Chelsea vs. Arsenal – Match Preview 20/1/2013

Chelsea vs. Arsenal – Match Preview

Weekends without football seem incomplete but Barclays Premier League without action seems like a joke. Chelsea and Arsenal will go head on head in their West London Derby this Saturday!

Venue and Timings

The match will take place at the Stamford Bridge at 1300 GMT (1800 PST and 1830 IST) on January 20^th,2013.

Team Form

Chelsea

Rafa Benitez has a full squad ahead of him and the only player that will not play for him would be Oriol Romeu.

John Terry is also back and he will most likely be captaining his team.

John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses are on international duty playing the African Cup of Nations with Nigeria. Moses’ absence might not be felt as Eden Hazard is back.

Demba Ba could be featured against Arsenal while Ivanovic will be lookinh to replace Cahil.

Arsenal

Due to Arteta’s calf injury, Abou Diaby could again be featured. However, because he has played the last three matches, Coquelin could be used from the bench.

Aaron Ramsey could be started instead of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain whose form had been surprisingly horrific.

Oliver Giroud gave Arsene Wenger all the reasons to play Theo Walcott, when he could not do much for his club against Swansea midweek.

Recent Meetings

As Chelsea will play as the away team, they will be under some pressure at the Emirates which will not be nice to them.

Star Man

Eden Hazard (Chelsea): Hazard has proved himself to be one of the most successful players that joined the Barclays Premier League this season. In the 20 appearances this boy has made, he has scored 6 goals and made 6 assists. Hazard plays a tricky game by completely dominating the midfield. His responsiveness to any chance created leads him to assist a lot of goals. His strong dribbling skills make it difficult to stop this man. He gets fouled often as his style of play is that way.

Theo Walcott (Arsenal) : The 23-year old England attacking midfielder and center-forward has made quite a mark in the Premier League this season. He has appeared in 10 matches in which he has scored 8 goals and made 6 assists. His transition to the attack has proved beneficial for Arsenal considering his excellent finishing skills and his key passes. Walcott provides good counter attack threat. He likes to play as a dribbler and he enjoys making short passes.

My prediction: 1 – 1. Chelsea could still be still missing out their attacking spark but definitely not their defensive spark, so neither would they score many goals nor concede many. Walcott would be definitely scoring for Arsenal who will be looking to cover up their City loss at the Emirates last Sunday. Overall, expect the unexpected as derby matches are definitely a treat for all football fans, even the neutrals.

Written by Rida Mehtab (@RidaaMehtaab on Twitter)