After last week’s vital and brilliant win in the North London Derby, Arsenal are looking to continue their push towards a first Premier League title in 22 years when they face Champions League-chasing Chelsea at the Emirates.
Last Sunday’s 4-1 win at Spurs was scintillating from Arsenal, but it is vital that they use that win in order to kick on and open up the five-point lead once more.
Arsenal have just ten games remaining in their Premier League campaign, and they know that if they win all of them, they will be Champions for the first time since 2004.
Chelsea will be a much tougher nut to crack than Igor Tudor’s side was last weekend. The Gunners have faced Liam Rosenior twice since he replaced Enzo Maresca at the beginning of January, winning away (3-2) and at home (1-0) in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup.
After a couple of weeks of struggling to create things from an attacking sense, last week brought some life back.
There were a few interesting tweaks, particularly in the second half. Hincapie and Timber/Mosquera seemed to be playing in a more overlapping role, rather than covering the half-spaces as they have at times this season.
Ebere Eze, Viktor Gyokeres and Bukayo Saka were playing some beautiful combinations, particularly the one that led to Eze’s second goal when Gyokeres laid it to him before he played Saka in, and the ball eventually fell to Eze to tap into an empty net.
Arsenal’s record against Chelsea since Mikel Arteta’s appointment in December 2019 has been very good; the Gunners have only lost twice, in December 2019 (1-2) and August 2021 (0-2).
Since that 2-0 loss at the Emirates in 2021, Arsenal have won every game against their West London neighbours at the Emirates.
Despite their recent successes, Sunday’s encounter will not be an easy one at all, and Arsenal will need to be on top of their game if they are to reopen a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League again.