no fear.

Chelsea’s defence has been leaking goals for fun in the league so we can get some joy if Arsene gets his tactics right, but I still think a win might just be beyond us. A draw wouldn’t be a terrible result.  Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal

COYG!

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