EPL: Arsenal aim to end poor run at Chelsea

A massive London derby takes place at Stamford Bridge on Sunday as Chelsea host Arsenal with the two teams level on points.
Enzo Maresca has had a great start to life in charge of Chelsea, changing their playing style quite effortlessly and their young side look dangerous, settled and are enjoying the freedom they’re getting on the ball.
They were a little disappointed to draw 1-1 at Manchester United last weekend and the main area where they need to improve is in defence.
In midfield and attack, they look settled and dangerous as balance has arrived. The next step for this young Chelsea side is to bag a marquee win against one of the Premier League big boys. The Blues are sweating on the fitness of Cole Palmer for this clash.
Arsenal are really struggling, especially going forward. They lost 1-0 at Newcastle last weekend and by the same scoreline at Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday as Mikel Arteta’s side have been suffering similar failures. They just can’t find that crucial final pass or finish in the final third and look jaded due to recent injuries. The return of captain Martin Odegaard from injury will help with their creativity but he probably isn’t fit enough to start at Chelsea. With three defeats from their last six in all competitions (as many defeats as in their previous 32 games in all comps), plus Edu leaving as sporting director, Arsenal are in a pivotal stage of their season to try and get things back on track. Their main injury concern ahead of this one is Declan Rice.
All eyes will be on Cole Palmer and whether or not he’s fit enough to start against Arsenal. He suffered a knee injury after the bruising draw at Man United where he was hacked down by Lisandro Martinez. Chelsea have a very settled defence and midfield, with Lavia and Caciedo likely to start in midfield. The main question is whether Cucurella will start at left back to try and shut down Saka, or will one of James or Gusto start there with the other at right back? This feels like a game where Cucurella will come in.
Declan Rice is Arsenal’s main injury concern with the England international missing the trip to Inter Milan due to an ankle problem. If he’s missing, expect Partey, Merino and Havertz to start in midfield. The latter took a nasty whack to the head late on against Inter but should be good to go. Odegaard will probably only be fit to play 30 minutes, at most, but his return will be crucial to Arsenal getting their season back on track. Even though they’ve been on a poor run, they’re just seven points off leaders Liverpool at this early stage, and Arsenal did play so much better at Inter on Wednesday. The only reason they lost was due to a controversial penalty kick decision. Can they regain their clinical edge?