- Jose Mourinho has never lost against Arsenal as Chelsea boss (W5, D5)
- Saturday’s game will be Arsene Wenger’s 1,000th in charge of Arsenal
- Chelsea are unbeaten in four PL games vs. Arsenal
On Saturday at Stamford Bridge Chelsea host Arsenal in a massive London derby (Watch live on NBCSN, 8:45 a.m. ET and online via Live Extra) that’s made even bigger given both teams’ serious title credentials.
Chelsea, the current Premier League leaders, are eager to put last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa behind them against the Gunners, while Arsenal know a win will put them just one point behind Chelsea with a game in hand.
Arsene Wenger will be celebrating his 1000th game in charge of the Gunners on Saturday, as the French manager continues to keep Arsenal moving forward as their unlikely title charge isn’t over by any stretch of the imagination. Last time out they beat North London rivals Tottenham 1-0 away from home and Wenger would love to get one over Mourinho.
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These two sides drew 0-0 on a wet and windy night at the Emirates just before Christmas, but since then Wenger has accused Mourinho of being ‘afraid of failure’ while Mourinho quipped that Wenger ‘is an expert at failure.’ Thing’s could get quite tasty on the sidelines in West London this Saturday.
As for team news, Chelsea will be without Willian and Ramires who were both sent off last weekend, while Arsenal only have Tomas Rosicky as a doubt with long-term injuries still keeping Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott and Abou Diaby sidelined.
What they’re saying
Arsenal defender Nacho Monreal on ending Mourinho’s unbeaten PL home record: “It has been a few years that [Mourinho] has not lost playing at home with Chelsea, and there is no better moment to break that record than this weekend. We are aware that it will not be easy, but we’ll go there to get the three points. We’re on a good run, but we have a very tough schedule coming up. We’ve just played against Tottenham, now we have Chelsea, Manchester City, Everton away, and also a game in hand.”
Jose Mourinho playing down the importance of the derby: “It’s no more significant than the game last Saturday in Birmingham. It’s exactly the same significance; maybe a bit less now because of what happened last weekend. Last Saturday put us in a position where probably we wouldn’t be now, probably we would be with more points than we have now. We want to get the maximum points possible during the season and this is our objective game after game so if we can add three points to the ones we have now that would be good.”
Prediction
With Arsenal flying high and knowing a win away at Chelsea will help them leap over the Blues in the title race, I’d expect the Gunners to come flying out of the traps. Wenger’s side are mean at the back, but so are Chelsea, so it will be a tight and tense affair in a London derby with plenty to play for. If I had to stick my neck on the line, I am going for a home win. But neither side will want to lose this, so maybe we’ll see a draw.
