There are Arsenal games that matter because they are Arsenal games. There are Chelsea games that matter because Chelsea are standing in the way. And then there are the meetings where everything seems to converge at once.

Today’s Arsenal v Chelsea at the Emirates feels like one of those occasions.

For years, this fixture has carried plenty of history. It has produced title-defining moments, painful defeats, memorable goals and the sort of needlethat only develops when two clubs repeatedly find themselves fighting for the same things.

But this feels different.

This feels like the biggest Arsenal-Chelsea meeting in more than a decade.

Not because it is a cup final. Not because the title will be decided in September. And certainly not because either side can afford to panic over one result this early in the season.

It is because, for the first time in years, the two clubsarrive at the same meeting with such dramatically important questions surrounding what comes next.

For much of the last 2 decades, Chelsea were the established power.

They were the team collecting trophies, dominating domestic football and setting the standard. Arsenal, meanwhile, were rebuilding.

That balance has shifted.

Arsenal enter this season as Premier League champions after finally ending their 22-year wait for the title. Mikel Arteta has taken the club from being a side desperate to return to the top 4 to one expected to compete for everything. 

With no domestics trophy in 9 years, Chelsea are now the club searching for that same sense of direction.

Their appointment of Xabi Alonso represents another new beginning after a difficult campaign that ended with a 10th-place league finish. Yet the summer has brought renewed ambition, including the huge signing of Morgan Rogers and a revamped attack featuring Rogers, Cole Palmer and João Pedro.

Following the closure of the transfer window, a lot of the talk has been about how “Arsenal got it wrong”, and Chelsea, with £519m in sales now “know what they are doing”.

So this isn’t simply Arsenal against Chelsea.

It is the established champion against the challenger trying to reclaim their place.

And that makes the stakes enormous.

Both sides have won their opening two Premier League games.

Arsenal have begun the defence of their title with victories over Coventry City and Aston Villa, while Chelsea have beaten Fulham and Brighton. Chelsea’s 4-3 win over Brighton was hardly a defensive masterclass, but it demonstrated the attacking potential Alonso has inherited.

A win on Sunday would therefore do more than add three points.

For Arsenal, it would be an early statement thatlast season wasn’t an isolated achievement. They are champions, they are at home, and they intend to stay at the top.

For Chelsea, it would be evidence that Alonso’s new project can accelerate much faster thanpeople expect.

That is what makes this fixture fascinating.

Both teams have something to prove, but they are proving completely different things.

There is also the small matter of Arsenal having become something of a nightmare opponent for Chelsea.

Chelsea’s own records tell the story. Arsenal are unbeaten in their last ten meetings across all competitions, winning seven and drawingthree. Chelsea’s last victory over Arsenal came at the Emirates in August 2021. Since then, the Gunners have repeatedly found ways to frustrate them.

At the Emirates, the contrast is even more striking.

Arsenal have won their last three home league meetings against Chelsea, including the extraordinary 5-0 victory in April 2024 and a 1-0 win in March 2025. 

Chelsea therefore aren’t just walking into the home of the champions. They are walking into a ground where they haven’t beaten Arsenal for more than five years.

That psychological baggage matters.

And then there is the transfer window subplot…

Arsenal wanted Morgan Rogers this summer. Instead, he joined Chelsea in a deal worth a reported British-record £117 million for an Aston Villa player.

That is exactly the kind of subplot that makes a game feel bigger.

There is also the interesting contrast in recruitment.

Arsenal strengthened their midfield and defence, most notably with Bruno Guimarães and Ezri Konsa, but ended the window without the marquee attacking signing fans hoped to make. Chelsea, meanwhile, spent heavily attacking talent.

So Sunday becomes an early test of those respective strategies.

Can Arsenal’s structure and control overcome Chelsea’s attacking firepower?

Can Alonso make his new-look side dangerous enough to finally break Arsenal’s hold over this fixture?

And can Chelsea prove that their rebuild has moved beyond promise?

There is a temptation to call every meeting between two big clubs a “huge game”.

Usually, it isn’t.

Sometimes it is simply another three points.

This one feels different because both Arsenal and Chelsea are entering new chapters simultaneously – but from opposite directions.

Arsenal are trying to establish a dynasty.

Chelsea are trying to begin another era of dominance.

