Set-piece FC do it again but they are a hard watch

The history of Arsenal vs Chelsea over the last 25 to 30 years tells a curious story of both clubs enjoying long spells of dominance and the balance of power currently lies in north London. 

Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal, with the help of the odd Sylvinho screamer here and Nigel Winterburn rocket there, were Chelsea’s bête noire around the turn of the century.

Chelsea went 10 years without a league win against Arsenal between 1995 and 2005, but things started to change after Roman Abramovich’s takeover in 2003 and Wayne Bridge’s goal at Highbury in 2004 which knocked Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ out of the Champions League. 

Wenger’s only victory against Jose Mourinho came in the 2015 Community Shield, with Arsenal winning just two Premier League games at Stamford Bridge between 2005 and 2020. The nadir for Arsenal came when they lost 6-0 at Chelsea in Wenger’s 1,000th game in charge. 

Following Mikel Arteta’s appointment in 2019, and BlueCo taking over at Chelsea in 2022, the tables have turned again. Arteta has lost just twice in 16 meetings with Chelsea in all competitions, with the most recent defeat coming in 2021 when Romelu Lukaku was up against Pablo Mari and Rob Holding.

For Arsenal, this afternoon’s game is about the title race rather than bragging rights. Man City’s victory at Leeds cut the gap to two points with both clubs having played 28 games. Arsenal will have played a game more by close of play and their lead could be five points. Chelsea, Brighton away, Everton at home and Bournemouth at home are Arsenal’s fixtures before their game at the Etihad on April 18. At a minimum, you feel Arsenal need to keep the current state of play intact going into that match.

Chelsea are without Estevao and Marc Cucurella because of injury but Reece James, who missed both legs of the League Cup semi-final between these teams, is fit. Arteta has the chance to pick an unchanged team from the north London derby, where Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres shone, but he could have Kai Havertz back on the bench.

Full team news on the way shortly.