The Premier League title of Arsenal almost sees it after a number of slip-ups in recent weeks, but they hope to bounce back against Chelsea on Sunday.
With Liverpool not in competition -promotion this weekend because of the EFL Cup final, Arsenal has the chance to close the gap if they can leave their wobbles behind.
The gap at the top of the Premier League extended to 15 points last weekend, although Arsenal found a goodwill by winning Big in the Champions League against PSV in the last 16. They recorded a 9-3 total triumph in that draw, although Drew 2-2 in the second stage at home.
The Gunners have only picked up two points in their last three league matches, and Chelsea is one of those who are starting to close on Arsenal while going hunting for a top-four finish.
A 1-0 win over the former club of Enzo Maresca, Leicester City, pushed the blues in a Champions League spot last week, but they will have to overcome their problems on the road if they want to hold it.
Here, with the help of Opta data, we dive into the most important insights prior to Sunday's collision at the Emirates Stadium.
What is expected?
Arsenal has been unbeaten in their last six Premier League matches against Chelsea (W4 D2), their longest run without a league -defeat against them since a run of 19 between 1995 and 2005.
In general, they have won six of their last nine Premier League matches against the blues (D2 L1). Their previous six wins against Chelsea in the competition had been over a period of 32 games between 2004 and 2020 (D10 L16).
The last trip from Chelsea to the Emirates could play on their minds on their way to Sunday's draw, because they lost this exact game 5-0 last season and admit four goals in the second half when they were blown away by the side of Mikel Arteta.
Chelsea has indeed lost their last two away competition matches against Arsenal -they last have three competitions in a row at the Gunners between 2001 and 2003.
Given their recent dominance in this luminaire, Arsenal are the favorites according to the OPTA -SUPERCOMPUTER, with a chance of winning of 52.2%.
In the meantime, Chelsea gets a draw (24.3%) than a victory (23.6%), based on the simulations of the model for the match.
Arsenal has a mountain to climb
The title opportunities of Arsenal had been slim for a while, but last week's 1-1 draw with Manchester United-in combination with the victory of Liverpool over Southampton, to have ended the title race as well as.
The hope of the Gunners to win a first Premier League title since 2004 is very small, with the OPTA Supercomputer giving them only 0.6% chance to get the Reds to the top, even with a game in hand.
That is this draw against Chelsea, which looks even more important, because a three-game Windless Streak has seen the package that champions League qualification is haunting Arsenal.
That Run started with a 1-0 defeat against West Ham at the Emirates-Hun first league-defeat on a home floor this campaign.
The home form of Arsenal had been solid this season, won eight of their competitions (D4), scored 27 goals and the preservation of five clean sheets, and Arteta will be desperate to get their lead back on the well -known ground.
They have never lost back-to-back London Derbies at the Emirates in the Premier League, who last did this in Highbury in the 2005-06 campaign, with those defeats against Chelsea and West Ham.
The recent binking of Arsenal may not come so much of a surprise, given their exhausted attacking ranks, with Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz all offside.
They have only scored four goals in their last four Premier League matches since the last one sustained a seasonal injury.
Recent form may playing their thoughts against PSV, because they have given a lead twice against the Dutch side, and the main goal of Arteta will be to get the attacking flair that they showed in the first stage of that draw.
Can Palmer break his drought?
As touched, Chelsea's hope is to qualify for the Champions League next season firmly in their hands after their recent rise in form, but there are still problems for Maresca to solve.
They have only won four of their last 12 Premier League matches (D3 L5), and all those victories came to Stamford Bridge, with the club for the last time on the road in the competition on December 8 (4-3 V Tottenham).
They have lost each of their last three top matches as in the previous 19 in advance (W9 D7). In fact, they have won none of their last six on the road (D2 L4), their longest run since October 2022-Febrarari 2023 (eight).
Their dip coincided with a non -characteristic goal drought for Cole Palmer, who has not succeeded in touching the back of the net in each of his last seven Premier League matches.
Palmer did not find the back of the net in one of his last 10 games in all competitions. He got 45 minutes on Thursday in their 1-0 win over Copenhagen in the Europa Conference League, which sent the blues in the quarterfinals, but could not score despite the fact that they had four shots during his Cameo.
He seemed to go into the duck last weekend against Leicester when he performed from 12 Yards, but instead missed a Premier League penalty for the first time (13th attempt). It ended the best 100% success record of the place in the competition in the process.
He found it just for the last time in a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth on January 14 and has since been 683 minutes without a goal. At that time he had 29 shots without success.
Unnecessary to say that it would be the perfect time for Palmer to find his clinical lead again, against an Arsenal side that has not been at their best in recent weeks.
He has often served as a talisman for the blues since he signed from Manchester City, and Chelsea needs all the help they can get.
Since the beginning of 2021-22, they have won only three of their 19 Premier League matches against parties in the table in the table (D3 L13), with their most recent such victory against Bournemouth in September 2024 (1-0).
Players to watch
Arsenal – Declan Rice
With the current lack of strikers of Arsenal, Rice has been performed and scored against both Man Utd in the Premier League and PSV in the Champions League.
Against United, he also had the most touches in the opposition box (six, level with Jurrien Timber) and the last third submissions (15) of an Arsenal player, while only Martin Odegaard played more in the last third (38) than are 36.
He also did not lack his defensive tasks and won seven times (another team -high), with two of that turnover in the last third part.
Chelsea – Marc Cucurella
While Palmer is currently struggling for goals, Cucurella has found his shooting.
Cucurella has scored on his last two Premier League performances, as much as in his first 69 for Chelsea.
All four of his goals for the blues have come this season, with Reece James the last defender to score more in a single campaign for the club (five in 2021-22).
Among defenders in the competition, only Josko Gvardiol (five) of Manchester City scored more goals than the Spaniard this season, with this the best goals in his career (his three improved for Getafe in 2020-21).
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