The 2026-27 Premier League season options an early blockbuster conflict as Arsenal host Chelsea on the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Given their switch dealings in the summertime and their begin to the season, Xabi Alonso’s aspect have been tipped as title challengers to the defending champions and can vie for bragging rights in London.
Mikel Arteta’s aspect come into this recreation on the again of a 1-0 win away to Aston Villa and a 3-0 win over Coventry to start out the season. Chelsea, in the meantime, have been in free-scoring kind, netting seven objectives of their wins over Fulham and Brighton & Hove Albion, but in addition letting in 5.
This is the whole lot you could know in regards to the match.
How you can watch:
The match will likely be obtainable to look at on Sky Sports activities Important Occasion and Sky Sports activities Premier League within the U.Okay., NBC/USA in the usA., JioHotstar in India, and Stan Sport in Australia. You can even observe ESPN’s live updates here.
Key Particulars:
Date, kick-off time:
U.S. ET: Sunday, September 6, 11:30 a.m.
UK BST: Sunday, September 6, 4:30 p.m.
India IST: Sunday, September 6, 9 p.m.
Australia AEST: Monday, September 7, 1:30 a.m.
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London, England
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
VAR: Darren England
Harm and Group Information
Arsenal
Jurriën Timber, D: ankle, OUT
William Saliba, D: again, OUT
Chelsea
Moisés Caicedo, M: knock, DOUBT
Marco Palestra, M: discomfort, DOUBT
Jordan Henderson, M: wrist, OUT
Anticipated Lineups
Arsenal Predicted XI (4-3-3)
David Raya
Ben White | Cristhian Mosquera | Gabriel Magalhães | Riccardo Calafiori
Declan Rice | Martin Ødegaard | Myles Lewis-Skelly
Bukayo Saka | Kai Havertz | Christos Tzolis
Chelsea Predicted XI (3-4-2-1)
Emiliano Martínez
Wesley Fofana | Maxence Lacroix | Levi Colwill
Pedro Neto | Malo Gusto | Romeo Lavia | Jorrel Hato
Cole Palmer | Morgan Rogers
João Pedro
Speaking Factors
Has Andrea Berta undermined Mikel Arteta?
Mikel Arteta harassed the necessity for Arsenal’s assault to go to a different degree following their UEFA Champions League ultimate defeat to Paris Saint-Germain final season. The transient for Andrea Berta was clear — and there have been excessive profile chases of Julián Álvarez, Vinicius Jr. and Morgan Rogers — with none materialising.
As an alternative, Arteta goes into the primary half of the Premier League season with an arguably weaker assault — Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli have each left, with Christos Tzolis the one left-winger within the squad. Arsenal do boast of loads of high quality that may additionally characteristic on the left — like Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke — however an damage to an untested Tzolis (who appeared misplaced towards the physicality of Villa in Arsenal’s earlier recreation) might undermine Arsenal’s title ambitions.
But, it could possibly be Arsenal’s midfield and defence that may carry them to the title once more — having solely let in a single shot on track and a paltry 0.5 xG throughout each video games to this point. The blueprint towards Chelsea is perhaps a lot the identical, and Arteta will hope that his attacking trio of Martin Ødegaard, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka can have sufficient to cope with Xabi Alonso’s aspect.
Will Alonso go for a circumspect strategy?
1:28
Hislop: I really feel no sympathy for Chelsea over Camara breakdown
Chelsea have been fairly gung-ho of their strategy to the season to this point, scoring seven and letting in 5 within the league. A lot of it needed to do with the personnel Xabi Alonso had at his disposal — Enzo Fernandes was on his manner out of the membership and Moises Caicedo was nursing an damage — which meant Romeo Lavia was the one actual central midfielder he had, alongside Reece James and Malo Gusto working in makeshift roles.
Lacking out on Lamine Camara from AS Monaco left Chelsea ‘fuming’, though Caicedo’s return ought to suffice for Alonso. The dearth of midfield safety meant Alonso threw warning to the wind, and Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro dovetailed fantastically in Chelsea’s assault.
They are going to come up towards the most effective defence within the league (even whether it is shorn of William Saliba), so maybe Alonso may choose a extra circumspect strategy away to the defending champions. The likes of Rogers and Emiliano Martinez will definitely be eager to get one over on Arsenal, the latter having previously performed for the North London aspect whereas the previous nearly joined them this summer season.
What do the numbers say?
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Chelsea haven’t crushed Arsenal within the Premier League within the final 9 video games between the 2 sides (0-3-6 W-D-L).
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Arsenal have solely misplaced one among their final 29 PL London derbies (22-6-1 W-D-L) and are unbeaten within the final 16.
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Chelsea’s final win on the Emirates stadium within the league got here in August 2021, a 2-0 victory. Mikel Arteta’s aspect has since received all 4 PL video games towards Chelsea at dwelling by an combination scoreline of 11-2.
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Cole Palmer might be a part of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Diego Costa as the one Chelsea gamers to attain 50 PL objectives inside 100 video games.
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Bukayo Saka might grow to be the primary Arsenal participant since Alexandre Lacazette in 2020-21 to attain within the first three video games of the season.