That makes Sunday’s meeting about morethan the result.

It is about identity.

It is about momentum.

It is about who gets to walk away believing they are closer to where they want to be.

The ingredients are there.

A champion at home.

A rejuvenated Chelsea.

Two perfect starts.

A new manager.

A new generation of stars.

A transfer saga.

Five years since Chelsea last beat Arsenal.

And an atmosphere that should tell us very quickly whether this is simply another London derby — or the beginning of something much bigger.

For Arsenal, this is an opportunity to remind everyone that champions don’t surrender their throne easily.

For Chelsea, it is an opportunity to announce that they are coming for it.

That is why, after more than a decade of twists and turns between these two clubs, Arsenal v Chelsea suddenly feels like it matters moreis why this one feels different.

That is why, after more than a decade of twists and turns between these two clubs, Arsenal v Chelsea suddenly feels like it matters more than ever.

DJ

I think we all have a right to be disappointed with our attacking recruitment this summer. It has certainly been a head scratcher.

A fairly public pursuit of Vinicius Jr, Julian Alvarez and Morgan Rogers all led to nothing. And on top of that we “forced” Gabriel Martinelli out of the club, and Gabriel Jesus also departed alongside Leandro Trossard. With only Christos Tzolis’s coming in, that results in a -2 net loss for attacking options.

Whilst Gabriel Jesus contributed very little last season, we have basically gone from 3 options on the left wing (Martinelli, Trossard and Eberechi Eze) to two options. That is a big step back it feels in a position that we should have been taking a huge stride forward.

There have been a lot of narratives told already about what happened over the summer. From Moving away from Rogers to focus on Vinicius Jr, to ultimately miss out on both, and a pursuit for Alvarez who always wanted Barcelona. Through these pursuits, we have allowed “lesser” talents to be snapped up by rivals and ended up leaving the game without a chair. But is their a narrative that has not been told?

Eli Junior Kroupi looks like he would be the perfect Arteta player for that inside left position.

In Arteta’s line up, he prefers the right hand side to play with width, and the left hand side to be narrower in attack – with the width being provided by the full back. He almost wants our left hand sides attacker to be playing off the central striker, rather than stuck on the wing.

To do that, whoever plays on the left needs to be comfortable playing inside, and an instinctive shooter – also accurate from distance. They will not be expected to be a key creator, but expected to benefit from the space and time given to them by us overloading the right hand side.

The attacking tactic would be simple and two fold – overload the right to create space on the other side for a quick ball over the top or get the ball in quickly from a central position to the striker for a quick lay off to the left. In both situations, you then want a forward capable of finding space, coming onto the ball and getting one or two touch shots off. That is why we looked at Julian Alvarez who may have excelled in this role.

Kroupi was fantastic for Bournemouth last season playing off that left hand side. With 13 Premier League goals at just 19, he established himself as one of the most extensive shooters in the game coming in off that left hand side. Alongside his shorting, he also had pace to burn which would ensure that he would not be one-dimensional.

So is their a narrative that Kroupi was out first choice, and his ankle injury scuppered our transfer plans? I think so.

Following an ankle injury that ruled Kroupi out until November, Arsenal would have had a decision to make.

1. Buy an injured Eli Junior Kroupi
2. Explore alternative options
3. Stick with what we have

The first option was simple not on the table. Bournemouth would unlikely “accept less” for Kroupi despite him being injured. It would have been a huge amount of money paid without any knowledge of how he would recover. A huge, huge risk. One not worthwhile taking when you consider the January transfer window will be open a couple of months after he regains fitness.

Our first course of action was to explore alternatives to Kroupi. 3 options presented themselves. Either go for ceiling raisers, young hype, or someone “mid”. We went for the ceiling raisers.

If we could not secure our primary target, then whoever came in would ideally be better than our primary target. That would take any deal for Kroupi off the table. First we went for Rogers, then Vinicius Jr, all the while keeping our hat in the ring for Julian Alvarez.

We missed out on all 3 which led opposing fans to scoff and mock.

Chelsea hugely overpaid for Rogers. I do not think any Arsenal fan would have been comfortable us spending £117m for him. As for Vinicus Jr, it is no shame for a player wanting to stay at Real Madrid. And finally on Alvarez, he only ever really wanted Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid pretty much made a move away to any club impossible.

