Chelsea FC host Arsenal on Saturday in a match-up of two giant clubs fighting to get back into the top four, at minimum, this season. The London derby featuring two bosses managing their second ever Premier League contests is this weekend’s Premier League main event.
Arsenal are dealing with a bit of a selection headache in the back, due to a series of injuries. Ashley Maitland-Niles, who was in the first team against Manchester City, picked up an injury in the season opener and will now be out for six to eight weeks.
The Gunners will also be without the services of Sead Kolasinac, Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal in this one. Expect Stephan Lichtsteiner, who moved over from Juventus on a free transfer this summer, to step in for Maitland-Niles.
Chelsea Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Kickoff Time: 5.30 p.m. BST, 12.30 p.m. ET, Saturday, August 18
The Sports Bank’s Arsenal FC Starting XI Prediction
Forwards: Mesut Ozil, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Midfielders: Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira, Aaron Ramsey
Defenders: Stephan Lichsteiner, Sokraitis Papastathopoulos, Shokdran Mustafi, Hector Bellerin
Goalkeeper: Petr Cech
Match preview, TV info: go to this link
Prediction: Chelsea 2, Arsenal 1
Arsenal are improved from last year, but oh boy do they still have a lot of room for improvement. The Blues have plenty of question marks themselves, but they should be able to take business at home against one of their bitter arch-rivals.
Feel free to post your own Chelsea and/or Arsenal starting XI predictions, as well as your final score predictions.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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