Chelsea have announced their starting lineup for this Sunday’s important London derby against Arsenal, who are currently in first place in the league. Enzo Maresca has chosen an attacking trio that includes summer signing Estevao Willian and Pedro Neto on either side of striker Joao Pedro. Club captain Reece James and Moises Caicedo will hold down the midfield.
The choice shows the Blues are taking a risk, as they aim to close the gap at the top of the Premier League table after beating Barcelona in the Champions League midweek. Maresca has set up a back four of Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, and Marc Cucurella to protect Robert Sanchez.
This leaves a lot of firepower in reserve. Cole Palmer, a key player, starts on the bench with Alejandro Garnacho and Liam Delap. This is one of the strongest benches we’ve seen at Stamford Bridge this season.
It’s a little surprising that Joao Pedro is starting instead of Liam Delap, since the latter scored against Barcelona. However, Maresca has chosen Pedro’s link-up play as the most crucial part of this tactical battle. Enzo Fernandez is the third midfielder and plays as an advanced playmaker, taking advantage of potential gaps in Arsenal’s tight defensive lines.
Palmer’s absence from the start suggests a strategy for managing the game. The England international will probably come on as the game opens up in the second half.
What Enzo Maresca said about playing Arsenal
Enzo Maresca quickly downplayed talk of this being a title-deciding match at his pre-match press conference at Cobham, even though Chelsea were in second place in the table. The Blues manager said that even though everyone is in a good mood after the 3-0 win over Barcelona, they need to be more focused against Mikel Arteta’s team.
When they asked him what the Gunners were good at, Maresca told reporters:
“For sure they defend fantastically. Any teams against them, they struggle to score goals, not only to score goals, but even to create chances. So it’s a team that defends very well.
“Then they have weapons when they attack. In this moment they are top in the Champions League, they are top in the Premier League. We’re going to try our best to win the game.”
Maresca also talked about how good Arsenal are at dead-ball situations, which is something Chelsea has worked hard to stop:
“I think Arsenal is not just against one team or two teams. Arsenal score goals in set-pieces against any team. They have a system in place that works very well and we will try to do our best to prepare in the best way.”