Looking throughout every transfer in world football, no one has moved who is near the talent of Rogers, Vinicius or Alvarez.

Whilst a lot of left wingers have moved this summer, they all fall into the category of either “mid” or young hype.

Looking at the likes of Cody Gakpo, Bradley Barcola, Anthony Gordon and Rafael Leao. These guys are not ceiling raisers. They are mid players who would have commanded huge salaries and transfer fees.

Signing them would likely have also taken the future recruitment of Kroupi off the table. They would have not left enough in our transfer kitty to go out for Kroupi in January, be on too high wages to be 2nd or 3rd choice, and ultimately would not have left the space in the squad for a Kroupi acquisition in January.

Whilst these players are more proven than Kroupi, they do not have a ceiling as high as him. They are already at their best and unlikely to get better. If he returns from injury and continues on his current upward curve, Kroupi will be better than all of the above within 12 months, and likely be spoken about in the same terms as Vinicius Jr, Rogers and Alvarez in 24. It would make no sense to spend big on a player who is not really good enough and does not have the potential to improve. Especially after already signing Tzolis.

Towards the end of last week, the news dropped that we were interested in Malick Fofana.

Having been snubbed by ceiling raisers and clearly not having much interest in a mid-winger, we were clearly exploring young talents. But this would all have been about a market opportunity.

It would have been pointless signing a young, talented left winger if the preference was still to go for Kroupi in January. We simply would not have been able to give both enough game time to progress them. Arsenal would only have gone down the young option if the price was right, and that player could offer us something elsewhere.

Fofana at £25m and £50k a week did that. He is a fantastic player capable of playing on both wings and through the middle. We could easily have signed him without blocking the potential pathway for Kroupi, and also not invested too much in him.

At those sort of figures and salary, Fofana would not have been too tough to move on in 12 or 24 months if an alternative option appeared. We would not have been left holding a huge unamortised transfer fee for a player on £200k a week (which would have been the scenario had we gone for Cody Gakpo).

Talk was that some at Arsenal fancied Fofana, whilst others did not. And at this stage the casting vote should go to Arteta.

Fofana was coming off his own long term injury, and I do not think he is quite there yet to make an impact at Arsenal. He would have taken some developing. And if Arteta does not fancy him, he will not play him and therefore he will not develop.

You also have to remember with any young signing is the presence of Eze.

Arteta likes Eze. Were a young player to come in, Arteta would have to fancy them more than Eze. Otherwise all that will happen is Eze will get the minutes – either starting or coming off the bench – that could go to a young, new signing. And Arteta is the king maker at Arsenal. It is his right, his job, to make those decisions.

So we go for a young hype like Fofana, they then do not get the game time to develop as Arteta prefers Eze. and then in January we go form Kroupi.

We are now where we are. Ultimately after exploring alternatives, we have decided to stick with what we have. Tzolis and Eze.

The key now, I feel, will be to watch how Kroupi returns from his injury. If he shows no ill effect, we go in for him in January. Sign our primary target, just 6 months later. If he does not recover, then at least we have not squandered money on players who are not good enough, or who Arteta does not fancy. We then continue to explore what is a very tough market to find that superstar, or potential superstar.

And in 12 months, the likes of Fofana may have developed further having played regular football. You then might spend double what you could have got them for this summer, but you would be doing that with more certainty as to what that player you are signing could become.

We are all disappointed at our left wing recruitment. But as always there is a bigger picture.

3 games in, 0 goals conceded, 1 trophy in the bag, 6 points from 6. There is very little Arsenal fans should be moaning about right now.

Keenos

Following the closure of the transfer window, BBC Sport went heavy on their anti-Arsenal rhetoric. This was no surprise. We are the biggest club in the world when it comes to online interactions. Arsenal fans with the way they consume online media literally keeps some media outlets afloat, gutter journalists in a job, and the pockets of ITK’s filled with Elon Musk’s pennies.

What I would love to know is who is this World Class forward that Arsenal took a risk in not signing?

Now I get that being World Class is subjective. Just like “Wonderkid”. For me, World Class will always be “if I made a World Cup squad, able to pick from any player in the world, who would be in it?”. That way, it leaves room for 2 to 3 players for every position, and takes into the account of needing defensive midfielders, attacking midfielders, actual full backs (and not just the best 8 centre backs) and so on.

