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7 min “No no no, please don’t say that Kieran Tierney will leave; don’t even think about it,” weeps Charles Antaki. “Arsenal fans have a sense of players they sort of love, and one of them leaving, especially one who has that extra charm of genuineness and straightforwardness, would be too much of a (football-specific, to be sure) loss to bear. Aubameyang going was fine though.”
He’s definitely the best and most likeable third-choice left-back in the Premier League.
6 min Arsenal have started superbly and are passing through Chelsea for fun. Literally. Graham Potter might already be thinking about switching to a midfield diamond because they are getting overrun here.
5 min Saka tries to slide the free-kick to Martinelli in the D, but Cucurella reads it and intercepts.
4 min Saka runs Cucurella and is shoved over, just outside the area on the right. That stemmed from Ramsdale sliding a ball through the lines to Zinchenko, popping up in the central-midfield position that Zack mentioned below.
3 min Yes it’s definitely a 4-2-3-1 for Chelsea, as below. But it’s Arsenal who have started strongly; they look so relaxed and confident.
2 min “On Tierney, I think in response to what Eddie has said Arteta ‘not understanding his value’ is a bit strong,” writes Zack. “With Arteta and Tierney it’s two things. The first is, Tierney is fit for about two thirds of a season generally. In the past when Arteta only had Tierney and the system was designed partly to maximize Tierney’s attacking qualities he would inevitably get injured and we’d look a lot worse.
“Second Arteta has moved to reimagine Tierney’s position in the attack using an attacking 8 (hence Xhaka suddenly does goals now) as the fifth member of our attack with both full-backs slotting into midfield. Zinchenko slots into midfield at an elite level and Tomiyasu and Ben White (who also overlaps) at a very good level. Tierney can do it but it’s not quite the same.
“I have really enjoyed Tierney at Arsenal and, he is playing every week at the moment so it’s not like he’s been sidelined. However, Arteta has evolved the side away from his skillset. It happens! He will probably see a lot of game time this year and maybe he goes in the summer, maybe not. The side is more adaptable now and he is still a part of that!”
1 min A long throw is backheaded into the side netting by Gabriel. A quarter chance, at best.
1 min Chelsea kick off from right to left as we watch. It looks like a back four for Chelsea.
And now, to business.
It’s Remembrace Day on Friday. Before kick-off, the players will gather round the centre circle to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the war.
The players stroll onto the field. It’s a dank, chilly day in west London.
“As a Chelsea fan I’m not so much concerned about the formation and more the age of the defence,” says Brendan Large. “Silva and Azpilicueta are both legends and have experience coming out of the wahoo, but I worry for them against the young mobile front three of Arsenal. Also the way these two teams have started recently, I’m worried Chelsea will be 2 down before the first 20 mins are up.”
When did football fans become so pessimistic? And yes, I realise I am calling the kettle black here.
If Aubameyang scores against his old club today, he’ll do well to top this celebration from Emmanuel Adebayor.
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“Tierney dropped again for a big PL match,” says Eddie Rae. “He should leave. Arteta doesn’t understand his value.”
He’s clearly third-choice left-back, which is a surprise to those of us in his fan club. I suspect he’ll leave next summer, and he’d be most welcome at almost every Premier League club.
Any thoughts on that Chelsea formation? It could be a back three with Azpilicueta and either Loftus-Cheek or Sterling at wing-back, but my hunch it’ll be 4-2-3-1 or a diamond. We’ll soon find out.
Team news
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang starts against his old club. That’s one of four changes from Chelsea’s last league game, the 4-1 defeat at Brighton. Edouard Mendy, Jorginho and Cesar Azpilicueta also come into the side; Kepa Arrizabalaga Mateo Kovacic, Conor Gallagher and Christian Pulisic drop out.
The Chelsea Twitter feed suggests they are playing a back three, with Mason Mount in central midfield alongside Jorginho. I’m calling fake news: it looks like a back four to my admittedly untrained eye.
Mikel Arteta makes one change to Arsenal’s recent Premier League XI – Oleksandr Zinchenko replaces the injured Takehiro Tomiyasu at left-back.
Chelsea (possible 4-2-3-1) Mendy; Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Thiago, Cucurella; Loftus-Cheek, Jorginho; Sterling, Havertz, Mount; Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Bettinelli, Koulibaly, Gallagher, Hall, Kovacic, Zakaria, Pulisic, Ziyech, Broja.
Arsenal (4-1-4-1) Ramsdale; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Partey; Saka, Odegaard, Xhaka, Martinelli; Jesus.
Substitutes: Turner, Tierney, Holding, Cedric, Lokonga, Elneny, Vieira, Nelson, Nketiah.
Referee Michael Oliver.
Pre-match reading
Here’s Jacob Steinberg on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Here’s Jonathan Wilson on Graham Potter.
And here’s John Brewin on Mikel Arteta.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Chelsea v Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. This has been, if not the biggest, then certainly the most important London derby of the 21st century. We’ve had a Champions League quarter-final, a Europa League final, three FA Cup finals, a League Cup final, umpteen important league matches and enough needle to prick a contrived metaphor.
The most memorable games tend to happen after Christmas, but today is still pretty darned important for both sides – especially Arsenal, who would love to make another statement of title-winning intent.
Away form is likely to determine whether they can maintain their unlikely title challenge. There have been one or two wobbles lately, and this is arguably their biggest test of the season so far. But Arsenal have won their last two games at Stamford Bridge, the first time that has happened since 1997, so they should travel with confidence – if also a bit of trepidation about what Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s scriptwriter has in mind.
Chelsea have started pretty well under Graham Potter, though they were thrillingly ambushed by Brighton last week and there is a growing feeling that maybe Potter has too many options for his own good. He has changed personnel and formation in almost every game since he first put on a black polo neck jumper.
Arsenal are the opposite, settled and happy in their Pepball formation. And if they win today, they’ll go back above Team Pep.
Kick off 12pm.
