English Premier League Preview: Arsenal vs Chelsea

In the last two matches, Arsenal have picked up just a point as they fight to remain at the top of the Premier League over the festive period. The Gunners host Chelsea on monday night and the reds will be under pressure as Liverpool and Manchester City both picked up 3 points at the weekend. This is a must win game for Arsenal to prove their title credentials, as they have failed to get victories over traditional top 4 such as Manchester Clubs and Chelsea in the last couple of months. If Chelsea win at the Emirates, the Gunners will be placed 4th in the table, equalling 35 points of Manchester City but an inferior goal difference.

LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 29: Arsenal

• Last Corresponding Fixture:
  • Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea
  • Saturday, 29 September 2012, Emirates Stadium
  • Goal Scorers: Fernando Torres (20’), Gervinho (42’), Juan Mata (53’).

The only positive thing in that 6-3 defeat against Manchester City was the return of Theo Walcott as he scored 2 of the 3 Arsenal goals and provided much needed pace on the right wing. The speedster has scored his first ever Arsenal goal against Chelsea in the 2007 Carling Cup final and has since netted in three Premier League games against the Blues. For Chelsea, the front trio of Fernando Torres, Demba Ba and Samuel Eto’o is misfiring but their midfield have the potential to break any defence with the likes of Eden Hazard and Juan Mata. Chelsea come into this game after midweek defeat against the Black cats at the Stadium of Light in the Capital One Cup quarter final and will be hoping to bounce back with the victory over their London rivals come monday.

• TEAM Performance:

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA
Arsenal at Home	8	6	1	1	16	6
Chelsea away from Home	8	3	2	3	13	11

The Gunners won nine and lost none of their first 13 Premier League home games against Chelsea but have won just two and lost four of the last eight. Chelsea come into this game with the “The Special One” factor as Jose Mourinho has never lost against Arsene Wenger as an opposition manager with winning 5 and drawing 4. It will be intriguing to see whether the Portuguese starts Juan Mata against Arsenal because the spaniard, once heavily linked with a move to north London before he joined the Blues, has scored in each of his four starts against Arsenal in all competitions for Chelsea.

• So far this season:

ARSENAL		CHELSEA
55%	Average Posession	57%
85.2%	Passing Accuracy	84.4%
55.6%	Shooting Accuracy	44.8%
6	Clean Sheets	4

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• TEAM News:
  • Arsenal: English midfielder is suspended for 2 matches after FA banned him for inappropriate gestures at the Etihad last weekend. Lukas podolski is back in the matchday squad but lacks the match fitness. Yaya Sanogo, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Abou Diaby are the long term absentees.
  • Chelsea: Cesar Azpilicueta will start the game which means Ashley Cole will be dropped to the bench. Branislav Ivanovic is available after serving one match ban and so is John Terry. Michael Essien is suspended after he picked 5^th yellow card of the season against Sunderland. Ryan Bertrand (knock) and Van Ginkel (knee) are still sidelined.

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• PREDICTED Lineups:
  • Arsenal: Szczesny – Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs – Flamini, Arteta – Cazorla, Ramsey, Ozil – Giroud.
  • Chelsea: Cech – Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta – Lampard, Ramires – Hazard, Oscar, Mata – Torres.

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• OPTA Stats:
  • Chelsea have won eight and lost just two of the last 11 meetings with Arsenal in all competitions.
  • Juan Mata
  • Chelsea have taken 11 points away from the Emirates Stadium, the joint-best haul of any team in the Premier League since the Gunners moved from Highbury (along with Aston Villa).
  • Chelsea have had 11 different managers since Arsene Wenger was appointed and 12 in total with Mourinho’s second spell. Jose Mourinho will be the fifth different manager Arsene Wenger has faced in the last six Chelsea v Arsenal fixtures.
  • Arsenal have not gone three Premier League fixtures without a win since January 2013; the third of those games was against Chelsea.
  • The Gunners have conceded as many goals in their last two Premier League games (7) as they had in the previous 13.
  • Chelsea have scored at least twice in each of their last six Premier League games (16 goals in total).

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• MATCH Officials:
  • Referee: Mike Dean.
  • Assistants: J Collin, J Brooks.
  • Fourth Official: J Moss.