Chelsea vs Arsenal predicted lineups and team news

Chelsea host London rivals Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday with both sides aiming for the win which would ensure a top-four placing over the international break.

Chelsea vs Arsenal predicted lineups

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Colwill, James; Caicedo, Lavia; Madueke, Palmer, Neto; Jackson

Arsenal (4-4-2): Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Saka, Rice, Merino, Martinelli; Havertz, Jesus

The teams are preparing to lock horns for the first time since Arsenal’s 5-0 success at the Emirates Stadium in April. The game kicks off at 4.30pm with live coverage on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League.

Arteta aiming to stop the rot

The last three weeks have been tough for Arsenal, who were unbeaten on their return from the October international break, but who have tasted defeat three times in their last six matches.

Mikel Arteta was fairly composed after the first of those losses – a 2-0 reverse away to Bournemouth which was influenced by William Saliba’s red card.

But he was more irritated by last weekend’s 1-0 loss at Newcastle and the bad news continued on Wednesday as the Gunners succumbed 1-0 away to Inter Milan on Champions League matchday four.

On the plus side the performance against Inter was an improvement on their offering at St James’ Park and the result was not especially damaging, given the Gunners’ seven-point haul from the previous three Champions League fixtures.

However, Arteta’s side have less room for error if they are serious about staying in the Premier League title race.

They approach the weekend in fifth – seven points behind leaders Liverpool – and can ill-afford to fall further behind.

Chelsea vs Arsenal team news

While Arsenal are frustrated to be on 18 points, fourth-placed Chelsea are fairly content with the same tally as they continue the process of bouncing back from a couple of below par campaigns.

The Blues were hampered by a spate of injuries for large parts of last season, but they seem to be a healthier bunch these days with head coach Enzo Maresca able to make 11 changes for Thursday’s 8-0 triumph over Noah in the Conference League.

Chelsea’s demolition of their Armenian visitors included doubles for attackers Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku, but both may have to be content with places on the bench this weekend.

Maresca generally likes to keep a fairly settled Premier League side and is expected to retain most of the starters from last Sunday’s 1-1 draw away to Manchester United.

Cole Palmer was on the receiving end of a heavy Lisandro Martinez tackle at Old Trafford and was seen with an ice pack after the game.

Any injury for the 22-year-old, who is joint-top of the Premier League goal involvements with seven goals and five assists, is a concern for Blues fans, who want the player to be operating at full throttle in such a vital fixture.

Chelsea must also monitor the fitness of Jadon Sancho (knock), but they have fewer selection concerns than Arsenal, who are without injured trio Riccardo Calafiori (knee), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (hamstring) and cannot field Raheem Sterling against his parent club.

Arteta must also decide how many minutes he can safely get from Odegaard, and he is sweating on the availability of Declan Rice, who missed the midweek loss to Inter with a toe injury.

Rice will be desperate to feature, with Thomas Partey and ex-Blue Jorginho options to deputise.