Chelsea vs Arsenal – Team News: Talisman returns but Reece James dropped | OneFootball

Chelsea face Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in just under an hour, and the teams are in!

The big question mark for today’s game was over Cole Palmer, and the good news is that the Chelsea talisman is fit to start after recovering from a nasty slash to the knee from Lisandro Martinez last weekend.

The team is tweaked from that draw at Old Trafford. Robert Sanchez keeps his place in goal, but there are changed in defence. Malo Gusto returns to right back, with Marc Cucurella coming in at left back and Reece James dropping to the bench. Wesley Fofana and Levi Colwill continue as the centre back pairing.

The same Moises Caicedo – Romeo Lavia double pivot that has been serving us well continues, with Enzo Fernandez still relegated to the sidelines.

Supporting Palmer up top is Noni Madueke on the right and Pedro Neto on the left, with Nicolas Jackson leading the line as a lone striker.

Here are the full team line-ups for Chelsea vs Arsenal (kick off at 16:30 GMT)

CHELSEA:

Malo Gusto and Cole Palmer chase Jeremy Doku.

As always, the interesting questions here will be about how Enzo Maresca uses his full backs. We’ve seen them played one way and then the other, and now Cucurella has his place back at James’ expense.

We assume he and Gusto will play on their natural side – but there’s no telling what could actually be the setup given Maresca’s love of fiddling around with them at the back.

Palmer’s presence is essential as a talisman just as much as anything else, while Madueke and Neto out wide bring pace and direct attacking to support Jackson on the counter.

Once again, the question will be over the defence and whether they can keep a much needed Premier League clean sheet against an Arsenal team lacking some spark going forwards.