Venue: Stamford Bridge Date: Sunday, 30 November Kick-off: 1600 GMT
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live; Updates on BBC Sport website & highlights on MOTD 2
Chelsea's Didier Drogba is banned and Joe Cole could miss out after suffering an ankle injury against Bordeaux.
Juliano Belletti (ankle), Michael Essien (knee), Ricardo Carvalho (knee) and Franco di Santo (hamstring) are out but Alex (groin) has been passed fit.
Arsenal expect to have Emmanuel Adebayor, Bacary Sagna (both ankle) and Samir Nasri (knee) available.
Abou Diaby (abdominal strain) is out, as are Kolo Toure (calf), Theo Walcott (shoulder) and Emmanuel Eboue (knee).
Chelsea (from): Cech, Cudicini, Hilario, Bosingwa, Ferreira, Alex, Terry, Ivanovic, Bridge, A Cole, Lampard, Deco, Ballack, Obi, Kalou, Malouda, Anelka, Sinclair, Stoch, J Cole.
Arsenal (from): Almunia, Sagna, Silvestre, Gallas, Clichy, Nasri, Denilson, Fabregas, Vela, van Persie, Adebayor, Fabianski, Song, Djourou, Ramsey, Bendtner, Gibbs, Hoyte, Wilshere.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger:
"We are written off. You cannot say when you are 10 points behind that we are favourites to win the championship, but you can say as well the only way we can get back into it is to believe we can.
"That is why we want to go into this game on Sunday by believing we can beat them because we know we can. That is all you want your players to do."
The 143rd London league derby between Chelsea and Arsenal brings together two clubs who have won the Premier League title five times between them, but Chelsea's pair were subsequent to Arsenal's three. Indeed the Stamford Bridge club have not finished outside of the top two in five seasons, while the Gunners have not finished inside the top two in three years.
The Blues go into this match unbeaten in five and top of the table, some 10 points ahead of Arsenal, who've failed to win four of the last five and are scrapping to retain their top four status.
Arsenal sailed into the last 16 of the Champions League this week; stuttering Chelsea are yet to do so. They are two of the top three highest scorers in the Premier League. The Blues are chasing a fourth home win of this top-flight campaign, the Gunners a fourth away maximum.
Arsenal cross the capital in danger of suffering three successive league losses for the first time in 59 Premier League outings, since tumbling to Everton (a), Liverpool (a) and West Ham (h), between 18 March and 7 April 2007.
Chelsea complete their home fixtures against fellow 'Big Four' clubs, having already lost to Liverpool and been held by Manchester United at the Bridge. Arsenal have met one fellow 'Big Four' club so far; beating Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal have won one of the last 12 meetings with Chelsea in all competitions.
Chelsea have lost more games (15), conceded more goals (47) and dropped more points (67) to Arsenal, than to any other club in the Premier League.
Distance between the clubs: 7.2 miles (13 kilometres)
CHELSEA
Going into the weekend: 1st 33 points
1. The joint most winning team with the strongest attack and tightest defence in the Premier League. More details
2. Pocketed 13 points out of 15 without conceding a single goal.
3. Lost one of 14 Premier League games under Filipe Luiz Scolari.
4. Lost one of the last 89 home Premier League matches.
5. Not conceded in five Premier League matches, or in 530 minutes (eight hours 50 minutes). Xabi Alonso's winner for Liverpool was the only goal shipped in seven Premier League outings.
6. Kept clean sheets in 14 of the last 21 Premier League games, and conceded just one goal in each of the other seven.
7. The only professional team in England not to have conceded a goal in the second-half of a league game this season.
8. On the longest current run in the Premier League of 22 matches, since conceding more than a single goal in a game; the 4-4 draw with Spurs at White Hart Lane on 19 March being the most recent occasion.
9. Own the best Premier League record in 2008; won 23, drawn eight and lost one, bagging 77 points from 32 games.
10. The only loss in 18 Premier League matches against London clubs was 1-0 against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on 16 December 2007.
ARSENAL
Going into the weekend: 5th 23 points
1. Lost the last two Premier League games against Aston Villa (h) and Manchester City (a).
2. Already lost five times in this Premier League campaign - two more than they did in the whole of last season.
3. Not scored in two games or 222 minutes (three hours 42 minutes) of Premier League football since Samir Nasri netted his second in the 2-1 home win over Manchester United on 8 November.
4. Failed to score in two matches in the whole of the 2007-08 season; already missed the target in three games this term.
5. Last failed to score in three successive Premier League games in December 2005, when losing to Bolton (a), Newcastle (a) and Chelsea (h).
6. Scored five times in stoppage time in this top-flight campaign.
7. Won eight of their last 11 Premier League London derbies.
8. Won one of the last four Premier League games against fellow clubs from the capital.
9. Won two of the last nine league games against fellow 'Big Four' clubs.
CHELSEA
Kose BOSINGWA, Frank LAMPARD and John TERRY are the only remaining players to have started all of Chelsea's Premier League matches this season.
Nicolas ANELKA has scored eight goals in his last five Premier League appearances.
ANELKA is the top-scoring Premier League player with 14 club goals in all competitions, and is leading in the race for the Barclays Golden Boot with 12 Premier League goals.
ANELKA needs a double to total 100 Premier League goals (Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Bolton and Chelsea).
If selected:-
ANELKA will be facing a former club. The 29 year old France international striker made 90 appearances (65 in the league) and scored 28 goals (23 league) for Arsenal between March 1997 and August 1999.
John Obi MIKEL will be making his 100th appearance in Chelsea colours.
Paulo FERREIRA will be making his 150th appearance for the Blues.
ALEX will be making his 50th appearance for the Stamford Bridge club.
Ashley COLE will be facing the club where he started his professional career. The 27 year old England international was a trainee with Arsenal, making 228 appearances (156 in the league) and scoring nine goals (eight league) before his move across the capital in August 2006.
ARSENAL
Manuel ALMUNIA and Gael CLICHY are the only remaining players to have started all of Arsenal's Premier League matches this season.
If selected:-
Cesc FABREGAS will be making his 150th Premier League appearance - all for the Gunners.
Kolo TOURE will be making his 300th appearance in Arsenal colours.
If on the field from the outset:-
Manu EBOUE and Robin VAN PERSIE will be making their 100th starts for Arsene Wenger's club.
Chelsea have won two of their last three home Premier League meetings with Arsenal, having failed to do so in any of the previous nine.
Until Liverpool broke their 86-match unbeaten home league record last month, Arsenal had been the last team to beat the Blues in a domestic game at the Bridge; 2-1 on 21 February 2004.
There have been 39 bookings in the last seven league and cup meetings between these clubs, excluding four red cards.
In 29 meetings in all competitions since 1998 there has been just one goalless draw; that being at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on 20 April 2005.
This fixture produced Chelsea's record attendance of 82,905 on 12 October 1935.
Home and away
League (inc PL): Chelsea 40 wins, Arsenal 58, Draws 44
Prem: Chelsea 6 wins, Arsenal 15, Draws 11
at Chelsea only
League (inc PL): Chelsea 23 wins, Arsenal 23, Draws 25
Prem: Chelsea 5 wins, Arsenal 5, Draws 6
Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal
23 March 2008 - Ref: Mark Clattenburg
Chelsea scorers: Drogba 73, 82
Arsenal scorer: Sagna 59
Mike Dean (Wirral)
No comments:
Post a Comment