Arsenal has one of the toughest starts to the Premier League as after facing Manchester City in gameweek 1, they travel to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea next. The Gunners were outclassed in every department by the Citizens, and one could make out the gulf between the two sides. However, we expect the clash between the two London rivals to be a more closely fought encounter.
Chelsea would be looking to continue the good work after achieving a comfortable victory against Huddersfield Town. On the other hand, Unai Emery has a lot of problems to solve and decisions to make. It is clear that the new manager would take time to stamp his authority on the team, but many are of the opinion that the manager has made mistakes even in choosing the starting eleven for the first game. However, there is no shame in being beaten by the best team in England, and things could improve for the Gunners.
Emery would need to find a way to bring the likes of Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette more in the game as they were left isolated most of the times in the first game. Defence continues to be an issue, and the big test for the Gunners would be to keep a clean sheet.
Team News
Ainsley Maitland-Niles limped off injured in the last game, and he would be unavailable for this encounter. Two other left-back Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac are already out injured, and the Spanish manager would have to get someone to fill in that role. Centre-back Laurent Koscielny is also sidelined for the near future.
4-2-3-1 Arsenal Predicted Lineup To Take On Chelsea
Formation (4-2-3-1)
Defence
After the big money signing of Bernd Leno, we expected him to be the number 1 from the offset. However, Emery went in with the experienced Petr Cech. He made some good saves and bailed his team out on various occasions, but his distribution was atrocious and embarrassing to see. But still, we expect Cech to start as dropping him after just one game would indicate that the manager doesn’t want to show confidence on the player.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi will be the centre back pairing, and both of them will have to step up if the Gunners want to come away with a clean sheet. Hector Bellerin would be expected to start in his usual right-back role with the veteran Stephan Lichsteiner filling in the left back’s role for the time being.
Midfield
Emery’s experiment with Matteo Guendouzi failed in the first game, and thus Lucas Torrerira could make his first start of the season. Granit Xhaka will be his partner in midfield.
The attacking firepower from midfield will be provided by Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang. Arsenal looked much more threatening when Lacazette was on the pitch and to accommodate him the manager would need to drop Ramsey.
Forward
Aubameyang was deprived of opportunities in the first game, and the introduction of Lacazette slightly changed the tide of the game before City got their second. We believe starting with Lacazette upfront would be a good bet.
