Arsenal have not had the greatest of times against Chelsea over the past decade or so, more often than not falling to losses, and disastrous ones at that. Even last season, Arsenal completely lost the plot when they fell into Diego Costa's trap, and found themselves with just ten men, before eventually suffering another defeat.
While the Chelsea guard might have changed a little since that fiery clash, with Antonio Conte taking charge, there is little doubt that Arsenal will walk into this match with wariness written all over their faces.
After all, Costa is sure to be there, trying to invoke a reaction from one of the Arsenal players and, if or when it comes, making sure the referee sees it. The key for the Gunners, if they are to finally get the better of Chelsea, will be to not fall into the mind games trap, just concentrate on their game and back their ability to score goals past the Chelsea backline.
The Arsenal defenders, of course, will also be under pressure to deal with the Costa challenge, in more ways than one, considering the Brazilian is also the Premier League's top scorer this season, having scored five goals.
Add the likes of Eden Hazard, Willian and Oscar into the mix – not to forget the former Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas, if he plays – and Chelsea have as good an attack as anyone in the league. For Conte, it is about finding the right ingredients and moments to make that attack working like clockwork.
If the new manager manages to do that, Chelsea will cause the Arsenal defence, always a concern, no matter who the opposition might be, a lot of problems.
While Wenger will know the importance of staying compact and error-free at the back, the manager's attention will also be on his own team's attack. Does he go with Alexis Sanchez down the middle again or does he bring in Olivier Giroud, if fit, or Lucas Perez?
Lucas is coming off a two-goal performance against Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup, goals which would have given him a lot of confidence, but considering the fact that the Sanchez centre-forward experiment, while being far from perfect, has worked reasonably well so far, it is likely that Wenger will go with the Chilean again, with the Santi Cazorla-Francis Coquelin midfield axis also likely to keep Granit Xhaka on the bench again.
EPL schedule: Arsenal vs Chelsea.
Date: Saturday, September 23.
Time: 10pm IST (5.30pm BST, 12.30pm ET).
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London.
TV listings: India: Star Sports 4 and Star Sports Select HD1. UK: BT Sport 1. USA: NBCSN and Telemundo. Middle East and North Africa: Bein Sports Arabia 11. South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa: SuperSport 3. Australia: Optus Sport. Canada: TSN1 and TSN4. Thailand: Bein Sports 1. Singapore: 102mio Stadium. China: Tianjin Sports. Malaysia: Astro SuperSport.
