Arsene Wenger will look to celebrate the tremendous achievement of 1000 games as manager of Arsenal with a result that no team in the English Premier League has ever achieved when Jose Mourinho has been in charge of Chelsea - a victory at Stamford Bridge.
The Arsenal manager coincidentally also faced Mourinho's Chelsea in his 500th game in charge of Arsenal, and ended up on the losing end; a change of that script on a momentous occasion will be welcomed with open arms and then some.
Chelsea currently lead the table by four points from Liverpool and Arsenal, but are reeling from a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa, a game in which the Blues had two players sent-off.
The Gunners can close the gap to Chelsea to just one point, with a game in hand, if Wenger can pull off a remarkable result on his special day. "I think still we have an opportunity to improve our record against the big teams and keep our positive one against the teams who are in the second part of the table," Wenger said. "That will be an important part of the success.
"[This is the best title race I have seen] in terms of the number of teams still involved with nine games to go. Eight games for some. That is certainly the closest and the highest number of sides I have seen competing for the Premier League title.
"And, if you listen to my interviews since January, [I have said] the most consistent team, the one who can win a game on the day where they are not at their best, will win it in the end.
"This league is so competitive that anybody can drop points everywhere. Let's just focus on the next game and win it."
Mourinho has never had a great relationship with Wenger, with the Portuguese recently suggesting the Arsenal manager was a "specialist in failure." So, picking up a win in Wenger's 1000th game will probably please Mourinho, who has never lost to Wenger, very much, with the more-important title race and the consequences of a victory/loss also obviously acting as a big motivating factor.
"The game is not coach against coach, it is team against team, it is Chelsea against Arsenal," Mourinho said. "I haven't even played Arsenal with Inter or Madrid or Porto, I have only played Arsenal with Chelsea. Records don't play any role.
"At this moment they [Arsenal] are a very good defensive team, they defend well and they defend quite a lot. You could see against Tottenham they were happy to control the game and defend in the lines, that's not Arsenal from last year, two years ago or three years ago. They are a completely different side, in my opinion, for the better.
"They are a good team and that's why they are where they are. They are in the top four comfortably and with conditions to fight for the title."
Mourinho has always had Wenger's number - the Portuguese's tactical astuteness pretty much coming to the fore on all of those occasions. The fixture between the two sides earlier this season ended up as a stalemate at the Emirates, with neither team doing enough to warrant a win.
On Wenger's 1000th game day, the Arsenal players will be desperate to put up a triumphant performance, and what better way to do that than to hand their manager his first ever win over Mourinho.
English Premier League: Chelsea vs Arsenal Live TV and Streaming Information (Match starts 12.45 pm GMT, 6.15 pm IST, 8.45 am ET)
| Country | TV Broadcaster |
| India | Star Sports 4, Star Sports HD2 |
| US | NBC Sports Network |
| Canada | Sportsnet |
| United Kingdom | BT Sport, Talksport RadioArsenal Player (Audio) |
| Middle East | Bein Sports Arabia |
| Australia | Fox Sports |
| South Africa | SuperSport |
English Premier League: Tottenham vs Arsenal Online Live Streaming Information (Match starts 4 pm GMT, 9.30 pm IST, 12 pm ET):
| Country | Live Streaming Links |
| India | HERE |
| US | HERE |
| UK | HERE or HERE or HERE |
| Middle East | HERE |
| Canada | HERE or HERE |
| Australia | HERE |
| South Africa | HERE |
| Latin America | HERE |
Team news: Chelsea: Ramires and Willian, who were involved in the 2-0 Champions League win over Galatasaray, are suspended after being sent off in the Villa game. David Luiz is fit, but Ashley Cole remains sidelined, with Marco Van Ginkel involved in the U-21 game against Manchester United on Friday.
Arsenal: Injury woes aplenty remain for Wenger with Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott, Ry Miyaichi and Abou Diaby all sidelined. Tomas Rosicky, the scorer of that incredible goal against Tottenham, is a doubt with an ankle injury, while Kim Kallstrom could make his debut.
Expected lineups: Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Matic, Lampard; Schurrle, Oscar, Hazard; Eto'o.
Arsenal: Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Arteta, Flamini; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rosicky, Cazorla; Giroud.
