Welcome to another edition of WIITW – you’re one stop shop ahead of each and every Arsenal match!

Here’s the last couple of match posts:

At 1:30pm (UK time) today, we play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Managers

Arsenal

Arsene Wenger on getting a result at one of the big boys: “Of course it’s very important. If you look a bit at the League you know the positions in the top four will of course be decided by the quality of the results you make against your direct opponents.”

On the players’ focus: “We do not look backwards too much. We know that we have analysed that well and we know what we missed [at Anfield] and it’s important that we correct it. I believe that basically it’s focus on our performance and give 100% commitment.”

On whether we lack confidence away to the top teams: “No. If you look at my record you will see I played two years in the Premier League without losing games away from home. Last year, until we lost at Everton, we had not lost away for the whole year. After that, we lost at Man City, that’s true. It gave us a little bit of a problem of confidence away from home, but I don’t believe in that. The pitch is 105m long and 68m wide everywhere. It’s just a question of how much you want it. No matter where you play, it’s about football.”

Chelsea

Antonio Conte on the Gunners: “Arsenal are one of the top six teams in England. They have a very good squad and have a chance to fight for the title. It’s a massive game for us. When you play against Arsenal, it’s always a massive game – the same against City, United, Liverpool, Tottenham.”

On Arsenal’s current situation: “I don’t care nothing about Arsenal’s situation, I care about Chelsea’s. They will solve their problems, we will solve ours. I don’t understand why they can’t fight for the title. They lost only one player but kept all the rest. They have many top players.”

On his hopes for Sunday: “I hope to finish the game with 11 players… Then, during the game, the best will win.”

Team News

Arsenal

The Gunners should recall plenty of first-team players for the match. Ozil, Koscielny, Cech, Lacazette and Ramsey are all expected to return to the squad after being rested on Thursday night.

Arsene Wenger discussed Jack Wilshere after his substitute appearance against Koln – “You will see that it will give him more confidence and you could see that he still needs competition, Jack.”

Chelsea

The Blues could feature Eden Hazard for the first time this season. He’s been eased back into the first team after an ankle injury but did play for Belgium against Gibraltar and Greece during the most recent international break.

Danny Drinkwater is set to miss the next few weeks. A calf problem means he is yet to make his Chelsea debut following a big-money move from Leicester.

Premier League Head-to-Head

P 50 W 19 D 14 L 17 F 64 A 68

50 19 14 17 64 68 Arsenal will be looking to banish some Stamford Bridge demons today. The Gunners have lost the last five matches at Chelsea – our joint-longest away losing streak against a single opponent in the Premier League era (joint with five defeats at Man United between 2009 and 2013).

October 2011 was the last time Arsenal won at the Bridge. That was the 5-3 victory in which Robin Van Persie bagged a hat-trick.

Defence will be key to any positive result we can get on Sunday, but it’s been quite a while since any Arsenal defenders have had a good day at Chelsea – Arsenal haven’t kept a clean sheet at the Bridge since April 2012.

That’s 12 games without a clean sheet at Chelsea. One more and it will equal our longest run of away games without a clean sheet against a single opponent in the Premier League (Arsenal went 13 games at Liverpool without one between 1999 and 2012).

Along with just being unable to keep Chelsea out on their own turf, the number of goals Arsenal have leaked at the Bridge is worrying. The Gunners have conceded at least twice in each of the last eight matches at Chelsea.

So, in the off-chance that our defence doesn’t hold up, we’ll need to score goals. Out-scoring Chelsea at their place sounds hard. Luckily for us, we have seven Premier League wins at Stamford Bridge and only two of them featured Arsenal clean sheets. Winning at Chelsea despite conceding? Not impossible!

The last time we both won and kept a clean sheet at Chelsea was in April 1997! The Gunners won 3-0 on the same day Nicolas Anelka made his debut following his move from PSG.

Looking for some good omens? Look no further! The last three games in which Arsenal have left Stamford Bridge with a result have either kicked-off early or have been played on a Sunday. This coming clash with Chelsea? It’s an early kick-off, on a Sunday! Perfect storm!

Arsenal beat Chelsea in the 2002 FA Cup Final and next played them in the Premier League the following September, coming away from the Bridge with a 1-1 draw. Can we repeat that in 2017? Can I be grasping any harder at these straws?

Blue pill or Red pill?

There have been a number of high-profile figures associated with both Arsenal and Chelsea during their football careers.

George Graham spent two years at Chelsea before joining Arsenal in 1966. In his days at the Bridge, he and several other players, regularly clashed with their manager, Tommy Docherty. Since 1961, Docherty had been a player-coach at Chelsea. His last club before joining the Blues? You guessed it…

One of the most prolific goal scorers in Arsenal history, Ted Drake found the net 139 times in 184 games for the club. He won two First Division titles and an FA Cup as an Arsenal player before a spinal injury forced him into retirement in 1945. Seven years later, he became Chelsea manager. Drake modernised the club – introducing scouting reports, training focused on ball work and even changing the club crest. He’ll be best remembered for leading Chelsea to the 1954-55 First Division title. Before Roman Abramovic and Jose Mourinho arrived at Stamford Bridge, Ted Drake was the only title winning manager in Chelsea history.

