Arsenal will want a win to keep Man City at bay in the Premier League title race, while Chelsea need points in the battle to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. It’s a London derby with plenty riding on it.
Arsenal sit top of the Premier League table with just 10 games left for them to play, but they face a battle to stay there and collect their first league title since 2004.
Chelsea pose the first challenge in that 10-game run-in, as the side from west London travel to the north of the capital to face the Gunners on Sunday in what is the pick of the Premier League fixtures this weekend.
The Blues are winless in their last eight Premier League games against Arsenal (D3 L5), their longest since a run of 19 between 1995 and 2005. Can they find that elusive victory on Sunday, or will Arsenal secure a fourth successive Premier League home win over their London rivals?
Here, we look at five key subplots of the game.
Can Either Start Tough Run with a Positive Result?
You don’t need us to tell you this is a massive game for both sides.
Arsenal can’t afford to slip up in the title race, with Manchester City looking set to push them all the way. Chelsea face a battle to secure Champions League football next season, even with England set to secure an additional spot in the competition for 2026-27.
Both London clubs face difficult schedules across the next five matchdays, so securing a positive result to begin that run of fixtures could be so important.
Chelsea have the hardest next five games of all 20 Premier League sides, starting with the clash at the Emirates on Sunday.
The Blues’ next five fixtures see them face opponents with an average Opta Power Rating of 95.7, with three of their five games coming versus the current top three, as well as European hopefuls Newcastle United and Everton.
Arsenal face a tricky away game at Brighton next midweek, before home games versus Everton and Bournemouth either side of the EFL Cup final on 22 March versus Manchester City. They then meet Man City in the Premier League in mid-April – a match that could go a long way to deciding the outcome of the 2025-26 title race.
In comparison, four of Man City’s next five games come against teams currently in the bottom eight of the Premier League table, before they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in April.
Arsenal’s Record in London Derbies
Mikel Arteta’s record in London derbies is, quite frankly, exceptional. This weekend will mark his 70th such game, and the first 69 have gone pretty well. Arteta has won 42 of those games, giving him a win rate of 60.9% in London derbies; that’s the best record in Premier League history among managers to have overseen 50 or more such games.
That puts him above some legendary managers and underlines the consistency with which his Arsenal teams have navigated these fixtures to date.
That dominance has been even more pronounced in recent seasons. Arsenal have lost just one of their last 25 Premier League London derbies (W18 D6), a 1-0 home defeat to West Ham last February.
Since the start of 2022-23, the Gunners have scored in all but two of 44 derbies, both against West Ham (2-0 in December 2023, 1-0 in February 2025).
These are games that they very rarely lose.
In his second game in charge of Arsenal in December 2019, Arteta lost 2-1 to Chelsea at the Emirates. Since then, his Gunners side have lost just one of 15 games against the Blues in all competitions (W10 D4), beating them twice in the League Cup semi-final earlier this year.
Match Preview & Prediction
Premier LeagueArsenal vs Chelsea Prediction: Gunners Hope Immense Derby Record Keeps Man City at Arm’s Length
3 hours ago Patric RidgeChelsea Hopes Rely on Keeping Discipline
Chelsea have displayed a severe lack of discipline this season. Their six red cards is two more than any other team in the Premier League in 2025-26, while that tally increases to nine in all competitions – more than double any other top-flight team.
This isn’t a new thing, either. The last few seasons have seen Chelsea become one of the most ill-disciplined teams in Premier League history.
They broke the record for the most cards in a single Premier League season (109 in 2023-24; 105 yellows, 4 reds), while their 101 last term (99 yellows, 2 reds) is the fourth most. The league record for red cards in a season is nine, shared by QPR (2011-12) and Sunderland (2009-10) – Chelsea are three away from that tally with 11 games remaining.
Thanks to those six red cards in 2025-26, Chelsea have had to play with 10 men for 330 minutes and 37 seconds of their Premier League campaign (including all added time). That’s longer than any other team in the league and accounts for 12.1% of their season.
Those games have seen them earn just five points, too (W1 D2 L3), including one in the home game against Arsenal when Moisés Caicedo was dismissed for a poor tackle on Mikel Merino in the 38th minute of their 1-1 draw.
Losing players also makes it harder to hold onto leads. They have dropped seven points in the six games they have been reduced to 10 men in the league this season.
Speaking of which…
Chelsea Need To Hold Onto Leads
Chelsea have dropped 19 points from winning positions in their 27 Premier League games this season. That total is already more than in the whole of 2024-25 (15), 2023-24 (15) and 2022-23 (18), with 2021-22 (20) the last campaign in which they dropped more.
There’s every chance their current total of 19 will increase with 11 games to go, with only 1995-96 (33) and 1994-95 (29) seeing them drop more than 21 points from leads in a single Premier League campaign.
Getting into a winning position isn’t a problem for the Blues, having spent 36.6% of game time in the lead – only Man City (52.3%), Arsenal (43.3%) and Man Utd (37.3%) can better that in 2025-26.
But they’ve already failed to hold onto a lead in eight Premier League games this season, losing three and drawing five of those matches. One of those came in the home game against Arsenal on 30 November, when they led through Trevoh Chalobah’s 48th-minute header, before Merino equalised.
It’s a particular problem at Stamford Bridge, where they have astonishingly dropped 17 of those points, including in each of their last two versus Leeds United and Burnley. Only in 1995-96 have Chelsea dropped more points from winning positions at home in a Premier League season (20).
Can Gyökeres Continue Fine 2026 Form?
Viktor Gyökeres produced arguably his best display in an Arsenal shirt in the north London derby last weekend. The Swedish striker helped himself to two goals, bullied Tottenham’s centre-backs throughout, and was more involved in Arsenal’s overall play than in any other match to date.
Viktor Gyökeres Form
Premier LeagueViktor Gyökeres Produced Most Complete Arsenal Performance in North London Derby
4 days ago Oliver HopkinsCan he continue to operate at that level? In 2026, Gyökeres has been in inspired form, netting more goals (8) in all competitions than any other Premier League player. Those goals have come from just 22 shots, and given him an eye-watering conversion rate of 36.4%. Again, that’s higher than any other English top-flight player.
Gyökeres’ first goal against Tottenham, struck right after half-time, broke the game open for Arsenal at a point when nerves could have set in. His goals were obviously the two most important actions in the contest, but his hold-up play and link-up work were critical.
With Chelsea centre-half Wesley Fofana suspended after his red card against Burnley, head coach Liam Rosenior has a decision to make on who should replace the Frenchman. Whether that is Josh Acheampong or Tosin Adarabioyo, Gyökeres will be up against someone with relatively limited Premier League experience. He could feast again.
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