Chelsea sent triple boost ahead of Arsenal clash amid Mikel Arteta gift to Enzo Maresca

Enzo Maresca has reason to have been smiling through Arsenal’s defeat to Inter Milan on Wednesday night. The Italian watched as Mikel Arteta made just one change from the loss to Newcastle last weekend.

While the Blues have a game on Thursday evening against Noah in the UEFA Europa Conference League, it is expected Chelsea will rotate heavily and be able to rest key players like Cole Palmer, who is not in the squad, before the weekend clash.

Arsenal were beaten by a sole penalty kick given away by Mikel Merino. Yet, it was threads throughout the game that sent a message to Chelsea and delivered encouragement rather than fear.

A lack of change

To see so few changes from the torrid display we saw against Newcastle describes one of two things. Either, there is a lack of trust in the other options available to Mikel Arteta or the Spaniard has opted to allow his players to react.

While it was a better performance compared to Newcastle, key issues were sustained, and 46 crosses sent into the box failed to lead to one big chance being created. Kai Havertz’s strike blocked by Yann Bisseck came from a fortuitous deflection, the German’s curling effort was a speculative effort and Denzel Dumfries cleared off the line from what appeared to be a Inter Milan head from Bukayo Saka’s corner.

The lack of rotation means that there will be some tired legs going into the weekend. It is a must-win for Arsenal but Chelsea have reason to be emboldened by what they have seen here.

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Stop the cross, stop the Gunners

As mentioned, the Gunners attempted 46 crosses in the game and this has certainly become their main source of attempting to create chances. For Maresca, if he can find a way, like Inter did, of dealing with these moments he will shut down the main threat of this Gunners side.

For Arteta, should Martin Odegaard find a way into the starting line-up after making his comeback, this hopefully will bring more variety to the attack. However, should he persist with this one-dimensional and predictable approach, the Blues will not be facing anything they have not seen before.

Rocked without Rice

The absence of Declan Rice was certainly unideal for the Gunners who could have done with his presence in midfield. Yet perhaps it would have been his deliveries from corners over Gabriel Martinelli that too was missed.

Having suffered a foot injury, the expectation is that it is not a serious problem. But missing the trip to Italy is not a good sign so close to the trip to west London.

Arsenal know that the game with the Blues is a must-win. Lose and the title race is all but done and the league is only in November but that is the reality facing Arteta and his players and that extra pressure, on top of potential absences, could be something for Maresca and Chelsea to feed off who will not be facing anywhere near as much intensity.