PREVIEW: Arsenal guard Premier League lead against Chelsea’s top-four charge | OneFootball

Arsenal aim to maintain a minimum five-point lead at the top as they host visitors Chelsea, who haven’t beaten the Gunners in their last 10 competitive games.

Mikel Arteta’s men performed extremely well in the north London derby last weekend, as Viktor Gyökeres and Ebere Eze scored two goals each in a 4-1 victory against a depleted Spurs side.

The Swedish striker has been in great form this year, which Arteta took note of. Speaking to the media, he said, “When you score the first one, the performance is good, you have more time with your teammates, you understand the games, the opponents, the league, everything helps.”

It was a big morale boost for Arsenal as they enter the title run-in, with 10 games remaining until potentially winning the Premier League for the first time in 22 years.

They have their eyes set on all four competitions, similar to their title rivals Manchester City, so their objective remains firm and clear.

As mentioned, the league leaders have a fantastic record against the Blues in recent history; they remain undefeated against them since August 2021, a streak they will want to extend with a win.

While Arsenal are chasing the Premier League, Chelsea are in the mix for Champions League qualification, sitting fifth in the table at the time of writing.

Liverpool have an opportunity to overtake them before they play, as long as they beat West Ham, so Chelsea could potentially drop to sixth before the London clash.

Liam Rosenior was left very disappointed in their last game as they drew against relegation candidates Burnley 1-1 at Stamford Bridge.

They received the devastating blow in stoppage time as the reoccurring theme of red cards was present in the game; Wesley Fofana was the culprit and is suspended for the upcoming match.

Their disciplinary issues remain under their new coach, with six red cards this season, the highest of any team.

Two draws in their last two top-flight matches at home is poor form, but they’ll now have to travel to the Emirates Stadium looking to put in a massive performance.

In the reverse fixture, they fought hard to a 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal, after being similarly down to 10 men.

Rosenior spoke to the media about their remaining fixtures being challenging; he said, “The Premier League is so difficult every week.

“The challenges that you face, the different tactical problems that you have, the physicality of the league, I don’t judge one game as harder than the other.

“What happens against the higher teams in the league is that they are more open because they want to attack more. There are different tactical things that you can work on.”

Marc Cucurella, Jamie Gittens and Estêvão all have hamstring issues, so are unavailable to travel to north London.

However, Roméo Lavia and Dário Essugo have gradually built up fitness and have an outside chance of making the matchday squad.

Arsenal have no new injuries as Kai Havertz continues to ramp up fitness and youngster Max Dowman is playing matches with the under-21s.

The match will take place on Sunday, 1st March at the Emirates Stadium with kick-off scheduled for 4:30pm GMT.