Chelsea Team News: Injuries, Suspensions and Alignment vs. Arsenal

Chelsea's visit to the Emirates this Saturday is not just a London derby, she could also see them carry a hard blow to Arsenal's hopes of placing in the top four and qualifying for the League of Nations. champions next season.

Maurizio Sarri's men have six points ahead of their rivals in North London, who made their own revolution while Unai Emery succeeds Arsene Wenger after 22 years at the club's helm.

The Blues also look over their shoulder at Manchester United, but their victory over Newcastle United last week was very beneficial as Arsenal lost to West Ham in another London Derby.

Alvaro Morata is again in contention for Chelsea after a recent hamstring injury that left him out of the Carabao Cup match with Tottenham. However, its future is uncertain because Atletico Madrid is interested in a January deal and it has not been chosen to face Newcastle last weekend, although it is fit.

Cesc Fabregas has gone to Monaco, while Gary Cahill is in talks for a move to Fulham and missed several recent teams.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek may be out for a long time due to a back injury after the FA Cup 2-0 win over Forest, but it is thought that Chelsea will not sustain any further injuries.

Neither Chelsea nor Arsenal have any suspensions to settle before Saturday's match.

Chelsea will continue to play with a full-fledged team, as the deployment of Eden Hazard as "Fake 9" becomes Sarri's Plan A with Pedro or Willian at his side.

The return of Mateo Kovacic after an injury will probably bring him back into the match. The rare week of Sarri without a match should allow his team to prepare for Saturday.

Sarri has reduced the number of rotations to a minimum of his time as Chelsea boss; Kepa Arrizabalaga, Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger, Marcos Alonso and Nolo Gante Kante have started every league game this season.

Arsenal has several injured on the long-term injury list, Danny Welbeck having broken his ankle earlier in the season. Rob Holding is missing with a torn cruciate ligament, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan is expected to escape a short foot injury.

Arsenal would have a complete selection beyond these issues.

The match at Stamford Bridge will start at 5:30 pm (GMT) on Saturday and will be broadcast on BT Sport in the UK.

• Arsenal have won one of their last 14 league games against Chelsea (D5 L8), this victory being won by the UAE in September 2016 (3-0).

• Only Liverpool (13) have retained more white sheets in the Premier League this season than Chelsea (10), while only Fulham (2) has kept less than Arsenal (3).

• Arsenal are undefeated at home (W9 D3) in their last 12 Premier League derby in London, winning the last five games in a row. Their last defeat was in January 2016 against Chelsea.

• Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud could become the second player to score for both clubs in the Premier League games between Arsenal and Chelsea after Cesc Fabregas.

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• Chelsea's Eden Hazard was directly involved in 199 goals in his league career (115 goals, 84 badists), with 2018-19 just the second campaign in which he doubled the numbers for goals and badists (also in Ligue 1 in 2011-12).

• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (12) from Arsenal and Eden Hazard (10) from Chelsea are the two players whose goals have earned the most points for their Premier League teams this season.