Unai Emery and Maurizio Sarri will get their first taste of a London Derby as Chelsea play host to Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. This fixture will mark the first time in 22 years where Arsene Wenger will not be in the Arsenal dugout.
Both managers have had contrasting starts to the new Premier League season, Sarri managed to get his first competitive win as Chelsea manager against Huddersfield Town in the opening weekend, whereas Emery suffered a home defeat against the champions Manchester City.
After the Manchester City game, questions have been raised about Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech, with new £20million signing Bernd Leno from Bayer Leverkusen on the bench but Emery was quick to assure Cech's place in the team.
"Saturday the decision is easy, Petr Cech will continue to start the match, I believe in him. If he starts bad, I believe in him also." (Sky Sports)
Emery also spoke about Arsenal's new brand of Football, after being criticised for playing out from the back against a high pressing Manchester City side but he was on hand to remind everyone that it will take time.
"You need more time to completely look how you want."
He added: "The first game gives us more information for things to improve.
"We need to continue in our way, to make this difference in the next match and in the future.
"For me, it's most important the players know positive things we did, and also the things we need to improve." (Sky Sports)
Chelsea opted to have star man Eden Hazard only feature from the bench last week, as he looks to regain some fitness following his role in Belgium's World Cup campaign. However, Sarri mentioned that the Belgian is still not 100% ready.
"At this moment he has to work, he is not ready for 90 minutes but maybe Saturday he can be used for the first 30 or the last 30," said Sarri. "I ask a lot for him, because for me is a very good player and in my opinion, he can improve more. (Sky Sports)
Team News
Cesc Fabregas won't be available due to a minor injury but is expected to be back in training next week
Arsenal will be without Ainsley Maitland-Niles after he suffered a small fracture to his leg in last weekend's defeat to Manchester City that could rule him out for up to two months.
Prediction
Arsenal have been handed the worst possible start to the Premier League season, firstly at home to the Champions and then away at local and domestic rivals Chelsea. I do believe that Emery's style of play will in time work with Arsenal, but it will take time. The Gunners had been under a regime for 22 years, so life under a new manager will undoubtedly be a new learning curve for certain players who have never played under a different manager. I did see some positives, however, in the 2-0 defeat against Manchester City, they did try and harass City which many teams did not do last season and City were making a couple of mistakes but inevitably their class showed.
For Chelsea, they looked very impressive under Sarri in their first game of the season against Huddersfield. Last season for Chelsea, it all went wrong under Antonio Conte but the one thing that Chelsea usually do is recover the season after. Heading into this game, I would say The Blues are the favourites. The general consensus is, is that the players have bought into Sarri's mindset in how he wants to play which was deploying the 4-3-3 that worked tremendously at Napoli. The evidence of this is bringing in the likes of Jorginho (who he worked with at Napoli) who could turn out to be a real asset for them this season after getting off the mark with a penalty last weekend.
I predict that Chelsea will win but it won't be an easy game by any stretch of the imagination. Arsenal will be looking at this as the perfect opportunity to set down a marker for the season, however, I think Chelsea could prove to be too strong for them. Arsenal defensively still looks very shaky and Chelsea's attack could prove to be a bit much especially if Sarri decides to play Hazard.
Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal (I won't be surprised if it would be a draw or an Arsenal victory, this was very hard to call)
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