Match Preview
Chelsea v Arsenal
Chelsea's French midfielder Emmanuel Petit is fighting an uphill battle to recover from a foot injury in time to face his former club Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.
Petit missed Wednesday's 1-1 draw at Southampton with a swollen instep, leaving Chelsea short of cover in midfield and Ranieri was forced to start with two wingers, Boudewijn Zenden and Jesper Gronkjaer and now the manager says: "We must hope the next 24 hours make a difference for him."
Ranieri substituted �15 million striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink at St Mary's but insisted the Dutchman will be staying at Chelsea despite being linked with a move to Barcelona and was being saved for Sunday's clash with the champions.
Experienced Graeme Le Saux and young striker Carlton Cole are also fit again to rejoin a squad which will not contain Lazio's Dino Baggio - the Blues have dismissed speculation the midfielder will be joining them.
Dennis Bergkamp is Arsenal's main injury concern ahead of the game after missing the midweek victory against West Bromwich Albion with a calf problem.
Kanu is again in line to replace Bergkamp at Stamford Bridge, although Francis Jeffers is now close to full fitness after an ankle problem.
Ray Parlour is expected to be fit after treatment to a leg injury, while defender Pascal Cygan should be back in contention soon after a groin problem.
Robert Pires, Fredrik Ljungberg and Giovanni van Bronckhorst are still long-term absentees.
HEAD TO HEAD NOTES
Arsenal have the edge in League matches at Chelsea. They lead by 22 wins to 21 since the fixture was first contested in 1907 and by four wins to three since the first Premiership visit to Stamford Bridge in 1993.
The last two corresponding fixtures have been drawn.
Chelsea are seeking their first win in seven home League clashes with the North London giants.
Arsenal have not lost in nine League and Cup meetings with Chelsea.
Chelsea's last home win over their North London rivals was 1-0 on 30 September, 1995, when Mark Hughes scored the winner.
Arsenal's Nwankwo Kanu was the last player to score a hat trick in this fixture. Kanu took home the match ball after getting all of the Gunners' goals in the 3-2 success on 23 October, 1999.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's red card from the 1-1 draw in Chelsea's last home game with Arsenal was later rescinded. Therefore the last legitimate sending off in this corresponding fixture was Arsenal's Lee Dixon in the goalless draw on 9 September,1998.
The most recent biggest victories in this corresponding fixture were Chelsea's 3-0 on 27 September, 1969, and Arsenal's was 1-5 on 29 November, 1930.
CHELSEA
League position going into the weekend
5th 5 points
Sequences
UNBEATEN THIS SEASON - all Prem [1 win, 2 draws]
SCORED IN EACH OF LAST 5 PREMIERSHIP MATCHES
GONE 4 SINCE A CLEAN SHEET
Recent Form
1 win in last 3 League and Cup games
Won 7 of last 14 Premiership matches
Drawn 2 of last 3 in all competitions
4 draws in last 9 top flight encounters
Lost 0 of last 3 confrontations
2 defeats in last 6 top division duels
Failed to score in 0 of last 3 contests
Failed to find the net in 3 of last 9 League clashes
0 clean sheets in last 3
Managed 4 clean sheets in last 9 top tier League outings
Potential Career Milestones
Jimmy Floyd HASSELBAINK is a hat trick away from scoring 100 goals in English domestic football.
Frank LAMPARD needs a brace to record 50 career club goals
If he plays, Jody MORRIS will be making his 100th League appearance for Chelsea.
ADDITIONAL BLUES NOTES
in advance of this weekend's latest set of matches
Last League match in which failed to score was the 0-3 home defeat by Manchester United on 20 April.
Last Premiership clean sheet was the 0-2 win at Middlesbrough on 27 April, 2002
Players been shown eight yellow cards in Premiership matches this season. That equals Arsenal's total, but no other clubs' players have been shown more.
ARSENAL
League position going into the weekend
TOP 7 points
Sequences
NOT LOST YET THIS SEASON
4 UNDEFEATED - 3 Prem, 1 CS [3 wins, 1 draw]
GONE 24 TOP DIVISION MATCHES WITHOUT DEFEAT
COMPLETED 20 AWAY LEAGUE GAMES UNDEFEATED
SCORED IN EACH OF LAST 42 PREMIERSHIP MATCHES
Recent Form
3 wins in last 4 League and Cup games
Won 20 of last 24 Premiership matches
Drawn 1 of last 4 in all competitions
1 draw in last 16 top flight encounters
Lost 0 of last 4 confrontations
1 defeat in last 30 top division duels
Failed to score in 0 of last 4 contests
Failed to find the net in 1 of last 46 League clashes
2 clean sheets in last 4
Managed 5 clean sheets in last 8 top tier League outings
ADDITIONAL GUNNERS NOTES
in advance of this weekend's latest set of matches
Last Premiership defeat was 1-3 at home to Newcastle on 18 December, 2001.
Last away Premier League defeat was in the season before last, at Southampton. The Gunners wrapped up that League campaign with a 3-2 reverse on 29 May, 2001.
Last League game when failed to score was the goalless draw at Newcastle on 15 May, 2001.
Players been shown eight yellow cards in Premiership matches this season. That equals Chelsea's total, but no other clubs' players have been shown more.
Teams:
Chelsea (from): Cudicini; Melchiot, Gallas, Desailly, Babayaro, Gronkjaer, de Lucas, Lampard, Petit, Stanic, Zenden, Zola, Hasselbaink, Gudjohnsen, Cole, Keenan, Ferrer, de Goey.
Arsenal (from): Seaman, Taylor, Lauren, Cole, Luzhny, Campbell, Keown, Cygan, Toure, Upson, Stepanovs, Vieira, Parlour, Gilberto Silva, Edu, Wiltord, Henry, Bergkamp, Kanu, Jeffers, Aliadiere, Pennant.
Referee: Andy D'Urso
Andy D'urso was previously a 38-year-old bank manager from Essex by trade, but in keeping with the recent trend has recently abandoned his previous profession in favour of full-time refereeing.
He is one of the Premiership's youngest referees and was only appointed to the Premiership list three seasons ago, but soon received a welcome from Manchester United's Roy Keane. It was D'urso who was famously chased round the pitch by half the United team when he awarded a penalty against them during the 1999/2000 season.
That controversy returned at the start of 2001/02 when he failed to award Manchester United two penalties in the Charity Shield against Liverpool. But nevertheless, D'Urso is still a respected referee across the entire country - except Salford.
He has been on the Football League list since 1994 and began officiating back in 1979. Other career highlights so far (except the Charity Shield) have been as a fourth official in the a Champions League and last the 2001 FA Trophy semi-final.
D'Urso took charge of an impressive 23 matches during 2001/02, and handed out an average of 3.77 yellow cards per game.
|