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Confirmed Arsenal team to face Chelsea – Saka starts

Arsenal travel across London this evening to face Chelsea, and this is the starting eleven that Mikel Arteta has chosen.

Arsenal has had a good recent record at Stamford Bridge and will be looking to maintain that dominance. However, Chelsea, after a shaky start to the season, has started to find some form and will no doubt be eager to secure a positive result in this match.

That being said, Arsenal is the deserved favourite, and a win would propel them to the top of the Premier League, providing extra motivation for Arteta’s team.

It won’t be an easy match for Arsenal, as Chelsea has a strong defence, having conceded just seven goals in the league so far this season. However, if the Arsenal players perform as we know they can, they should be able to defeat Maurizio Pochettino’s side and secure all three points to take back to the Emirates.

Feel free to share your thoughts on Arteta’s team selection and your predicted score in the comments below.

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179 Comments

  1. All the talk of corrupt refs is total BS, the rules were applied as to the organisation who set the rules. Under the “old rules” it would not have been a penalty but now it is deemed one by the “new rules”, not the refs fault but the FA’s.

    1. GB , Precisely the WHOLE but deeply depressing truth. The refs only interpret the blatantly unfair laws.

      What used to be called handball is now, stupidly and unfairly, in reality, BALLHAND instead.

    2. GB and Jon, corruption is normally easily identified by audit and found out, incompetence by referees and officials appears to be tolerated in the EPL. Referees aren’t good enough to officiate at major tournaments is a proven fact, indicative of lack of quality of refereeing.

  2. Well done today have to give Arteta credit for adapting to how things were going. I thought he made his subs too late but turns out they were perfectly timed and we hurt Chelsea as they got tired. Facts are that some days things don’t go your way and it was obvious that the international break got us a bit disjointed and Chelsea pounced on us that first half. But we never stopped fighting. Rice especially worked his socks off, easily the Arsenal MOTM. We just need players like Odegaard to find his form again and a fully fit Saka. A half fit Saka still puts in an amazing ball and ties up the game. Great effort today by the boys and well done Arteta.

  3. Lots of things learnt today but one thing is for sure. If we stick with Raya as number 1 keeper we will not be challenging for any kind of honors this season. He’s obviously punching above his weight. Also, where is Partey? We need his authority in midfield. Much to talk about but that point feels like a lucky win!

    1. I think it’s clear Partey was not fit to start, and once we went 2-0 down Mikel favored dropping Rice deeper and throwing on more attackers. Hopefully we see Thomas back for the next run of games. Our schedule gets “easier”, and having control of those matches will matter so much.

      As for Raya, yea he’s not covering himself in glory, but no matter if he were No 2 he would’ve been playing today with Ramsdale’s kid being born. Arteta seems set of Raya no 1. but surely he has to be gearing up to give Ramsdale another shot soon…

  4. Well, it’s quite unfortunate it turned out this way. One point gained i’d say, no time to feel sorry for ourselves. All attention now on a cl game against a sevilla side who just held madrid in a 1-1 draw. COYG!!!

  6. I am very proud of the AFC players for showing fight and getting a point from a game where we deserved nothing. Chelsea were by far the better team. This performance gives me more hope than the win against Man City.

  7. WHAT AN AWFUL PERFORMANCE ALL ROUND IN THE FIRST SEVENTY ODD MINUTES.

    ONLY EXCEPTION IS MARTINELLI who gave his all, looked like he cared and Tomi in second half as sub.

    Nketiah also looked sharp late on. We only played to our standard in the last twenty mins after Rices great goal fromTHEIR keepers howler.

    Both keepers were awful and if RAMSDALE does not win his place back after RAYAs latest poor perf, he would be justified in asking for a transfer.

    But what will happen, most likely, is that RAMSDALE WILL WIN BACK HIS PLACE and we will not turn RAYAS LOAN INTO A PERMANENT DEAL. I certainly hope we dont!

    1. For Jon
      I agree with your comment completely including Martinelli and Tomiyasu.
      How is Ramsdale not between the sticks?
      It is a mystery to me.

      1. IGL You must, like me, have heard, our fans chanting for RAMSDALES RTETURN. Seems our fans know better rahn the mistaken decisionon MA in this case I see nothing at all to justify thre veryu odd andimo completly mistaken MA decision to both buy Raya and then to play him above RAMSDALE .
        I see it as MA worst ever mistake in the last two seasons and urge all sensible Gooners to openly call or sing at games for RAMSDALES URGENTLY NEEDED RETURN. I would be quite content to see RAYAS LOAN END as soon as it can be arranged.

        He is not a keeper for me Not at all.

        I see nothing in him to like at all No personality, no evidence of regular top class shot saving ,poor positioning ,hesitation and making our other defenders jittery . Frankly, I want him GONE ASAP!

  8. For Jon
    I did hear the chants on the TV screen.

    Arteta has been great in terms of Ethos but a mixed bag in terms of decisions. I still feel he is learning on the job and doing reasonably well considering he is a rookie. So overall a good decision to go for him as manager.
    Raya is poor and I am not sure if he is an upgrade on Matt Turner.
    Raya being the worst decision of MA: I am not sure.
    Too many to choose from like Mari, Cedric (still with us), Xhaka (I know he had a good last season but had 5 terrible seasons prior but we could have gone for an upgrade then and would have cost us less), Zinchenko @LB instead of Tierney when we know he is the ideal Xhaka replacement in midfield, getting rid of Balogan when we needed a striker, buying Havertz and Vieira when there were more pressing needs, going for an extra right back even now when I feel Norton-Cuffy is ready to play backup to White and ay even be better allowing White to go into midfield, not playing ESR enough, not playing Pepe as a sub at least to get some value whilst trying to sell him (he is as good as Havertz and Vieira), not bringing back Saliba a year earlier (as we would not have missed out on top 4 that season IMO), playing Partey at Right back, very little rotation as has his favourites and thus running them to the ground. Too many to choose from.

    Arteta’s greatest success so far is unifying the fan base (with AKB and WOB).

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