London Derby will be exquisite even without Nigerian pair Iwobi and Moses

The Nigerian pair seem to be fringe players under new regimes but will their expected absence affect a potentially intense showdown on Saturday?

When Marcos Alonso won Chelsea a penalty against Huddersfield Town on the stroke of half-time after a clumsy tackle by Christopher Schindler, not many had caught the events leading up to referee Chris Kavanagh blowing his whistle.

14 passes were exchanged in the buildup to the penalty – which was subsequently tucked away by new boy Jorginho to send the visitors 2-0 up – and it involved eight of the Blues’ players getting a touch of the ball. Alonso who’d been brought down was the receiver of the first pass in the buildup (from David Luiz), and was afterward in the opposition’s box ready to finish off the move.

Barring any bizarre tactical move by Sarri, the wideman isn’t expected to start in the London derby at Stamford Bridge this weekend.

Iwobi, though, didn’t feature in the Gunners’ 2-0 opening day defeat to rampant Manchester City. On one hand, it’ll be easy to criticize Emery and his players for losing the way they did, given City were without David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus, Nicolas Otamendi and Fabian Delph in their starting lineup – who were six of Pep Guardiola’s 11 most frequently used players last season.

It was the worst possible start Arsenal could have been handed given the circumstances, and even though they’d have preferred a trip to a different opponent this weekend, one can’t argue this is a meeting between two sides relatively equal in their development under new head coaches.

The Stamford Bridge outfit may have home advantage, but the Gunners have had a bit more time with their new trainer, and they’ll definitely fancy themselves to get a statement win against a big club on the road.

Given the north London club are winless at the home of their cross-town rivals since Robin van Persie’s hat-trick in a 5-3 victory in 2011/12, finally picking up a victory on enemy territory will get Gooners onside. A victory in Saturday’s tea-time fixture will represent a first triumph at one of the so-called big sides since 2014/15 – which was a 2-0 victory at City, courtesy of goals from the departed Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud.

Emery will be buoyed by the fact that his side gained the edge in this fixture in the last couple of years under Arsene Wenger. There was a 3-0 win over Antonio Conte’s side in 2016/17 – a game Iwobi stood out – a 2-1 win in the 2017 Emirates FA Cup final – a fixture which saw Moses receive his marching orders – and 2-1 win in last season’s Carabao Cup semi-final.

For Maurizio Sarri, a win will go a long way to regaining control of this fixture having seen the Blues relinquish it under his predecessor, while for opposite number Emery, a victory will get people truly believing in Arsenal’s new direction. Critics will stand up and take notice, and that’ll just be what the doctor ordered!