Arsenal at Chelsea: hark, a London Derby

Arsenal travel across London to Stamford Bridge to take on a resurgent, Champions League final-bound Chelsea side. The Blues have rocketed up the table under Thomas Tuchel’s leadership, but they still have a magic number of 4 points to guarantee finishing ahead of West Ham and in a Champions League place. Arsenal are not out of the hunt for 7th, which barring the absurd, would earn them a spot in the Europa Conference League. Joy.

Arsenal bested Chelsea 3-1 on Boxing Day and used the momentum from the win to spark a two-month run of form. Despite cooling off significantly in March and April, the Gunners are still 4th in points earned since that match. Chelsea fired Frank Lampard nearly one month to the day after that Boxing Day match. The Blues got hot and stayed hot with Tuchel in charge and have two finals later this month and a Champions League place nearly secured.

The Gunners will be without Pablo Mari (ankle), David Luiz (hamstring), Granit Xhaka (groin), and Emile Smith Rowe (hamstring). Chelsea will be missing Andreas Christensen and Matteo Kovačić. I’ve got little insight into prospective lineups for either side — Arsenal because who knows what Mikel Arteta is going to do these days and Chelsea because Tuchel might rotate ahead of the FA Cup Final this coming weekend.

Arsenal - Leno, Holding, Gabriel, Mari, Saka, Leneny, Partey, Tierney, Smith Rowe, Odegaard, Aubameyang

Chelsea - Kepa, Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Zouma, James, Gilmour, Jorginho, Chilwell, Mount, Havertz, Pulisic

WHAT: Arsenal vs. Chelsea
WHERE: Stamford Bridge
WHEN: Wednesday, May 12th 12:15 PM PT | 3:15 PM ET | 8:15 PM BT
US TV: NBCSN and UNIVERSO. Stream on FuboTV and NBCSN.

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