Wayne Rooney suggests the stakes for Mikel Arteta are high as Arsenal sit top of the table after nine games. The club have opened a seven-point lead over Liverpool, with Manchester City six points behind. Bournemouth are four points adrift, while Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland lie five points back.

That positional advantage has encouraged talk of a genuine title opportunity, even while questions remain about Arsenal’s ability to create open-play chances. Rooney, speaking on his podcast after Arsenal’s win over Crystal Palace, reflected on the squad’s readiness. “The squad is good enough now and I think they’ve had the experiences which have got them close, but I think they’re ready for it,” he said.

Rooney then outlined the consequence he believes would follow a failed title bid. “If they don’t win it now, you’d probably see a change of manager,” he predicted.

Arteta is contracted to the club until 2027 and there has been no suggestion internally that he intends to depart before then. He was heavily involved in the contract renewals for Gabriel and William Saliba, which extended both defenders through to the summer of 2030, an indication of long-term planning under his leadership.

Gary Neville voiced a similar conviction about Arsenal’s prospects. “This has got to be them, hasn’t it?” he asked on his podcast. Neville argued the club need not rewrite the record books to secure the title. “They’re not going to have to go and get 100 points, they’re not going to have to get even 90 or 95 points to win the league, mid-80s, high 80s will win them this title, and they can do that,” he said.

Neville added that Arsenal’s consistency and defensive organisation set them apart from rivals. He listed attacking and set-piece threats including “[Eberechi] Eze,” “[Noni] Madueke,” “[Gabriel] Martinelli,” “[Leandro] Trossard” and “[Declan] Rice” and praised the balance across the squad.

Pep Guardiola has also predicted that Arsenal and Liverpool, along with a third unnamed contender, would be difficult to catch this season. The debate now centres on whether Arsenal can sustain their start and convert it into a first league title in 21 years.

Enzo Maresca has acknowledged that João Pedro, Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo are all carrying injuries that have limited their training time and availability.

“I think João is not training every day because he’s managing a little bit himself from the injury problem,” the Italian boss outlined. “Moi [Caicedo] is exactly the same, Enzo [Fernández] is exactly the same.

“We have four or five players that unfortunately, because of some problems, they cannot work every day and they try to make the effort to play the game.”

Caicedo and Fernández arrived at the Nottingham Forest game as fitness doubts. Fernández did not feature, while Caicedo was only fit enough to come off the bench and, the club report says, helped swing the contest at the City Ground. He was unable to produce the same decisive impact in the subsequent match with Sunderland. Wilson Isidor’s diligent man-marking brief stifled Chelsea’s most important midfielder throughout a frustrating afternoon.

João Pedro has been asked to shoulder a regular starting burden despite his own fitness issues because of limited attacking options. Summer exits for Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku, combined with a serious injury to Liam Delap, briefly left Pedro as the only senior centre forward. Marc Guiu was recalled from his loan with Sunderland before the summer window closed, but as the match against his fleeting former employers showed, he remains a raw 19-year-old.

“So João in some games has been better, [against Sunderland] he struggled a little bit,” Maresca conceded. “But I think overall all the players struggled, so it’s not just about João.”

Delap, sidelined with a hamstring injury sustained when sprinting too vigorously in the opening exchanges of an August clash with Fulham, watched the Sunderland game from the stands. Maresca has suggested the 22-year-old could get some minutes in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers, which would help ease Pedro’s workload.

Chelsea then face a London derby away to Tottenham Hotspur, a team noted in the report for a potent set-piece threat and a surprisingly mixed home record this season, with Burnley the only Premier League side to have lost in N17 so far.

Bayern Munich have acknowledged active interest in the centre-back market after their director of sports held discussions with the agent of Crystal Palace defender Marc Guéhi. The meeting in Munich has been reported as an initial contact as Bayern weigh options to reinforce their defence.

Max Eberl was asked about the contact in a recent interview with DAZN. He did not name Guéhi directly but made clear Bayern are looking for a new central defender. “It’s absolutely clear that we as Bayern Munich are exploring the market,” he explained.

Eberl stressed that the club’s immediate priority remains securing the future of Dayot Upamecano. “Our clear goal is to extend [Dayot Upamecano]’s contract. That’s our ultimate goal. If that doesn’t work out, we have to be prepared. We would be foolish not to. That’s the reason.

“I’ve not confirmed anything, but we are active in the market.”

Both Guéhi and Upamecano are reported to be in the final year of their contracts, a situation that increases the likelihood of movement when the window opens. Bayern’s search for reinforcements is also tied to long-running speculation around Kim Min-jae’s future; if he were to leave, the club would face an immediate need for another centre back.

Liverpool and Real Madrid are mentioned among admirers of Upamecano in the current reports, while Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konaté is noted as another defender whose expiring contract places him in the same group of players attracting attention. Konaté’s past team connection with Upamecano at RB Leipzig is highlighted as context for the overlapping interest.

For now, Bayern present a cautious public line: prioritise a contract extension for an existing player while keeping the market under review. Crystal Palace, and the other clubs linked to those defenders, will be watching how negotiations and potential exits shape the coming transfer window.