On Sunday, Arsenal travels across London to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, where Blues head coach Graham Potter must deal with a number of injury issues.
In their pivotal last Premier League match before the World Cup break, Arsenal takes on London rivals Chelsea.
The Gunners have a successful recent history at Stamford Bridge, going undefeated in each of their last three visits while winning the first two. However, Mikel Arteta will be facing Graham Potter, the Blues’ new head coach who took over for Thomas Tuchel in September.
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Each team has won twice in the five games between the two, while the only draw occurred last season when Arsenal held off intense pressure to earn a point away against Potter’s old team, Brighton & Hove Albion.
Aside from local pride and supporter bragging rights, both managers saw all three points on Sunday as essential for different reasons. Arteta’s team will need to react to anything Manchester City does against Fulham, and they almost certainly need to win in order to reclaim first place in the Premier League.
Potter, whose team lost 4-1 to Brighton the previous week, will be hoping for more from his team after a forgettable first visit to the Amex Stadium. However, he will be forced to do so without Ben Chilwell, who collapsed clutching his hamstring in the fourth minute of added time during the midweek Champions League match against Dinamo Zagreb.
In his pre-game press conference, Potter stated of the England international, “He is going to get a scan later this afternoon, so we’ll see how he is then and there will be an update tomorrow.”
“He is aware of the injuries but seems to be doing fine. The scan has been delayed because we need to give the swelling time to subside. But after that, we’ll learn more.
“We all seen the extent of the damage, so I wouldn’t suggest to expect the worst. I can’t say that it seems promising. But it’s hard to determine until we have the scan.” He’s well, but until you have a diagnosis, I suppose we can only hope and cross our fingers. We will then work to rebuild his strength and fitness. Of course, it’s disappointing.”
However, Reece James and Wesley Fofana (both knee) have been in Dubai this week to continue their recovery, and it was announced last month that N’Golo Kante will be out until the new year after a successful hamstring operation. Chilwell isn’t the only senior Chelsea player who Potter will be without for the visit of Arsenal.
Additionally, Potter stated that he doesn’t anticipate Kepa Arrizabalaga to play before the World Cup and that Carney Chukwuemeka’s absence is due to a hamstring injury, making a total of six first-team Chelsea players who are ineligible for selection against the Gunners.
Although Mateo Kovacic, a midfielder for the Blues, could make a comeback after sitting out the team’s victory over Dinamo Zagreb, Potter said, “Kepa no. It’s his plantar fascia, so I don’t think he will play before the World Cup.” “Carney [Chukwuemeka] has a small hamstring issue that we are getting to the bottom of. [Mateo] Kovacic exercised today, so he’s in contention.”