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2 min: A mid-octane start to the game. No real shape yet, though it’s obvious that Palmer is prowling the left wing today, opposite to his usual beat.
Arteta and Rosenior embrace warmly … let’s see how long that cross-capital bonhomie lasts … and Arsenal get the ball rolling.
The teams are out … and it’s a cracking derby atmosphere. Everyone a few Afternoon Pints in, I’ll be bound. The best kind of pint? It’s a good type of pint. Anyway, Arsenal are in their world-famous red shirts with white sleeves. Chelsea could be running out in a blue version of that, but their old boss from the 1930s, David Calderhead, didn’t like the sound of the idea when his pal Tom Webster, a cartoonist for the London Evening Standard, suggested it to him during a round of golf. So Webster took it to Herbert Chapman instead, and here we all are. Chelsea are in their equally storied royal blue, and would anyone change any of this today? Doubt it somehow. We’ll be off in a minute or two!
Mikel Arteta’s turn to talk to Sky. “We know playing at the Emirates, the crowd are fully behind the team in every action … we know what we have to do … regardless of any other opponent, the focus is on us … with the players [Chelsea] have they can play in different combinations … we are very aware of that … we want to exploit their weaknesses.”
Liam Rosenior speaks to Sky Sports. “We’re in a decent shape … we’ve created a really good connection with the players … but for a few lapses of concentration it would be ten wins out of 12 and would put us in a really good spot … we have many games to go and improvements to make … overall it’s been a decent start for me and my staff … we have different ways to play and different shapes … those two games in the League Cup were very early when I came in … we had a lot of injuries … those team-sheets were very different to today’s team-sheet.”
Pre-match reading. And plenty of it.
Arsenal are unchanged from last weekend’s North London derby. Well, if it ain’t broke. Club captain Martin Ødegaard and Ben White miss out altogether.
Chelsea are coming off the back of a disappointing 1-1 home draw with Burnley, and make two changes. One is enforced, with Wesley Fofana suspended; Mamadou Sarr, making his Premier League debut, takes his place. Meanwhile Jorrel Hato comes in for Malo Gusto, who drops to the bench.
The teams
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Rice, Zubimendi, Eze, Saka, Trossard, Gyokeres.
Subs: Kepa, Mosquera, Jesus, Martinelli, Norgaard, Madueke, Havertz, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly.
Chelsea: Sanchez, James, Sarr, Chalobah, Hato, Caicedo, Santos, Palmer, Fernandez, Neto, Pedro.
Subs: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Tosin, Badiashile, Gusto, Lavia, Garnacho, Delap, Guiu.
Referee: Darren England
VAR: John Brooks
Preamble
Yesterday evening, this happened …
… and now the table looks like this …
… so Arsenal will be feeling the pressure all right, even though they’re on a three-game winning run in this particular fixture, which includes a record-breaking 5-0 win, and haven’t lost to Chelsea for ten matches in all competitions, a sequence that stretches back to August 2021. But that’s the unique pressure of the title race for you. Arsenal dealt with all of these emotions last weekend against Spurs wonderfully; against Wolves a few days previously, not so much. Let’s see which way they go today. Kick-off is at 4.30pm GMT. It’s on!
