Team news news: Granit Xhaka misses out through a mysterious illness, 48 hours on from his agent saying that the midfielder was dead keen on a move to Hertha Berlin. A €25m deal has been mooted. Arteta makes two changes from the draw at Bournemouth on Boxing Day, with Guendouzi starting alongside Torreira in midfeild, while Calum Chambers is preferred to Sokratis. The 18-year-old Tyreece John-Jules is on the bench. Meanwhile Lampard drops Callum Hudson-Odoi and Jorginho to the bench, with Kovacic and Mount recalled to action. The 19-year-old defender Tariq Lamptey makes the Chelsea bench.

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Leno; Maitland-Niles, Chambers, David Luiz, Saka; Torreira, Guendouzi; Nelson, Özil, Aubameyang; Lacazette

Subs: Martínez, Mustafi, Sokratis, Willock, Smith-Rowe, Pépé, John-Jules

Mikel Arteta touched on the importance of getting the Arsenal fans back onside after yielding a point from his first game in charge and there is no better occasion to rejuvenate and re-energise an alarming swell of apathetic supporters than with victory over Chelsea. An encouraging performance at Bournemouth on Boxing Day provided an immediate boost but Arteta and Arsenal require sufficiently more. They are 13th in the table and on a miserable run of one win in 14 matches; they can ill afford for things to further sour as they hover six points above the relegation zone. It does not bear thinking about but defeat for Arsenal would spell a fourth successive home loss for the first time in 60 years and extend their winless run at the Emirates Stadium to seven matches. “I don’t look at the games [coming up] against Chelsea or [Manchester] United – it’s now. At the moment the urgency is now. And we need an impact now.”

Frank Lampard also has much work to do. After a blistering start to life back at Stamford Bridge – Chelsea won seven games on the bounce between September and October – they have not lost five of their last seven league matches, including scarring home defeats to Southampton, Bournemouth and West Ham. Another slip could prove damaging for a Chelsea side already clinging on to fourth place, with a cluster of teams from Manchester United to Sheffield United ready to usurp them in the table. Mateo Kovacic is expected to return to the starting lineup following suspension, while Christian Pulisic is also poised to return. “We’ve got to be brutal with ourselves and say ‘it’s all well and good beating Tottenham [2-0 last Sunday] and feeling on top of the world but we need to reproduce in different ways and against different opposition’.”

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