Title-chasing Arsenal faced another London derby as Chelsea visit the Emirates

Arsenal quietened the noise last weekend.

The Gunners' slip-up at Wolves had left the door open for Manchester City to close the gap at the top of the Premier League to two points, and Pep Guardiola's team obliged, beating Newcastle United on Saturday.

It put even more pressure on Sunday's north London derby, but Igor Tudor's Tottenham offered little resistance as doubles from Viktor Gyokeres and Eberechi Eze propelled Mikel Arteta's team to another 4-1 win over their rivals.

That victory restored Arsenal's five-point advantage at the top of the standings, and bar Declan Rice's mistake that led to Randal Kolo Muani's goal, it was a dominant Gunners display as they got back on track in their title bid.

Man City have a game in hand on the Gunners, who will once again have to handle playing after Guardiola's side this weekend.

City head to Elland Road to take on Leeds United this Saturday, with Arteta's side facing another local rival as Chelsea rock up at Emirates Stadium.

The Blues do so on the back of conceding a late equaliser against Burnley.

Here, we delve into the key insights ahead of another mouthwatering Premier League tussle.

What's expected?

These sides met recently, in the EFL Cup semi-finals, with Arsenal progressing 4-2 on aggregate.

Liam Rosenior faced some scrutiny for Chelsea's performance in the second leg as, trailing 3-2 in the tie overall, the Blues never really got going. They had 14 attempts, yet only two hit the target and their chances were worth just 0.64 expected goals (xG). Former Chelsea man Kai Havertz delivered the knockout blow late on.

While Arsenal were happy to sit back and soak up the pressure on that occasion, the onus will be on them on Sunday, especially if, as expected, Man City get a positive result against Leeds.

Chelsea are winless in their last eight Premier League games against Arsenal (D3 L5), their longest since a run of 19 between 1995 and 2005.

Arsenal have won their last three home league games against Chelsea, last winning more consecutively between 1990 and 1994 (five).

The Opta supercomputer is still backing Arsenal for the title, at 83.1%.

And the same model is making the Gunners the big favourites to win this match, with a 62.8% likelihood of the hosts taking all three points.

Chelsea came out on top in just 17.4% of the simulations, while there is a 19.7% chance of a draw.

Painting London town red

In his second game in charge of Arsenal in December 2019, Arteta lost 2-1 at the Emirates against Chelsea.

Since then, his Gunners side have lost just one of 15 games against the Blues in all competitions (W10 D4).

In fact, Arteta's 10 wins against Chelsea are the joint-most he has managed against an opponent while in charge of Arsenal (along with 10 vs Wolves).

Arteta's Arsenal have scored more goals (31) against Chelsea than they have any other team.

And Arsenal have recent history on their side when it comes to derby fixtures.

Arsenal have lost just one of their last 25 Premier League London derby matches (W18 D6), a 1-0 home defeat to West Ham last February.

Since the start of 2022-23, the Gunners have scored in all but two of 44 London derbies, both against West Ham (0-2 in December 2023, 0-1 in February 2025).

Keep the discipline

Chelsea have lost eight of their last nine away Premier League matches against sides starting the day top of the table, winning the other 2-1 against Man City in May 2021.

They have played nine away top-flight games against Arsenal when the Gunners are top and won one (D2 L6), a 2-0 win in March 1948.

But that is not to say there isn't some hope for the Blues.

Chelsea have also won each of their two away Premier League matches under Rosenior so far. Liverpool’s Arne Slot was the last Premier League boss to win his first three top-flight away games in charge, while the last Englishman to do so was Tim Sherwood at Spurs in 2013-14.

However, after conceding late on in their home draw with Burnley, Chelsea have now dropped 19 points from winning positions this season.

Only West Ham (20) have dropped more points from such scenarios in the competition in 2025-26.

The Blues have scored first in their last two games, but did not win either of those fixtures (1-1 vs Burnley, 2-2 vs Leeds). They last failed to win three in a row despite going 1-0 up in each back in May 2016.

These teams drew the reverse fixture 1-1 back in November, with Mikel Merino netting Arsenal's equaliser at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea were arguably unfortunate not to take more than a point from that game, and they may well have done if they had not been reduced to 10 men, with Moises Caicedo seeing red.

The Blues have only received more Premier League red cards against Liverpool (eight) than they have the Gunners (seven). And with Chelsea having already received six red cards this term in the top flight, Rosenior will need to ensure his team remain disciplined.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Arsenal – Eberechi Eze

The winter was a struggle for Eze, who did not manage a shot on target in the league between netting a hat-trick against Spurs in November, and then opening the scoring in last week's north London derby.

Eze has scored each of his last 11 Premier League goals in London, with all six of his goals for Arsenal this season coming in London derbies (one vs Palace, five vs Spurs), the most ever by a player in a season without scoring outside of derby games.

The last Arsenal player with more derby goals in a season was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2018-19 (seven).

Chelsea – Cole Palmer

It has been a stop-start season for Palmer, due mainly to injuries, but when he has featured, he has typically showcased his class.

Despite playing only 1,075 minutes in the league this term, Palmer has registered 73 involvements in open-play shot-ending sequences, which ranks sixth in Chelsea's squad.

If the Blues are to pull off a victory here, then they will no doubt be looking to Palmer to provide the spark.