Gameweek 9: Arsenal to go top with win at Chelsea + could Man City slip up?

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The international break is over and Premier League football returns this weekend. Arguably the most intriguing match of Game-week 9 sees Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea but Man City vs Brighton and Liverpool vs Everton will also pique the interest of many fans. Let’s preview Arsenal’s clash with Chelsea and take a look at some of this weekend’s other big games….

Chelsea vs Arsenal

The international break came at a bad time for Arsenal as we were in good form and buzzing off the back of our superb 1-0 win over Manchester City. I’m sure Mikel Arteta would have preferred to have kept the momentum going and ride the wave off the back of the City victory. Let’s hope the break hasn’t interrupted our flow as we have a huge game in West London to contend with on Saturday evening.

Gabriel Martinelli’s late winner against City gave Arsenal our first victory over Pep Guardiola in the Premier League and it reinforced the feeling that we’re ready to duke it out with the champions for the title once again. We fell short last season but appear to have closed the gap on City and the win two weeks ago will have given the players a huge boost in confidence that they can go all the way this time around.

Arsenal remain unbeaten in the league this season having won six of our eight games so far. Only disappointing draws at home to Fulham and Tottenham prevent us from having a 100% record, but it’s still be a very good start to the new campaign. We sit level on points with Tottenham at the top of the table with our rivals ahead on goals scored. City are two points adrift in third with Liverpool a point further back in fourth, so it’s very tight at the top of the table and we cannot afford to drop silly points, even at this early stage. Victory over Chelsea would ensure Arsenal go clear at the top of the table for at least 48 hours, with Spurs not hosting Fulham until Monday night.

Obviously Stamford Bridge is a tough ground to go to but Arsenal shouldn’t fear Chelsea as we’ve won each of our last three trips there. The Blues have also been shocking over the last year and finished 12th last season – 40 points off Arsenal – so Arteta and his players should head into this game confident of picking up another vital three points.

However, Chelsea did pick up some form before the international break so we cannot take this task too lightly. Mauricio Pochettino endured a tough start to life in West London after winning just one of his first six Premier League games in charge. He tasted defeat to Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa at home, and the pressure was mounting. But Chelsea did manage to win their last three games before the break. They beat Brighton in the League Cup before away victories to Fulham and Burnley in the PL, so they are in a much better place than they were a few weeks ago.

It’s going to be an interesting game as Arsenal are the favourites but Chelsea have the potential to turn it on at home. Stamford Bridge will be packed but Arsenal fans can still get sold-out Chelsea tickets by buying from a reselling site such as Seatsnet.com.

Team news

Arsenal have a number of injury concerns ahead of the game. Bukayo Saka missed the win over Man City due to a hamstring injury that he picked up against Lens four days prior. He wasn’t able to feature for England during the break and it remains to be seen whether he’ll be fit to return at Chelsea this weekend.

Leandro Trossard is also a doubt after picking up a muscle injury against City but Thomas Partey and Gabriel Martinelli are pushing for recalls. William Saliba withdrew from the France squad due to a chronic toe issue but he’s expected to be fit to start on Saturday.

As for Chelsea, they’ll be without Wesley Fofana, Christopher Nkunku, Ben Chilwell, Trevoh Chalobah and Carney Chukwuemeka while Benoit Badiashile is a doubt. However, Axel Disasi is expected to be fit after training this week while Cole Palmer should shake off a knock.

Prediction

Chelsea have looked more solid recently and have found their shooting boots, but Arsenal are a superior team who have been excellent away from home this season. I think we’ll have too much quality for the hosts to handle. Chelsea 1-3 Arsenal

Other key games

Victory for Arsenal would ensure we are top of the table until at least Monday, but we’ll be hoping for a favour from Brighton when they take on Man City at the Etihad on Saturday afternoon. Brighton have been superb under De Zebri and have the potential to cause the champions problems. City are not the same formidable side without Kevin de Bruyne and Rodri, so this could be a great opportunity for Brighton and for the Cityzens to drop points. I’m hoping for a 1-1 draw at the Etihad.

Fourth placed Liverpool host Everton at Anfield in Saturday’s early kick off and Arsenal fans will also be hoping Jurgen Klopp’s men drop some points in the Merseyside derby. However, Liverpool have dominated this fixture over recent years and should dispatch of a poor Everton side with relative ease this weekend. The Toffees have won three of their last four games in all competitions, but they lost at home to Luton three weeks ago and are likely to be on the end of a heavy defeat to Liverpool on Saturday. Liverpool 3-0 Everton is my prediction.

Tottenham have been extremely fortunate to find themselves joint top of the table as they’ve been lucky in at least three or four matches so far. Arsenal should have beaten them at the Emirates if it wasn’t for a gift from Jorginho while the likes of Liverpool, Sheffield United and even Luton deserved more from their games. The luck will turn eventually and Spurs will drop down the table, but sadly I don’t see them slipping up at home to Fulham on Monday. Fulham robbed us of two more points at the Emirates and I pray they get similar fortune at Tottenham, but think Spurs will ease to a comfortable win.

Hopefully Arsenal do the business against Chelsea to stay level on points with Tottenham as it would be painful to see them go clear at the top of the table after this weekend’s round of matches.

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