PREVIEW: Chelsea host Arsenal as title race heats up

Chelsea welcome league leaders Arsenal to Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

The Blues return to Premier League action having beaten Spanish giants Barcelona 3-0 in the Champions League.

They sit in third place in the Premier League after losing second spot to Manchester City, who beat Leeds United 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium yesterday afternoon.

Enzo Maresca’s side are unbeaten in their last six games, and haven’t tasted defeat since losing at home to Sunderland in late October.

This is a fixture with which Chelsea have struggled in recent years: from the teams’ last five meetings, the Blues have picked up only two points and they haven’t beaten Arsenal since April 2022.

The Blues were once again on the wrong end of the scoreline when the two teams last met Emirates Stadium in March but will be hoping a home advantage will be enough to help close the gap between them.

Maresca has praised Arsenal for their impressive form recently, he said: “For sure, they defend fantastically.

“Many teams against them struggle to score goals, even to create chances. They defend very well,” he added.

“Then they are ruthless when attacking. At the moment they are top in the Premier League and Champions League, and we will try our best to win the game.”

Chelsea will be without Romeo Lavia, Levi Colwill and Dário Essugo due to injuries.

Meanwhile, Arsenal are in dreamland, both in England and Europe: they currently sit in first place in both the Premier League and Champions League.

After securing a statement 3-1 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League, there are few teams who can hold a candle to the Gunners’ imperious start to the season.

Mikel Arteta’s men also beat rivals Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 at the Emirates Stadium last weekend and look to do the double in consecutive London derbies.

Arsenal are currently unbeaten in 16 matches across all competitions since losing to Liverpool at the end of August.

Both sides head into the match at Stamford Bridge unbeaten in their last five Premier League matches.

Despite the remarkable form of their own, Arsenal boss Arteta is aware of his opponents unbeaten run, saying: “What they have done in the last few years, I think the squad that have assembled, the numbers that they have, the amount of quality, the manager and the coaching staff that they have, it makes sense that what is happening there is very, very positive and they deserve to be there.”

Leandro Trossard, Viktor Gyökeres, Kai Havertz are all likely to miss out on the starting 11, while Gabriel will remain out of the squad with his longer-term injury. Arteta has confirmed that both Gabriel Jesus and Ethan Nwaneri played in a behind closed doors friendly midweek and they could be in the matchday squad to face Chelsea.

The two sides have faced each other 211 times, with Arsenal 85 to Chelsea’s 66. On 60 occasions, the game has finished level.

Arsenal are currently six points ahead of Chelsea, but a win for the blues would narrow the gap to three and see them leapfrog Manchester City in the process.

The match will be live on Sky Sports Main Event and will kick off at 16:30 (GMT).

Predicted line-ups