IN a match-up pairing the league leaders against the defending champions who currently sit in 14th place, the 2015-16 season has so far brought six months of contrasting fortunes for these two London giants.
Arsenal currently holds a 19-point lead on Chelsea in the Premier League, the Gunners’ largest
advantage over their London neighbours in 22 years. Still, this has been a fairly one-sided rivalry in recent seasons, with Chelsea more or less having the wood over Arsene Wenger’s side.
The fact that Chelsea have won four Premier League titles since the Gunners’ last success in 2004 would no doubt be a sore spot for Wenger.
As the Gunners get set to host Guus Hiddink’s men at the Emirates this weekend, we take a look at five burning questions heading into the clash.
An astonishing statistic to start with — Arsenal’s last league goal against Chelsea came three years ago, in January 2013, when Theo Walcott netted in a 2-1 loss at Stamford Bridge.
And this is just one chapter of the shocking record Wenger and Arsenal have against Chelsea in
recent seasons.
Arsenal’s last win in this fixture? A 5-3 triumph at the Bridge in October 2011, where the matchwinner was Robin van Persie, who netted a hat-trick.
Arsenal’s last home win against the Blues? December 2010, and while the Gunners secured a 3-1
victory on that day, it broke a streak of five straight Chelsea wins, with the Blues scoring 13 and
conceding only two in those meetings.
With Arsenal top of the league and Chelsea languishing below mid-table, this might be Wenger’s
best chance for a win in years.
Arsenal have the highest pass completion rate in the Premier League at 84.3 per cent, so Hiddink’s charges will need to disrupt the host’s tempo if they are to get a foothold in this match.
Whose injuries will have the biggest impact?
Both clubs are sweating on the fitness of key players heading into this clash.
Alexis Sanchez, who carried Arsenal at times last season, hasn’t featured for the Gunners since late November, missing 10 games in all competitions.
After playing 180 minutes of World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Uruguay on a long-haul trip to South America, the Chilean picked up a slight knock in the Champions League against Dinamo Zagreb, which turned into a full blown hamstring injury against Norwich.
In Sanchez’ absence, assist-machine Mesut Ozil has stepped up to be the centrepiece of the Arsenal attack, but the German has only featured in one of Arsenal’s last three matches, rested against Sunderland in the FA Cup and missing from the 0-0 draw with Stoke City due to a slight knock.
After being accused of running Sanchez into the ground, perhaps Wenger is handling Ozil more carefully.
Midfielder Francis Coquelin, another missing since November, also trained fully this week and could be in line for a recall alongside Sanchez and Ozil.
As for Chelsea, striker Diego Costa picked up a shin injury against Everton, but after scoring five goals in as many games since Hiddink’s return, the star forward’s inclusion or absence could play a huge role here.
Striker Olivier Giroud has scored five goals in his last eight league games, often feeding off stellar service from Ozil.
The German’s Premier League-leading 16 assists are the result of creating an average of 4.4 chances per game, the most of any player in Europe’s big five leagues (England, Spain,
Germany, Italy and France).
As a combination, Giroud and Ozil are behind only Barcelona’s prolific pair of Neymar and Luis Suarez in terms of assist/goal pairings in Europe, having combined for seven goals so far this season.
This does not bode well for Chelsea, especially if Ozil is able to take his place in the side, considering the Blues have conceded 34 goals in 2015-16, already two more than they conceded all of last season.
It will be up to talented Chelsea ‘keeper Thibaut Courtois and the rest of the Blues defence to keep the shackles on Ozil and Giroud so the Gunners pair doesn’t add to this record.
The Blues are currently turning in the worst title defence in Premier League history, a record that
eventually cost Jose Mourinho his job. Freed from the spectre of ‘The Special One,’ Chelsea are
unbeaten in six Premier League matches, although they have only won two of those games — against relegation-threatened Sunderland and a fading Crystal Palace.
Still, since Hiddink took interim charge of Chelsea for the second time in his career, the Blues’
players look like they’re enjoying their football again, and its showing.
They have scored 13 goals in six matches since Mourinho’s departure, the same number of strikes as in the final 13 league games of the Portuguese’s recent reign.
The bottom line is that the champions are simply too talented to be languishing in their current league position and, with their imposing record against Arsenal, a win this weekend might be just the spark they need for a late-season surge.
Will this be another fiery encounter?
While not strictly a derby, Arsenal and Chelsea are the two biggest sides in London, and matches between the two have evolved into having that derby feel to them.
The animosity between Wenger and Mourinho over the years has fanned the flames of this rivalry even more so — think back to the infamous incident in October 2014, where Wenger shoved then-Chelsea manager Mourinho, later claiming he was “provoked.”
Things escalated again when the two sides met at Stamford Bridge earlier this season, with Costa, Chelsea’s pantomime villain at his disruptive best.
Chelsea won 2-0, ending the match with a two-goal advantage and also a two-man advantage, following some extreme provocation from Costa that led to Gunners defender Gabriel being sent off, while Santi Cazorla also received his marching orders late on thanks to two yellow cards.
Ahead of this clash, Wenger is keen to ensure his players focus on the match, and not get caught up with Costa again.
“We have to focus on our own performance and forget a little bit about Diego Costa,” Wenger said. “We have to be prepared for a battle because Costa gives you a fight. After that, it’s down to the referee.”
Short of actually winning the European Cup, Chelsea are all but guaranteed to miss qualification for next season’s Champions League, which essentially means all Hiddink’s side has to play for is denting the title chances of other teams, like Arsenal.
As such, the latest chapter in this rivalry could hold anything.
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