Stats benefit Chelsea again in combined team with 7 Blues | OneFootball

Another Chelsea – Arsenal combined XI has emerged, and it shows just how close the gap between them is.

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Yesterday we posted about the combined Arsenal – Chelsea XI created by WhoScored, which had 6 Blues to 5 Gunners.

It turns out it wasn’t just a quirk of their ratings algorithm. The same exercise has been done by rival site SofaScore, and the difference is even greater. In their effort, it’s 7-4 Chelsea.

They also have some different selections. While Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro, Robert Sanchez and Moises Caicedo are common across both, in the SofaScore team Trevoh Chalobah has beaten out Wesley Fofana, Reece James has beaten out Jurrien Timber and Enzo Fernandez has beaten out Martin Zubimendi. Meanwhile Marc Cucurella is included for WhoScored, but Piero Hincapie has his place for SofaScore.

You can see the full SofaScore combined XI in the image embedded here:

Chelsea and Arsenal combined XI.

Arsenal still have depth over Chelsea’s first team strength

Of course, what this really highlights is more how Arsenal’s strength in depth has benefitted them over the course of the season. Their ability to go to the bench and win games or rotate far exceeds Chelsea, who are a long way off in the table despite clearly having some good players who are having good seasons.

As the two highest rated players in the combined team, it’s also a reminder of how important the Caicedo – Declan Rice battle in midfield will be today.

In other news…

Before the game, Liam Rosenior has been speaking about his attempts to get Chelsea playing in the way he wants, and why that’s been a challenge for him.

Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here: