Arsenal vs. Chelsea, Premier League: Preview, team news, how to watch

Chelsea have six games left this season. While not mathematically safe, we’re very unlikely to get relegated. We’re even less likely to reach a European spot. Midtable at best, and quite mediocre indeed.

What’s left to fight for? Personal pride? Professionalism? Avoiding embarrassment? Something like that. Not exactly things that we might expect to help snap us out of this enormous funk. Perhaps we can hope that the malaise doesn’t fester too long beyond this forsaken season.

So, 540 minutes of football (at least in name) content left to consume this season, 360 of those against the current top-four. Try not to hold your nose.

Date / Time: Tuesday, May 2, 2023, 20.00 BST; 3pm EDT; 12:30am IST (next day)
Venue: Emirates Stadium, North London
Referee: Robert Jones (on pitch); Andre Marriners (VAR)
Forecast: A gentle breeze ... of stinkiness

On TV: Sky Sports Main Event (UK); USA Network, Universo (USA); Star Sports Select HD2 (India); SuperSport Premier League (NGA)
Streaming: Sky Go (UK); NBC Sports Live, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (USA); Hotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

Arsenal team news: The Gunners have managed to make a royal mess of their first serious title challenge in many years, though they remain the class of London, and by some margin. Having dropped nine points in their last four games, they now find themselves trailing by a point to Manchester City, who also have a match in hand, with just a handful of games to go.

Playing Chelsea just might be what the doctor ordered then, to keep their title hopes alive, or at least on life support — even as they remain without star defender William Saliba, in whose six-match absence they’ve conceded thirteen times (their defensive record is now worse than ours in fact). Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mohamed Elneny are long-term absentees.

View from the enemy: The Short Fuse

Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images

Chelsea team news: Kalidou Koulibaly is the latest player to get shut down for the rest of the season with his hamstring injury proving more than minor, as hamstring injuries are often wont to do. He joins Reece James, Mason Mount, and Marc Cucurella in that regard, while Kai Havertz and third goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli are questionable. Armando Broja continues his long rehab from ACL surgery.

Chelsea made it five losses from five with the 2-0 surrender to Brentford last week, making it eight in a row without a win and with a grand total of three goals scored (and just one in the last seven). We can all answer the question now about where we were when we were sh*t.

Previously: We’ve lost two in a row to Arsenal, both at the Bridge. We did win this fixture last season. Very good.