Second-place Chelsea will welcome Cole Palmer back into the squad then they host league leaders Arsenal in a crucial clash on Sunday.
Chelsea (7-3-2, 23 points) enter in their best form of the season, posting a 5-0-1 record in their past six matches across all competitions.
Their best performance may have been their last, a 3-0 UEFA Champions League first phase victory over FC Barcelona. Estevao and Liam Delap scored second-half goals after the Blaugrana turned in an early own goal and went down to 10 men just before halftime.
Now Palmer finally is set for his first action since September after recovering from a groin strain and then a toe fracture.
His return, after leading Chelsea in scoring the previous two seasons, should give the Blues’ title aspirations further credibility. But manager Enzo Maresca is urging patience in expectations for the 23-year-old, who has scored or assisted on 57 Chelsea league goals since his arrival from Manchester City.
“He can help us a lot,” Maresca said. “He is probably our best player and we are happy he is back. Now we have to give him time to be 100 percent fit. He has done fantastic in the past and no doubt he is going to do very good things for this club in the future.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal (9-1-2, 29 points) have ridden a nine-match league undefeated run to surge into the top spot in the table.
And if they can pull off a third straight victory Sunday, it might represent their best three-game stretch of the season.
But the Gunners will have to continue overcoming injuries to do so. Most recently, striker Viktor Gyorkes (unspecified) and defender Gabriel (groin) have joined the ranks of the unavailable, with neither expected to return by Sunday. Leandro Trossard (unspecified) also is questionable, having departed not long following his opening goal in the 4-1 win over Spurs.
Eberechi Eze has seized upon that opportunity to give his best performances since joining the Gunners, scoring a hat trick against Spurs and then giving a game-winning assist versus Bayern.
More generally, yet another victory would suggest Arsenal have the depth required to capture the league crown at last.
“Those are statements that we are talking about every three days,” manager Mikel Arteta said. “After beating Spurs at home, then we have to make a statement against Bayern Munich, we’ve done that and now we have to go to the next one. That’s where we are, we knew the importance of the week, not only that, but what is coming after three days is going to be exactly the same, nothing is going to change. But we are super motivated for the game.”
–Field Level Media
