**🕟 Kick Off:** 16:30 GMT 📍 **Location:** Stamford Bridge, Fulham, West London 📺 **UK Broadcaster:** Sky Sports 🙎🏻‍♂️...
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The original was posted on /r/gunners by /u/Mahoganychicken on 2024-11-08 15:55:10+00:00.

🕟 Kick Off: 16:30 GMT

📍 Location: Stamford Bridge, Fulham, West London

📺 UK Broadcaster: Sky Sports

🙎🏻‍♂️ Referee: Michael Oliver (sigh…)

🔴 Arsenal Team News:

  • Sterling is unable to face his parent club.
  • Merino suffered a punch to the head against Inter and was taken off as a precaution, he is not expected to miss this game.
  • Havertz suffered a large cut against Inter and required stitches, he is not expected to miss this game.
  • Rice reportedly has a broken toe. Unknown if he will feature.
  • Calafiori (knee), Tomiyasu (knee) and Tierney (thigh) remain absent with longer term injuries.

⚽ Arsenal Form: 🟥🟥🟩🟧🟩

🔵 Chelsea Team News:

  • Palmer faces a late fitness test after sustaining a knee injury that has kept him from training this week.
  • Sancho is suffering from an illness and will face a late fitness test.

⚽ Chelsea Form: 🟩🟧🟥🟩🟩

⚔️ Head-to-Head:

  • Arsenal 5-0 Chelsea (23rd April 2024, Premier League)
  • Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal (21st Oct 2023, Premier League)
  • Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea (2nd May 2023, Premier League)
  • Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal (6th Nov 2022, Premier League)
  • Chelsea 2-4 Arsenal (20th April 2022, Premier League)

📖 Match Facts:

  • The last time Chelsea beat Arsenal at Stamford Bridge was the 18th of August 2018.
  • This will be Enzo Maresca’s first game against Arsenal as Chelsea head coach, whereas it will be Arteta’s 11th, having won 7, drew 2, and lost 2.
  • Both Mikel Arteta and Enzo Maresca were assistant managers under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

🎲 Odds (Betway):

  • Chelsea – 9/5
  • Draw – 5/2
  • Arsenal – 7/5

✍🏼 Pre-Match Ramblings

It’s been a rough month for Arsenal – a loss to Bournemouth, Newcastle, and Inter, with a frustrating draw to Liverpool in the mix, and a few consolation wins against Preston and Shakhtar. It’s hard to look at the two wins and be happy with our recent form, given that those were two games you’d fully expect us to win. Our form continues to stagnate, and nothing on the pitch seems to be clicking. The return of our Captain is a huge relief, but it may be too soon to see him start such a big away game in the league. With the Norwegian not called up for international duty, it might be worth the risk given the rest he is set to receive.

Chelsea, unfortunately, seem to be finding themselves under new coach Enzo Maresca – they sit above Arsenal (on goal difference) coming into this game, and look to clear us by three points before an international break if they win this game. Hot off the back of an 8-0 victory over FC Noah (who?) in the Conference League, they will be confident coming into this game and looking to avenger the battering we served them at the Emirates last season.

As the Newcastle game, this is a huge game for Arsenal, who will be desperate to get back to winning ways before the international break. A loss here may see the Gunners drop below Spurs, who face Ipswich at home. The other chasing teams in Aston Villa and Brighton face Liverpool and City respectively, but those two teams won’t roll over for their opponents, so we may stand to fall even further down the table should we fail to emerge with our first 3 points since we beat Southampton over a month ago.