For me right now, the World Class forwards are:

Strikers: Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane
Right wingers: Lamine Yamal, Michael Olise, Bukayo Saka
Left wingers: Vinicius Jr, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

The only debate I would expect anyone to have is over whether or not Saka is World Class. If he is not, then there is not really a right winger that could replace him so you would likely go to the World Cup with 7 attackers for 3 positions.

Of the 8 players mentioned above, only one came close to leaving their club this summer – Vinicius Jr. And Arsenal were the closest to signing him. None of the others where anywhere near to being on the market.

So this makes a mockery of the article. Arsenal did not take a big risk by not signing a World Class forward. Arsenal actually took a big risk by trying to sign a World Class forward.

Perhaps, in hindsight, we should not have dropped our interest in Morgan Rogers to chase Vinicius Jr. Maybe we should have Just got that deal done. But then how gutted would we have all been had we done the deal for Rogers at £117m, then Chelsea or Man City went and paid £140m for Vinicius Jr? It would have been gut wrenching and the article headline about not signing a World Class forward would be true.

“But Keenos, your definition of World Class is too narrow”. Firstly, it should be narrow. World Class should be a term left for the best of the best. The elite. But lets entertain you and expand my definition of World Class to include the top 5 players in the world. I am sure we can agree that there should not really be more than 5 world class players for each position in world football?

Strikers: Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane, Julian Alvarez, Ousmane Dembele
Right wingers: Lamine Yamal, Michael Olise, Bukayo Saka, Desire Doue
Left wingers: Vinicius Jr, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Raphinha

For the strikers, it was a toss up between Dembele and Lautaro Martinez. I went for Dembele as he is a recent Ballon d’OR winner and starts upfront for the back-to-back European champions, and starts for France. I would probably prefer Martinez at my club though.

So none of the top 5 strikers (6 if you include Martinez) moved this summer. And like with Vinicius Jr, we actually tried hard to sign one of them.

On the right wing, I only have 4 names. They are the four I rate the highest, and then there is a big drop off to the likes of Antonie Semenyo, Yan Diomende, Brian Mbeumo, Rayan, etc since Mo Salah went past his peak. The only other one I would have considered is Raphinha, but he plays left wing these days for Barcelona and is included on my list there…

None of the right wingers in my list moved this summer. The only one in the extended list that departed was Yan Diomende. Real Madrid spent huge (£120m) on a player who is so raw and has less than 50 senior club games to his name.

As we all know, the left wing is fairly dire at the moment, It is why Arsenal struggled so much to recruit a top left winger.

Vinicius Jr, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Raphinha are clear. Then you get to the likes of Bradley Barcola, Anthony Gordon, Gabriel Martinelli, Jeremy Doku, Rafael Leao, Luis Diaz and others. Even in an extended 5, I struggle to label any of these World Class. They all have too many weaknesses.

For Barcola, Gordon and Martinelli, they all struggle against teams defending deep. If faced with an opponent with not much space in behind them, they are unable to utilise their pace and end up looking lost. As for Jeremy Doku and Rafael Leao, he can beat his man for fun but has little end project. Luis Diaz has excelled in Germany, but I think we can all agree that it just shows the Bundesliga is poor quality.

Two players not mentioned are Jamal Musiala and Morgan Rogers. Are they wingers? Or central midfielders? Attacking midfielders? Or a little bit of everything. Probably the later.

Musiala would certainly full into the extended World Class category. you would include him either in the number 10, or as a left winger. I am not comfortable putting Rogers in that category considering he is behind Gordon (and Rashford) on the left hand side for England, behind Saka and Noni Madueke on the right, and behind Bellingham centrally. We could discuss him being (potentially) a World Class number 10. But I am not sure he is that.

The likes of Cole Palmer, Florian Wirtz and Rayan Cherki also fall into that category of “Number 10 that can play out wide”. But again, this is pointless discussing as none of them moved.

In total, I have mentioned 27 players in this blog. I am sure readers will add names in the comments that I have missed.

Of those 27 players just 6 moved this summer: Barcola, Rogers, Diomende, Gordon and Leao. None of these are World Class.

So again, I ask, who is this World Class forward that Arsenal took a risk by not signing? Because I do not think they existed. Answers on a postcard.

Keenos