City getting away with it yesterday against Leeds is no real surprise, but what it does serve to underline is that today’s game against Chelsea is huge. It’s a cup final. We have 10 more to go in the League.

Arsenal are as much in control of their own destiny as 115 Charges FC are. So today is a huge game and a massive win.

And this is going to be really hard. I think we’re going to have to suffer through it because Chelsea is a decent side. Whatever about their last game against Burnley and the draw, it was done against the backdrop of once again being a man down, and I think if they are 11v11, then they don’t drop those points as they did. They have lost just two games since Rosenior took over – against us in the cup, and in the Premier League, you have to go back to 27th December, when Villa beat them on their own patch, to see when they tasted defeat away fromhome in the Premier League. That last away defeat was even further back, when Leeds beat them 3-1 at Elland Road in December. There are a fair few draws in there, sure, but it underlines that this side is decent and they will cause us problems today.

They will probably score too. The last time they didn’t in the league was the 0-0 away at Bournemouth on 6th December, and so we’re looking at a side who do create chances, which I sort of touched on towards the end of Friday’s blog, but looking at the results only today, has pretty much confirmed. And when you think that we have only had two clean sheets in games in which the opposition just shut down – and shut us down (Liverpool and Forest) – then you realise that we are in for a difficult afternoon, I fear. Rosenior said as much in his press conference, too. We can laugh at some of his David Brentisms, we can call him ‘LinkedIn Liam’ all we want, but he does know how to set his team up, and they do spend a fair portion of each game dominating possession and looking decent.

Which is horrible to say, because as a club, they are reprehensible. Everything from a history of racism within the fanbase, some players like Enzo and their chequered past, the fact they go around kicking people (rock bottom of the fair play table and have had 10 sendings off this season), as well as their business model of turning football transfers into a Monopoly money trading approach. They are almost as bad as the Scum. In fact, they might be worse, to tell the truth. They have at least won trophies with their ill-got gains, which is also a travesty, because it kind of underlines the fact that if you bin off the manager every six weeks, if you financially dope or game the system, you can actually benefit. The bad guys do sometimes win, unfortunately.

So today Arsenal need to prove their title credentials, they need to prove they are up for this fight, they need to prove they can handle the pressure of a massive London derby.

As for the team, I think there will be no real changes from the North London Derby, so:

Raya

Timber   –   Saliba   –   Gabriel   –   Hincapié

Zubimendi

Eze   –   – Rice

Saka   –   Gyokeres   –   Trossard

I think Arteta will want to try to keep the winning vibes from the players who played in the North London Derby, although this will be a different game completely. I think Chelsea will certainly have more of the ball; they’ll attack in spaces that the Scum simply couldn’t, but I also think they will defend in tighter spaces than Tottenham did. For example, I don’t think Andrey Santos and Caicedo give Eze the space in front of the D that he had for Gyokeres’ first goal last weekend (even though he didn’t touch the ball), nor do I think Gyokeres gets the time to get that shot off today. Chelsea will sit in a compact and better-structured defensive unit and congest the space when out of possession, which is why I’d have Trossard instead of Martinelli today. He’s one for the second half, I think. Trossard wasn’t great against Tottenham, but he has more magic in his feet, and I also think he works better with Big Vik, so that’s what I’d be doing.

And on big Vik, I really hope we have seen something click, and I hope he gets more on the ball like he did last weekend. Arteta teased us with the Eze comments about knowing how to get the best out of him, but I hope the Arsenal team have learned how to get the best out of Gyokeres, and I hope that means getting at least one guy in and around him when the ball is played up to him.

We’ve had a week off now, so I also hope that has helped Timber, who has looked like he’s showing signs of mental fatigue. I also think we’ll see Hincapie because he’s been in good form, but it also feels like this is a game in which we might need a solid defensive base. Last weekend Chelsea went with Cole Palmer on their right-hand side/our left, but he likes to float, so ordinarily I’d say let’s use that to get Calafiori in. But I think Arteta will lean in to the meritocracy thing and keep the Ecuadorian in at left back.

I’m nervous now, having written just over 900 words, because I really want to beat this Chelsea team. We should have beaten them at their place in the league, but we put in a bit of a stodgy performance, despite being a man up. It’s time to put that right today.

Amanda and James will be doing a post-game live pod at 9pm is you want to join in for an instant(ish) reaction. You can do that here. Otherwise, I’ll catch you here tomorrow for a review of what went down.

See you then.