EPL: Arsenal vs Chelsea: Team news, injury concerns, potential lineup
Arsenal will file out against Chelsea on Wednesday in a top four battle.
Arsene Wenger’s men were dealt a tough blow in their final game of the year as West Brom were awarded a somewhat fortunate penalty kick after referee Mike Dean adjudged Calum Chambers to have deliberately handled the ball in the box on New Year’s Eve.
The Gunners will need to increase their level of play on Wednesday night when they face Chelsea in north London.
Arsenal will face Antonio Conte’s side three times in January after drawing the Blues in the Carabao Cup semi-final and will be desperate to make sure they get the New Year off to a positive start.
Team news: Nacho Monreal, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey are still out injured while Sead Kolasinac has been ruled out for two weeks.
Midfielder Mesut Ozil and Laurent Koscielny are both doubts for Wednesday’s game with Wenger deeming the Frenchman of having a 30 per cent chance of being involved at Emirates Stadium.
Also, Spanish midfield, Santi Cazorla remains a long-term absentee with an Achilles injury.
Arsenal have no players suspended for this game Injuries look set to ravage Arsenal’s starting XI for their first game of 2018 with captain Per Mertesacker likely to fill in for the absent Laurent Koscielny.
Potential lineup for Arsenal: Cech, Mertesacker, Mustafi, Chambers, Wilshere, Xhaka, Mailand-Niles, Bellerin, Welbeck, Walcott, Laccazette.
For Chelsea, they are undefeated in their last 13 matches but have fallen behind league leaders Manchester City but could overtake Manchester United again with a win at the Emirate.
The likes of Eden Hazard and Andreas Christensen, who were rested against Stoke City at the weekend, will return to the line-up, following their astute record of four consecutive clean sheets in the league.
However, Chelsea will be without David Luiz (knee) while Baba Rahman (knee) is a long-term injury absentee.
Alvaro Morata is the club’s top scorer with 12 goals to his name so far this season