Chelsea and Arsenal promise goals and flaws, Fulham must tighten up and will sparks fly between Benítez and Warnock?
With two teams in flux, Chelsea’s derby with Arsenal is a meeting that promises goals. Both sides are vulnerable in defence and dangerous in attack. Although beaten comfortably in the end, Huddersfield exposed Chelsea’s weakness to attacks down the wings last week and Arsenal may aim to do likewise, while David Luiz, in particular, will likely struggle to keep up with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the middle. But Chelsea’s midfield thrusters – who could include Eden Hazard from the start as well as N’Golo Kanté in all-new Roving Mode – could wreak havoc at the other end, especially if certain Arsenal midfielders remain dozy when it comes to defensive duties. That is something Unai Emery needs to change and he could start by picking Lucas Torreira instead of Granit Xhaka. Or he might consider deploying both in a midfield trio with Mattéo Guendouzi. But even that would probably not be enough to keep Chelsea at bay so Emery will most likely err on the side of adventure and start Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Mesut Özil and Aaron Ramsey in a difficult away assignment. Petr Cech is likely to start in goal at Stamford Bridge but how long can the manager persevere with a keeper less suited to his approach than the new signing Bernd Leno? PD
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