Funny how times change.
Last time we faced Chelsea at home, a 0-0 draw, we had Chelsea players celebrating at the final whistle as a point for them meant no team could catch them mathematically for the season. Not even the Arsenal.
Fast forward to this Sunday and we find the ‘Champions of England’ sitting shy at 14th place in the table and 19 points adrift off the top, a position currently occupied by us.
But that’s not all, what takes the sting out of it is that Jose Mourinho is no longer a part of Chelsea Football Club, although I have to say that Diego Costa makes up for his hostility anyway. It would be interesting to see if Wenger will start with Gabriel or at least bring him off the bench if Costa is deemed fit to play as Chelsea also have their concerns over the availability of Hazard.
And if that isn’t enough, Arsenal fans can see someone in the name of Cesc return to his once so called ‘Home’ to lend us an extra incentive to get one over them.
Team news is that Alexis has a test and will probably start on the bench, Mesut Özil will return to the number 10 position with The Ox likely to start on the bench.
Coquelin is back in training this week while Welbeck is scheduled to return next week. Rosicky has played for the U-21’s on Friday night as should at least make the bench I suppose.
Theo completing his 10 years at Arsenal earlier in the week should be desperate to prove he has finally come of age for us. He has always been a big game player for us and very good against Chelsea, hope he keeps that going.
A win in this fixture will further our cement our position at the top of the league and rub a bit of salt on the already flickering wounds of the West Londoners.
Have the tables turned already? We’ll surely know that at the end of the 90 minutes come Sunday.
Until then.