🕟 Kick Off: 16:30 GMT

🏟️ Venue: Emirates Stadium

📺 UK Broadcaster: Sky Sports

🙎🏻‍♂️ Referee: Darren England

📹 VAR: John Brooks

🔴 Arsenal Team News:

• Kai Havertz (Hamstring): Arteta confirmed he will return to training tomorrow. A final decision will be made then, but he remains a major doubt for a starting role against his former club.
• Max Dowman (Ankle): Arteta confirmed he will play for the U21s tonight to build match fitness. He is unlikely to feature Sunday but is nearing a first-team return.
• Mikel Merino (Foot): Following surgery on a stress fracture, he remains ruled out long-term (expected April/May).

⚽ Arsenal Form: 🟩🟧🟩🟧🟩

🔵 Chelsea Team News:

• Estêvão Willian (Hamstring): Ruled out after a scan confirmed a strain; a significant blow for the Blues.
• Wesley Fofana (Suspension): Unavailable following his red card (two yellows) in the last match.
• Marc Cucurella (Hamstring): Ruled out; targeting a return in mid-March.
• Jamie Gittens (Hamstring): Muscle tear; ruled out long-term.
• Levi Colwill (ACL): Continuing his long recovery; ruled out until at least late April.
• Filip Jorgensen: Recovering from an unspecified injury, is back on grass and will be available soon.

⚽ Chelsea Form: 🟧🟩🟧🟩🟥

⚔️ Head-to-Head:

• Arsenal 1–0 Chelsea (Feb 3, 2026, Carabao Cup SF 2nd Leg)
• Chelsea 2–3 Arsenal (Jan 14, 2026, Carabao Cup SF 1st Leg)
• Chelsea 1–1 Arsenal (Nov 30, 2025, Premier League)
• Arsenal 1–0 Chelsea (Mar 16, 2025, Premier League)
• Chelsea 1–1 Arsenal (Nov 10, 2024, Premier League)

📖 Match Facts:

• Arsenal are on a ten match unbeaten run against Chelsea in all competitions.
• Liam Rosenior has lost two games since taking charge of Chelsea, both of which came against Arsenal.
• Chelsea haven’t won at the Emirates since the 0-2 in August 2021 in a game which saw Arteta forced to start Cedric, Holding, Mari, and Lokonga.

📸 Previously in this fixture…

Our trip to Stamford Bridge back in November saw the points shared after a disappointing performance against an Enzo Maresca side reduced to 10 men just before half time following a rash challenge from Caicedo. We should have taken all three points here, and we didn’t even look like scoring outside of the Merino header.

✍🏼 Pre-Match Ramblings

Arsenal face their second consecutive London derby on Sunday, this time against the West of the City in Chelsea. Mikel Arteta is the only man to best Rosenier since he took charge of Chelsea, beating him twice in a two legged semi final to knock them out of the League Cup.

This game will be Rosenior’s first game against a league side in the top 6. So far in his tenure he has faced teams sitting in 7th, 13th, 18th, 20th, 15th, and 19th. His winning run should be judged accordingly, and it is safe to say that his team has not been fully tested by a top club yet (in the league). Recently Chelsea have dropped points to Leeds and Burnley, both at Stamford Bridge. This isn’t a weak team by any means, but their recent run of form needs to be put into perspective in terms of the opposition.

Speaking of dropping points to Leeds, the gap at the top of the table maybe be reduced to just two points by the time the whistle blows for kick off at the Emirates, with Man City facing a trip to Elland Road on Saturday evening. Man City have faced Leeds at Elland Road 10 times in the Premier League era, managing a measly 4 wins and 1 draw. Guardiola has been there 3 times and has managed 2 wins and 1 draw. It certainly isn’t a certainty that they leave with all three points, especially given the fighting talk by Daniel Farke ahead of the game.

Arteta faces an interesting choice when it comes to his attacking selection. Can you drop Eze after his brace against Spurs? So far his Arsenal career has been defined only by his performance against the team he plays for in a very near alternate universe, and he has struggled to make any impact against any other opposition (except Palace). With Odegaard fit and available, do you try to play the captain into form for the run in, or do you let Eze build on his strong performance at the toilet bowl?

Gyokeres seems to be finding form when it comes to goalscoring and more widely influencing the attack, so the CF position selects itself until Havertz is ready to start. Madueke was playing some exciting football until the Wolves game, and neither Trossard or Martinelli seem to be playing to a level we need them to at this point.

With a full week off, I hope to see players such as Zubimendi, Timber, and Rice who were clearly showing signs of fatigue, look back to their sharpest. Timber especially was facing strong criticism, but I think he put in a good shift against Spurs, with Mosquera slotting in seemlessly at right back when he came off. Then there are still the Norgaard conversations with the Dane being linked to a move away in the summer. Is it too late to get him starting league games with only 10 to go, and no real amount of breathing room on offer?