When Arsenal and Chelsea meet, the spotlight rarely falls short of elite talent. Their first clash of the season, on Sunday, is no different, and it comes with Chelsea entering another summer of major change under Xabi Alonso.<\/p>\n
With that backdrop, a combined XI from both squads can be built from availability alone, and the balance of the side reveals where each club currently holds the upper hand.<\/p>\n
In goal, Arsenal still have the stronger option despite Chelsea replacing the error-prone Robert S\u00e1nchez with World Cup winner Emiliano Mart\u00ednez. David Raya remains the Premier League\u2019s standout goalkeeper, his consistency and composure central to Arsenal\u2019s progress under Mikel Arteta.<\/p>\n
At right back, Reece James gets the nod. Jurri\u00ebn Timber would complicate the choice if fit, but as things stand James is the clear selection ahead of Malo Gusto, Marco Palestra and Ben White. His blend of quality in possession and defensive control makes him a rare full-back who can influence matches from deep.<\/p>\n
William Saliba\u2019s injury means Gabriel shifts to the right side of central defence, while Levi Colwill steps in on the left. Gabriel has moved beyond the early doubts that once surrounded him and is now one of Arsenal\u2019s most dependable figures. Colwill, meanwhile, has started the campaign strongly in Alonso\u2019s 3-4-2-1 and brings pace, strength and technical assurance.<\/p>\n
On the left, Riccardo Calafiori earns the place ahead of Piero Hincapi\u00e9. Chelsea\u2019s exit of Marc Cucurella to Real Madrid leaves them short in that area, while Calafiori\u2019s license to advance makes him the more effective fit.<\/p>\n
Declan Rice anchors midfield, with Martin \u00d8degaard alongside him and Cole Palmer included in a deeper role. Rice continues to look complete across both central midfield positions, while \u00d8degaard has begun the season brightly after scoring in the Community Shield, against Coventry City and in the win over Aston Villa. Palmer has already delivered three goal involvements, and Alonso has found a way to maximise his influence.<\/p>\n
In attack, Bukayo Saka takes one wing after scoring in Arsenal\u2019s first two matches, while Morgan Rogers features after a strong early impact for Chelsea. Rogers scored and assisted in the Premier League and has settled quickly in west London, operating just behind Jo\u00e3o Pedro with freedom to affect the final third.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chelsea and Arsenal both offer quality, but this combined XI leans on the Blues in several key areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,190],"tags":[1836,59,182],"class_list":["post-19181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-chelsea","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-featured","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}