May 2021

Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Chelsea vs Arsenal in the Premier League on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports (kick-off 8.15pm).

Team news

Chelsea will be without Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christensen against Arsenal.

Denmark defender Christensen picked up a tendon problem in Saturday's 2-1 Premier League win at Manchester City, while Croatia midfielder Kovacic has been sidelined with hamstring trouble since mid-April.

Blues head coach Thomas Tuchel has confirmed they will both miss the game against the Gunners - and face a race against time to be fit for Saturday's FA Cup final against Leicester.

"Kova is not ready for tomorrow," said Tuchel. "So his personal race is on to make it to the squad to Wembley.

"For Andreas, it's better than we feared, much better... it will be also a tough one, but the season is not finished for him hopefully. So we have realistic hopes that his latest comeback will be against Aston Villa [on the final day of the season]."

Arsenal will be missing defender David Luiz (hamstring) again.

Mikel Arteta also admitted in his pre-match press conferences that he had "some injuries" to contend with but did not name names.

"There were some issues over the weekend again," he said. "We are playing every three days and there is no time to train yet, [Tuesday] is the first day so we will have to wait and see."

Jones Knows' prediction

This fixture gave me one of my betting highlights of the season when Arsenal surprised many by beating Chelsea. It was the perfect example of sticking with what you believe when the world is telling you the exact opposite. Am I following in Arsenal once again? No chance.

Chelsea are managed by Thomas Tuchel not Frank Lampard now and all their key performance data shows they now have a clear identity that revolves around gaining control of the match and limiting the opposition to little space between the lines. Arsenal try to do the same but do not have the tactical nous or personnel to pull it off.

A home win will be a popular selection with punters - but I would advise ignoring the 8/11 with Sky Bet and concentrate on Chelsea to win and under 3.5 goals in the match (Chelsea to win 1-0, 2-0, 2-1 or 3-0) at an odds-against price of 13/8.

From the 16 wins Tuchel has overseen since taking charge, 15 of them have been accomplished with one of the aforementioned scorelines. So if you fancy the home win, it's certainly the way to go rather than just simply take a very skinny price.

JONES KNOWS PREDICTS: 1-0

Opta stats

Chelsea are unbeaten in their last eight home Premier League matches against Arsenal (W6 D2) since losing 5-3 at Stamford Bridge back in October 2011 under Andre Villas-Boas.

Arsenal won 3-1 against Chelsea on Boxing Day earlier this season in the Premier League, last completing a double over the Blues in their 2003-04 title-winning campaign.

Arsenal have never lost a Premier League match against Chelsea when facing them in a midweek tie (Tuesday or Wednesday), though six of those games have ended level (W2). The Gunners' four such visits to Stamford Bridge have all ended in a draw (0-0 September 1998, 2-2 September 2000, 0-0 April 2005, 2-2 January 2020).

Arsenal have won their last two meetings with Chelsea in all competitions, last beating the Blues in three consecutive games between March 2003 and February 2004 (four in a row).

Chelsea have won more points in Premier League London derby games this season than any other side (22 - W7 D1 L1). Victory here would equal the record for most points won in such games in a single Premier League campaign, with Arsenal in 2013-14, and Chelsea in 2005-06 & 2014-15 winning 25 points.

Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in seven of their eight Premier League home games under Thomas Tuchel, with the exception being a 5-2 defeat to West Bromwich Albion in April.

Arsenal are unbeaten in their last five away league games (W3 D2), winning the last two by an aggregate score of 5-0. The Gunners haven't won three in a row on the road without conceding since May 2013.

Chelsea's last eight Premier League defeats against Arsenal have been with a different manager in the dugout - Claudio Ranieri, Avram Grant, Felipe Scolari, Carlo Ancelotti, André Villas-Boas, Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri and Frank Lampard. Of those eight, only Grant, Scolari, Villas-Boas and Conte lost their first league meeting with the Gunners.

53% of Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette's away Premier League goals have been scored this season (10/19). The Frenchman scored in the reverse game against Chelsea this season (along with Granit Xhaka and Bukayo Saka), with Edu in 2003-04 the last Arsenal player to score home and away against the Blues in the same league season.