Midfielder Graham Rix started his career with Arsenal and spent 14 years at Highbury. In 1983, he was made captain but unfortunately spent much of his first season as skipper on the injury list (Arsenal captains, eh?). Rix didn’t win any honours as captain but did set up the winning goal in the dramatic 1979 FA Cup Final against Man United. After spells in France and Scotland, Graham Rix retired in 1993 and almost immediately went into coaching. He began working with the Chelsea youth team but, during a bit of an injury crisis in 1995, he came out of retirement and played one game for the Blues – against Arsenal! It was the last game of the season and Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-1.

Eight players have represented both clubs in the Premier League. Four have moved directly from Chelsea to Arsenal – Lassana Diarra, William Gallas, Yossi Benayoun (on loan) and Petr Cech. Only Ashley Cole has joined Chelsea directly from Arsenal. The other players who have played for the Gunners before ending up at Chelsea were Emmanuel Petit, Nicolas Anelka and Cesc Fabregas.

Fabregas is the only player to have scored for both sides in this fixture. In 2010, he scored Arsenal’s second goal in a 3-1 win at the Emirates. Last season, he scored for the Blues as they won by the same scoreline at home to Arsenal. Fabregas also scored the Arsenal goal in a 2-1 loss to Chelsea in the 2005 Community Shield.

Emmanuel Petit and Nicolas Anelka have both scored for Chelsea in this fixture, having previously represented the Gunners. William Gallas is the only player to have gone from Blue to Red and score against his former team – he got the winner against Chelsea in 2010.

How about some goals?

So our trips to Chelsea haven’t been so great in recent seasons but we have gotten some crackers there in the past:

October 1999 – Chelsea 2-3 Arsenal: The Gunners were 2-0 down heading into the final 15 minutes of the match at the Bridge, when a certain Nigerian striker took matters into his own hands. “Kanu believe it?!?!”

– Chelsea 2-3 Arsenal: The Gunners were 2-0 down heading into the final 15 minutes of the match at the Bridge, when a certain Nigerian striker took matters into his own hands. “Kanu believe it?!?!” September 1997 – Chelsea 2-3 Arsenal: The two sides had shared four goals in a great game, which included a red card for Frank Leboeuf. Nigel Winterburn won it in the 89th minute with this wonder strike – almost exactly 20 years ago!

– Chelsea 2-3 Arsenal: The two sides had shared four goals in a great game, which included a red card for Frank Leboeuf. Nigel Winterburn won it in the 89th minute with this wonder strike – almost exactly 20 years ago! September 2000 – Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal: A little under three years after Winterburn’s great goal, Sylvinho did this at Stamford Bridge. Another left-back. Another screamer. Another late goal to snatch a result at Chelsea.

– Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal: A little under three years after Winterburn’s great goal, Sylvinho did this at Stamford Bridge. Another left-back. Another screamer. Another late goal to snatch a result at Chelsea. February 2004 – Chelsea 1-2 Arsenal: The Gunners come from behind to not only maintain the unbeaten run but also gain some valuable points en route to the title. Vieira and Edu with the goals, just a week after beating the Blues in the FA Cup at Highbury.

– Chelsea 1-2 Arsenal: The Gunners come from behind to not only maintain the unbeaten run but also gain some valuable points en route to the title. Vieira and Edu with the goals, just a week after beating the Blues in the FA Cup at Highbury. May 2017 – Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea: No, absolutely not. We cannot go into this game without reliving that great result back in May. 3rd FA Cup in four years. Record number of FA Cup wins as a club. Record number of FA Cup wins for the manager. Denied Chelsea the Double. Sweet as…

– Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea: No, absolutely not. We cannot go into this game without reliving that great result back in May. 3rd FA Cup in four years. Record number of FA Cup wins as a club. Record number of FA Cup wins for the manager. Denied Chelsea the Double. Sweet as… August 2017 – Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea (4-1 on pens): After finishing the previous season by beating Chelsea at Wembley, we started the current campaign in similar fashion. Here’s hoping for another Kolasinac goal today!

And that’s that…

Big, big game today. An Arsenal win and suddenly all our problems don’t seem so bad:

3 points puts us into 5th, ahead of Spurs and Liverpool and just 1pt behind Chelsea.

It would end a woeful run of results away to Chelsea in the League.

It would be a first win away to a top six side since beating Man City in January 2015.

A draw wouldn’t be a bad result at the home of the Champions. Optimism is one thing but I reckon most Arsenal fans would take a point at Chelsea if it was offered before kick-off…

I’ll be back in a couple of days to preview our Capital One… Carling… Coca-Cola… LEAGUE CUP tie with Doncaster Rovers.

Until then, stay well and thanks for reading!