Welcome to Arsenal Unai Emery! One Premier League game and the Spanish coach is already under fire. A loss in the derby versus rival Chelsea, who should be further behind in development as Sarri was hired two months after Emery, will only make matters worse.
London derby Chelsea vs Arsenal Bet365
Against Manchester City, Arsenal was nowhere near the free-flowing, competitive unit which showed during pre-season. It is too early to tell whether that was a consequence of City’s superiority or Arsenal’s inferiority. We might get a clearer picture on Saturday when The Gunners pay a visit to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea at 18:30 CET.
The Blues weren’t convincing either, but faced a much easier opponent, thus the 3-0 final scoreline. Disregard the result and you have a Chelsea team still in the nascent stages of “Sarriball”. Thanks to Kante and Jorginho, the defence wasn’t tested at Huddersfield, but that’ll hardly be the case the rest of the season. Maurizio Sarri might prefer David Luiz now, but the Brazilian’s concentration has proven to be a liability far too often throughout his career.
Another issue is Alvaro Morata. The Spanish striker looks out of rhythm and is simply not on the same page with his teammates. Eden Hazard’s lack of fitness put him on the bench for game one, but he’ll most likely line up next to Pedro and Willian tomorrow.
On the opposite side, Ainsley Maitland-Niles suffered a leg fracture in a duel with Kyle Walker last weekend and will be out for a while. He started because Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac were unavailable. Emery will be hoping at least one of them recovers in time in order to avoid playing Stephan Lichtsteiner out of position again.
London derby Chelsea vs Arsenal Bet365
Chelsea vs Arsenal projected lineups
With Cesc Fabregas still injured, either Ross Barkley or Ruben Loftus-Cheek should be Chelsea’s third midfielder.
Chelsea projected starting lineup: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, David Luiz, Alonso, Kante, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Pedro, Willian, Hazard.
Petr Cech was not at his best in the first game and he should be replaced by Bernd Leno eventually. On Saturday, though, the Czech goalkeeper should face his old team. Xhaka and Mkhitaryan were poor as well and could be replaced by Lucas Torreira and Alexandre Lacazette, although the odds of that happening are rather small.
Arsenal projected starting lineup: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Monreal, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Ozil, Ramsey, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang.
Chelsea vs Arsenal Bet365 Odds
Last season, both clashes ended in draws.
