Chris Wheatley

Arsenal Team News: Injuries, suspensions and line-up vs Chelsea

Everything you need to know ahead of the Premier League match at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon

Arsenal face another tricky Premier League test when they travel to Stamford Bridge to play against Chelsea on Saturday.

Unai Emery's side were defeated 2-0 by Manchester City on the opening day of the season while Maurizio Sarri's men beat Huddersfield comprehensively.

Both teams have undergone transformations on and off the pitch over the summer with Emery installing new ideas in Arsenal's tactical set up and Sarri applying his own philosophy at Chelsea.

Arsenal injuries

Left-back Sead Kolasinac is out for eight to ten weeks with a knee injury while Ainsley Maitland-Niles has suffered a fracture in his left leg and will be out for six to eight weeks.

Long-term absentee Laurent Koscielny is aiming to return to training at the end of the year.

Arsenal suspensions

Arsenal have no suspensions for this game.

Possible Arsenal starting line-up

Emery could hand Lucas Torreira his first full Premier League start in defensive midfield, while Nacho Monreal or Stephan Lichtsteiner will start at left-back.

Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mesut Ozil will continue in attack with Henrikh Mkhitaryan playing in an inside right role.

Next matches

Petr Cech is set to continue in goal ahead of Bernd Leno.

Chelsea team news

Chelsea have only one injury concern and that is Cesc Fabregas, who is a major doubt after suffering a knee injury against Arsenal in pre-season.

Fabregas is unlikely to be passed fit against his former club after struggling through the 2-0 Community Shield defeat to Man City, while he also missed the Blues' Premier League opener.

TV coverage & kick-off time

Kick-off is 5:30pm BST (12:30am ET) on Saturday August 18, and the game will be shown on BT Sport in the United Kingdom. It will be shown on NBC in the United States, and on various channels around the world.

Best Opta match facts

Chelsea have won five of their last six home league games against Arsenal, with the exception being a 0-0 draw last season.
Arsenal have failed to score in four of their last five Premier League visits to Stamford Bridge.
Arsenal and Chelsea have met 52 times in the Premier League. In the first 26 meetings, Arsenal had a 54% win rate (W14 D9 L3), while Chelsea have won 54% of the last 26 (W14 D7 L5).
The last Arsenal manager to lose their first two matches in charge was Steve Burtenshaw, who lost his first three in charge as caretaker in March/April 1986.
Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s next league goal will be his 150th in the big five European leagues.