- Chelsea v Arsenal. Who plays and who takes the penalty…
- Chelsea v Arsenal: The referee and the home/away difference
- Chelsea v Arsenal: the injuries and the transfer costs
- Arsenal / Chelsea Tackles, fouls, cards and why Chelsea are perhaps a little boring
- Chelsea v Arsenal: the augurs all look good for Arsenal
- Chelsea v Arsenal: the referee, his team, and what’s happening with yellow cards this season
The line up for the Chelsea v Arsenal game has been announced and it appears that none of the sources that we quoted got it absolutely right. But it looks very good in terms of both solidity and attack.
Raya;
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko;
Rice, Jorginho , Odegaard;
Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.
On the bench we have
- Partey
- Smith Rowe
- NKetiah
- Kiwior
- Tomiyasu
- Trossard
- Nelson
- Havertz
- Hein
As noted in the headline there is one shock and that is that the man who started the season as our goalkeeper in chief is not in the squad.
Here’s the run down on Hein from Wikipedia
After playing for the Arsenal first-team in the 2021–22 pre-season, including his non-competitive debut against Hibernian, Hein signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal on 17 September 2021.
On 10 November 2022, Hein made his debut for the Arsenal first-team in the EFL Cup third round against Brighton & Hove Albion at the Emirates Stadium, conceding a foul in the penalty area and the resulting spot-kick against Danny Welbeck as Arsenal lost 3-1.
Here is the league table with most of the 3pm games finished, there might be a late twist but this is what it looks like at the moment. A draw will put Arsenal second, a win of course will take Arsenal two points clear at the top.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 21 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 9 | 11 | 20 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 20 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 20 |
| 5 | Newcastle United | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 24 | 9 | 15 | 16 |
| 6 | Aston Villa | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 12 | 7 | 16 |
| 7 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 18 | 4 | 16 |
| 8 | West Ham United | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 12 | 3 | 14 |
| 9 | Nottingham Forest | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 11 | -1 | 12 |
| 10 | Manchester United | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 12 |
| 11 | Crystal Palace | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 12 |
| 12 | Chelsea | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 11 |
Ramsdale was absent because he just became father of a daughter.
Nothing to do with Arsenal and football…just a familly hapiness
Cucurella has wandering hands. He is incapable of making a challenge without using them.
He also loves the taste of grass, and is often to be found, face down, chewing the cud. Referees seem to sympathise with this behaviour.