Chelsea are running away in the Premier League title race, while other teams have not been able to catch the Blues, who have looked a superior team this season. Chelsea, after their tough draw against Liverpool in their last encounter, will again meet a quality side in the form of Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
The Blues have a healthy nine-point lead at the top of the table at present, and they will further strengthen their position if they manage to beat Arsenal. Chelsea, in fact, could be thinking of taking revenge as they lost to Arsenal in the reverse fixture. However, it was after their 3-0 loss that Antonio Conte's side decided to change formation and has seen Chelsea, since, rise to the top of English football.
Chelsea might not have been impressive against Liverpool as they would have like in the final third, with influential players like Eden Hazard and Diego Costa, who even missed a penalty, having a below par game. The duo has been key for Chelsea this season with their offensive football, and they might unleash their A game against Arsenal.
Though Hazard and Costa might have been talked highly about this season, Victor Moses has been performing well under Conte. The Nigerian explained that Chelsea will give their best against Arsenal, but also is fearful of the visitors, who lost to Watford.
"Obviously we have the opportunity to increase our lead over them so it's a massive game for us,' he says. 'Arsenal are a good side but we're playing at home and hopefully we can use that to our advantage. We've already played Liverpool this week, now we face Arsenal and we still have a lot of tough games to come. We will be giving 100 per cent to make sure we win the match," Moses told Chelsea's official website.
"They will be desperate to win after losing at home to Watford during the week, but we lost 3-0 to them away earlier in the season so we want to make up for that result ourselves. I think it will be an exciting game."
Chelsea and Arsenal have always been a tough fixture, and this match-up has all the ingredients of a wonderful game of football on Saturday. With Arsenal's shocking loss to Watford, the Gunners will be more than desperate to clinch three points. They can draw inspiration from their last Chelsea match, which they won.
Arsenal have always been one of the best teams in the league, and when their players decide to play some brilliant football, they are a joy to watch. However, their problem has been lack of consistency and their hot and cold football. One does not really know which Arsenal will turn up on the match day.
Arsenal fans will be hoping it is a day, where their big stars including Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott shine to give them a much-needed win against The Blues. To take three points, it is only about Sanchez and the star players, but a game, where all the players need to bring their A game.
With Chelsea being a solid offensive unit, Arsenal defenders including Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi along with goalkeeper Petr Cech, who is a former Chelsea player, needs to step up the bar against the home side brimming with confidence. After their loss to Chelsea, Cech believes this match gives them a chance to get back on track.
"I think we owe ourselves a performance that will get us back on track because above everything we let ourselves down in the opening 20 minutes of the Watford game. We had a two-goal deficit and suddenly we had an opponent who was full of confidence and they made it very difficult. In the second half it was a very good performance, we put them under huge pressure and had a lot of chances," Arsenal official website quoted Cech as saying.
To make things worse for Arsenal, they have some injury concerns. Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazrola are not expected to feature due to injuries while Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny are not available due to suspension and international duty respectively. While for Chelsea, they have no such injury problems.
Despite the injuries and shocking loss to Watford, Arsenal have the ammunitions to deliver, but the question is can they be consistent for full 90 minutes?
When to Watch Live
Chelsea vs Arsenal is set to begin at 6 pm IST (12:30pm GMT, 7:30am ET). Live Streaming and TV information for the EPL match is below.
India: TV: Star Sports Select HD1. Live Streaming: Hotstar.
UK: TV: Sky Sports 1. Live Streaming: Sky Go.
USA: TV: NBCSN, NBC Universo. Live Streaming: NBC Sports Live.
Australia: TV: Optus Sport. Live Streaming: Optus Sport Online.
Middle East: TV: Bein Sports. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
Africa: TV: SuperSport 3 Africa. Live Streaming: SuperSport live video.
Argentina: TV: ESPN.
China: TV: PPTV Sport China.
LIVE SCORE: Premier League official website
