Chelsea vs Arsenal preview, prediction, team news and head-to-head

Manchester City's defeat to Newcastle last weekend has opened the door for Chelsea to become Arsenal's closest challengers.

This weekend's London derby promises to be a thrilling affair.

Chelsea’s recent 3-0 battering of Barcelona in the Champions League emphatically rubber-stamped their strong form, making it five wins and a draw in their last six matches across all competitions.

This impressive run has been built on a rock-solid defence, highlighted by three successive clean sheets, but they have only collected 10 of their 23 points at home this season, which suggests they must improve on home turf.

Meanwhile, Arsenal are in the form of their lives , and they followed up their 4-1 win over Tottenham with an excellent midweek win over Bayern Munich.

The Gunners are 6 points clear at the top of the Premier League standings, looking to put serious distance between themselves and the chasing pack.

Their record in London derbies is formidable, with just three defeats in their last 40 london contests (W28, D9).

After the win over Bayern in midweek, it is truly difficult to look past Mikel Arteta's men for this one.

Chelsea have won just one of their last 11 Premier League games against Arsenal (D3, L7), a run dating back to December 2019. 

The last time the Blues beat Arsenal was in 2019, when Tammy Abraham scored an 87th-minute winner.

Lewi Colwill, Romeo Lavia, and Dario Essugo are all unavailable for Chelsea, and Liam Delap's goal against Barcelona in midweek could see Enzo Maresca give him the nod to lead the line over Joao Pedro.

Leandro Trossard limped off during the midweek win over Bayern Munich, but Arteta will be boosted by the goal-scoring returns of Gabriel Martinelli and Noni Madueke. Captain Martin Odegaard made a cameo off the bench against the Bavarians as well, and could play a part this weekend.

Chelsea: Sanchez; James, Tosin, Chalobah, Cucurella; Fernandez, Caicedo; Estevao, Pedro, Neto; Delap

Arsenal: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Hincapie, Calafiori; Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Eze, Martinelli; Merino

The whole match will essentially boil down to whether Chelsea's attack has enough about them to break down Arsenal's notoriously stingy defence, which has shipped a mere six goals in the league.

Even with Gabriel out, the Gunners remain a serious threat from set-pieces and should have enough to take all three points.

• Over 1.5

• Chelsea under 2.5 goals

• Gabriel Martinelli anytime goalscorer