Chelsea face their first real test of the Premier League season on Saturday evening against the new-look Arsenal side, under Unai Emery. The home side are favourites for the London derby, with the blues coming out of a very underrated summer window, keeping hold of many star players who were expected to depart (bar Thibaut Courtois) whilst strengthening at the same time, with a couple very strong midfield additions to partner N’Golo Kante.
Arsenal had a reasonably busy summer window, however they failed to bring in any recognised world class players and this could cost them during the season, with fans also complaining about Emery’s team selection and tactics against the champions on their opening day fixture at the Emirates where the gunners faces a two-nil defeat.
Predicted line-up:
GK- Kepa– The Spaniard started Chelsea’s opening day fixture against Huddersfield just a few days after putting pen to paper. Put in a decent performance but wasn’t tested at any point of the game, this will most likely not be the case this weekend.
RB- Azpi- Chelsea’s best and most respected defender of recent years, the Spaniard is expected to play a major role under Sarri, so will be expected to start this match.
CB- Rüdiger- Put in yet another incredible display on the opening day, the ex-Roma defender seems to just keep improving and adapting to the Premier League, with the German ending last season very highly rated amongst Chelsea fans.
CB- David Luiz- after a rather shaky display against Man City in the Community Shield, the experienced Chelsea defender put in a great performance on match day one. However we’ll soon see how he manages defending against better quality attack. The Brazilian is expected to start alongside Rüdiger at the heart of Chelsea’s backline after clearly being favoured by Maurizio.
LB- Marcos Alonso- The Chelsea star had a poor pre-season, looking out of place and not in touch with Maurizio’s philosophy. However this was definitely not the case against Huddersfield, with the Spaniard looking as if he’s been playing the left-back role for years. This could be down to the fact that in Sarri’s style of play the LB does play rather high up the pitch.
CM- Jorginho- At the heart of Chelsea’s team is the summer addition, Jorginho. The expert of vision and dealing with the ball under pressure is expected to start against Arsenal on Saturday, with the Brazilian born player showing great promise partnering Kante last Saturday.
CM- N’Golo Kante- Self explanatory…
CM- Kovacic- The Croatian star is expected to play alongside Jorginho and Kante against Arsenal, after not being quite ready for the opening match. Highly rated amongst fans all over the world, winning the Champions League for the last 3 seasons at Real Madrid.
RW- Willian- The is expected to start over Pedro on the right side of Chelsea’s attack, being favoured by most Chelsea fans and I think the club, with the board rejecting bids of up to 60 million pounds for the Brazilian in the summer window.
LW- Hazard- If the Belgian is fit he’ll start. It’s also very likely that this will be the case after playing (around) 25 minutes against Huddersfield.
ST- Morata- The Blues lack in options upfront, with only two recognised first team strikers in Morata and Giroud. Loaning out Michy was a strange call from the board in my opinion, whether this was the choice of Sarri or not, I’m not sure.
