Chelsea visits Arsenal in a London derby and could hand a debut to Romelu Lukaku. (More Football News)
Chelsea lost to Arsenal 3-1 in December, while their second match ended in a 2-2 draw. But since then much has changed in Chelsea and Arsenal.
Chelsea began its bid to follow up a Champions League title with another Premier League trophy by beating Crystal Palace 3-0.
Defenders Marcos Alonso and Trevoh Chalobah — with his first goal for Chelsea, on his Premier League debut — scored either side of a close-range strike by US forward Christian Pulisic in a dominant display by Thomas Tuchel’s team.
The win came three days after Chelsea won the UEFA Super Cup by beating Villarreal in a penalty shootout.
But winger Pulisic has tested positive for COVID-19 and was in self-isolation. This has ruled him out of Saturday's game against Arsenal.
This can open the door for Chelsea’s new sigining Romelu Lukaku, who completed his move from Inter Milan for a club-record $135 million on Friday, Chelsea had far too much going forward for Palace — with even two defenders chipping in with goals.
On the other hand Arsenal have some serious thinking to do. Arsenal lost 0-2 to Brentford and for Mikel Arteta's Arsenal, it was another disappointing performance and a worrying start.
The team only finished eighth last season and showed little sign of having sorted out its previous problems. With strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette both missing — Arteta said they were feeling “unwell” — Arsenal again struggled to create any kind of clear scoring chances despite dominating possession for stretches of the game.
“I don't want to use excuses. We had a team out there good enough to achieve a different result,” Arteta said. (with inputs from agencies)
When and where to watch the match in India?
Match: Arsenal Vs Chelsea Premier League match
Time: 9:00PM IST
Venue: Anfield, Liverpool
Telecast: The match will be telecast live on Star Sports network in India. Star Sports Select 1 and Star Sports Select 1 HD channels are likely to telecast the match live. Fans can catch the live streaming at Disney + Hotstar app