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Preview: Chelsea vs Arsenal, key man out, Welbeck to start + prediction

By on September 16, 2017

alexis sanchez arsenal

Arsenal will be desperate to make a statement of intent when we take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.

Our record away to the big-boys is embarrassing as we’ve not won any of our last 13 trips to our rivals and have lost seven of our last eight games at Stamford Bridge.

This simply has to change if we’re to be considered serious title challengers but the signs aren’t good as we’ve already lose away to Stoke this season and got battered at Anfield recently.

We have found a bit of form this past week as we eased to a 3-0 win over Bournemouth last weekend before coming from behind to beat Cologne in our Europa League opener on Thursday night.

However, we better be ready for a much stiffer test at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea come in to the game off the back of a 6-0 win over Qarabag which was their fourth consecutive victory on the spin.

Team News

It looks like Mesut Ozil is a major doubt for the game as he wasn’t seen at training this afternoon after Wenger confirmed the playmaker was a doubt with a mysterious injury.

Aaron Ramsey was also facing a late test but he was able to train today so he should return to the side along with the likes of Granit Xhaka, Petr Cech, Laurent Koscielny and Alexandre Lacazette.

Alexis Sanchez is also pushing to start after scoring a stunner on Thursday night while Danny Welbeck could join him in attack if Ozil is ruled out.

Jack Wilshere put in an impressive cameo against Cologne and he could be in the squad as Francis Coquelin has been ruled out for three weeks with a hamstring injury.

As for Chelsea, they will be without Danny Drinkwater due to a calf injury while Conte is expected to recall the likes of David Luiz, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata.

Preferred line-up

As for Chelsea, they are expected to line-up: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill, Moses, Kante, Bakayoko, Alonso, Pedro, Hazard, Morata

Prediction

Let’s be blunt; all signs are pointing to another battering away to one of our rivals, however, the optimist in me thinks we can compete tomorrow. Our line-up is strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Chelsea so it comes down to tactics and how much desire our players have. We’ve shown in the last two games against the Blues that we can match them having won the FA Cup and won the Community Shield on penalties but it’s about doing it in the  league now. My head is saying 3-0 Chelsea but my heart says we can grab a point. Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal

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