Chelsea face reigning champions Arsenal on Sunday afternoon at Emirates Stadium in week three of the Premier League season. Both London clubs come into this fixture on the back of a full complement of six points, making this the most important early test of Xabi Alonso’s reign in west London.
Three competitive wins and three clean sheets is a record that speaks to the stubbornness Mikel Arteta has instilled in his team as Arsenal have started their title defence. The Gunners hammered Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. They followed that up with a similar margin of victory over newly promoted Coventry City on opening night in north London.
Monday’s 1-0 victory at Aston Villa was a far more laboured affair, and it was Bukayo Saka’s close-range finish just before the hour mark which separated the sides at Villa Park. Arsenal had just 1.05 expected goals in that game, but they held Unai Emery’s side to ninety minutes with zero shots on target.
And that ability to smother opposition attacks is the foundation of everything Arteta has built in the last 18 months. Arsenal conceded just 27 goals in the club’s 85-point Premier League-winning season and kept 19 clean sheets with a seven-point gap over Manchester City. Their goals conceded, shots faced, and expected-goals-against averages were the lowest in any of Europe’s five main leagues.
Chelsea, who have scored seven goals but conceded five in their opening two fixtures, face a rearguard action far more disciplined than anything they have yet come up against. Alonso and his coaching staff are equally concerned about the dead-ball threat. Arsenal scored 25 set-piece goals in the Premier League last season excluding penalties, the most in the division, and broke the competition record for goals from corners in a single campaign.
Nicolas Jover’s routines have become more of a structural advantage than an occasional bonus, with centre-backs and late-arriving midfielders providing the bulk of those finishes. Chelsea’s aerial organisation was evidently porous against Brighton, where Pascal Gross headed home in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Arsenal’s main problem is central defence, where the list of injured players is getting uncomfortably long. William Saliba is still out with a persistent back problem, which will be managed conservatively rather than surgically. He is not expected back before the winter. Jurrien Timber underwent a minor operation over the summer for a groin issue and is not yet back in first-team training. Cristhian Mosquera was substituted against Villa with an injury to the back of his thigh, but Arteta later insisted the Spaniard had avoided anything serious. He is now in a race to be fit for Sunday.
If Mosquera misses out on that, Ezri Konsa would be ready to make his first start alongside Gabriel Magalhaes. The ex-Villa defender joined in a deal thought to be worth around £51 million as part of a summer spending spree approaching £194.5 million. This is including signing Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle United for £75 million, Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge for £34 million, Piero Hincapie on a permanent deal from Bayer Leverkusen, and goalkeeper Illan Meslier from Leeds United.
How Chelsea can realistically damage Arsenal on Sunday
Chelsea head to north London with a perfect record under Alonso, having won 3-2 at Fulham on the opening Monday night and then just edged past Brighton 4-3 at Stamford Bridge. The Spaniard has also negotiated a League Cup tie successfully since taking charge, and his forward line has looked genuinely unstoppable on the break.
In the win against Brighton, Romeo Lavia, Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer all found the net. The statistical profile of that win might offer a pointer for Sunday’s task. Chelsea lost the ball for long spells and ended with just 25% possession but still churned out an expected goals figure of 2.97 to Brighton’s 1.49.
Theoretically, a team that can create so many open chances without enjoying territorial dominance should be able to trouble Arsenal. After all, the Gunners will likely control the ball at the Emirates, leaving space behind their high full-backs.
History, however, is not kind to the Blues in this particular fixture. Chelsea have not beaten Arsenal in a Premier League game since August 2021. The Premier League champions won three of the last five meetings between the two clubs without losing any.
The last meeting on March 1 ended in a 2-1 win for Arsenal at the Emirates. The Gunners had already knocked Chelsea out of the Carabao Cup in the semi-final earlier that season.
Emiliano Martinez signed from Aston Villa for a reported £7.5 million. The former Arsenal goalkeeper made a number of key saves on his debut and could be the man to end that sequence.