Chelsea v Arsenal: Will it all come down to the strongest bench?

Pick of the week: Chelsea v Arsenal
Stadium: Stamford Bridge
Date: Sunday, 10 November 2024
Time: 18:30
Live on Showmax Premier League

My match pick for this weekend has to be Chelsea versus Arsenal. It’s been an intriguing situation seeing both of these teams stepping into Matchweek 11, sitting in position four and five. The travelling team being Arsenal lost their last game to Newcastle over the weekend, after an early 12th-minute strike by Swedish striker Alexander Isak, while Chelsea head into the game following a tense draw with Manchester United over the weekend. Chelsea’s blushes were saved thanks to a stunning Moises Caicedo strike to level the game and earn them a point at Old Trafford.

So referee Michael Oliver, touted to be the best referee in England, will be taking on his first Arsenal assignment since coming back to the field after his controversial sending off of Leandro Trossard when Arsenal faced City in September this year. There was a lot that was said about that sending off. He makes his return to an Arsenal game, so what sort of impact will he make, especially from a psychological point of view for Arsenal?

Will it be a game of different formations? I have noticed that Chelsea have been using a typical 4-2-3-1 formation, while Arsenal have been using a 4-4-2 formation. It's been a great season for Nicolas Jackson. He’s sixth top goal scorer in the Premier League at the moment. He’s scored six goals and I’m sure he’s going to be eager to score more. He’s got three assist as well. With fellow striker Cole Palmer, he's the top goals scorer at the club. Palmer has seven goals and five assist, while Noni Madueke has had a fantastic season contributing four goals as well to the club. Any of those combinations and partnerships could yield goals because all three of these players could either dominate goal scoring or be the providers of the goals with their assists.

Now, it would be wrong to ignore Kai Havertz on any given day. He will be leading the Arsenal attack and if you look at the records, he has scored four goals so far this season. He’s an ever present threat for Arsenal. And we cannot forget Bukayo Saka. Go back to the game against Liverpool, with the fantastic trap of the ball, he brought it down, did a little shimmy on the one side, gave a bit of a nutmeg, changed his foot or kicking leg on to the left-hand side, and curled a beautiful ball into the corner to open the scoring when Arsenal took on Liverpool.

So for me, the major decider of the game is whether the respective managers choose to start all the major players as per normal. But I’m also quite wary of how the two coaches have been utilising their benches quite effectively, almost like the way the Springboks utilise their bomb squad. So will the game be determined by who has the stronger bench? We will have to wait and see. All I’m saying is that you’re invited to switch on to Showmax Premier League and watch this fascinating encounter at Stamford Bridge this weekend. It’s an outstanding game to look forward to.

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