Chelsea vs Arsenal LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction as Gabriel pokes Gunners to victory
Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal: The Gunner go back to the top of the Premier League table with a narrow win at Stamford Bridge
Gabriel scored the winner to return Arsenal to the top of the Premier League in a hard-fought 1-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Manager Mikel Arteta remains unbeaten in all of Arsenal’s Premier League visits to Stamford Bridge since he took the reins in December 2019, as his side left with all three points in a game of few clear-cut chances.
The central defender poked a probing goalward-bound looped effort from Bukayo Saka over the line for the only goal of the game in the 63rd minute.
Chelsea had been looking to return to winning ways in the league having been hammered 4-1 at Brighton the previous weekend, with manager Graham Potter suffering his first defeat since he took charge of the club in September. However, the Blues struggled to impose themselves on the game, and finished with just two shots on target.
Follow the action as Chelsea host Arsenal in a Premier League London derby:
Sterling vs Arsenal
Raheem Sterling has eight Premier League goals versus Arsenal - the only teams he has a better record against are Bournemouth and Watford, with nine goals apiece.
Contrasting form for Arsenal’s Gabriels
Gabriel Martinelli has five goals in 12 Premier League games this season and he is only one short of his highest figure in a single campaign.
In contrast Gabriel Jesus has failed to score in each of his eight most recent appearances in league and cup for the Gunners.
Derby day specialists?
Mikel Arteta’s side have won all four of their London derbies this season. In 2021-22 they won five of 10 derbies in the league with one draw and four defeats.
Will Aubameyang score against Arsenal?
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can become the second player, after Cesc Fabregas, to score for both Arsenal and Chelsea in Premier League matches between the clubs.
Aubameyang netted 68 times in 128 top-flight appearances for the Gunners between 2018 and 2021.
Graham Potter highlights the importance of patience and perspective
Graham Potter highlighted the importance of patience as he settles into the head coach’s chair at Chelsea.
Potter’s top-flight tenure with Blues got off to a flying start with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace to begin October, the first of three consecutive Premier League wins for the former Brighton boss.
But their domestic form has been a mixed bag since, only managing to muster draws with Brentford and Manchester United before a disappointing 4-1 loss to his former club last time out.
Potter said: “If you look at Pep [Guardiola]’s first year, if you look at how long it took Jurgen [Klopp], I mean these guys are top, top people, but even they don’t just walk in and click the fingers and everything’s perfect.”
Graham Potter highlights the importance of patience and perspective
The Chelsea manager stressed managers do not ‘just walk in and click the fingers and everything’s perfect’.
Arsenal’s away form versus big six clubs
Arsenal have claimed victories in just five of their last 50 league games away to Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham.
Their victories over Tottenham and Liverpool this season came at home whilst they lost 3-1 against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Worrying signs for Chelsea
Chelsea have only won only one of their last 12 top-flight home games against the established top six clubs - a 2-0 victory versus Tottenham in January 2022.
Will they improve on that record today?
Can the Gunners win the title?
Arsenal have won 10 of their 12 top-flight matches this season.
Only one of the 10 previous teams to win as often at this stage of a Premier League campaign did not go on to the win the title - Newcastle in 1995/96.
Is this Arsenal’s year?
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s reunion with Mikel Arteta adds drama to pivotal London derby
“Arsenal, nothing personal,” said Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, in a message that quite beautifully made Sunday’s London derby all about the opposite. It was a pot that did not require stirring, but the line from Aubameyang playing in TV promotions this week has succeeded in stoking the flames among Arsenal fans ahead of the reunion with their former captain. “I’m back. I’m blue. I’m ready,” the Chelsea striker went on and, if you do take Aubameyang at his word that, for him, facing Arsenal isn’t personal, you can be assured his meeting with Mikel Arteta will be.
It can be hard to ignore the temptation to focus on the good, honest drama of a clash between a manager and an embittered former captain, even when Arsenal’s trip to Chelsea is also so much more. “There’s a narrative around him, I understand,” the Chelsea manager Graham Potter admitted. Resurfaced in the All or Nothing Amazon documentary, developed further in the emergence of leaked videos and fresh criticism, which in turn was met by thinly veiled digs, the fallout from the collapse of Aubameyang and Arteta’s relationship has so far been compelling ahead of its next chapter.
The fact that so much has changed since it began adds to the intrigue. As Aubameyang signed for Chelsea on deadline day and declared he had “unfinished business” in the Premier League, the idea of putting the brakes on Arsenal’s title challenge just as it was beginning to gather momentum was presumably not at the top of his mind. When he had left months earlier, he departed a side who were sixth in the table, which was their average position across his four years at the club. Yet as November rolls around, Aubameyang’s first encounter with his former side will be a test against the closest contenders for Manchester City’s crown.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s reunion with Mikel Arteta adds drama to pivotal derby
The former Arsenal captain faces the Gunners for the first time since joining Chelsea, as Arteta’s side look for a statement win at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea vs Arsenal team changes
Graham Potter makes three changes from the team that started the 2-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League. Thiago Silva, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Marc Cucurella come in for Kalidou Koulibaly, Denis Zakaria and Ben Chilwell.
Arsenal make seven changes from the side that beat FC Zurich 1-0 on Thursday to clinch top spot in their Europa League group.
Only Aaron Ramsdale, Gabriel, Ben White and Gabriel Jesus stay in the side, with Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli the main players to come back in.
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