It may not feel like it, but this weekend’s fixture between Arsenal and Chelsea sees the Gunners coming in as the form team.
The Blues may have finished the 2020/21 season with Europe’s ultimate prize, but they curiously found Mikel Arteta an inscrutable puzzle over the course of the campaign.
First, Frank Lampard tried his hand at it, and came away with a 3-1 defeat; then Thomas Tuchel was forced to watch in bemusement as Arsenal pulled off the ultimate smash-and-grab, defying their low possession share to come away with a 1-0 win from Stamford Bridge.
Go back a few months before that, and the image of Pierre Emerick Aubameyang sashaying past Kurt Zouma and dinking the ball into the back of the net for the FA Cup went viral many times over.
It is a patch of form that completely belies the trajectory of the clubs involved.
© Provided by Sporting News Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Arsenal vs Chelsea FA Cup final 2019-20
While Chelsea were large and in charge against Crystal Palace on the opening day, Arsenal laboured in defeat to newly promoted Brentford, failing to muster an attempt on target until the final third of the game.
It painted a glum picture of the season ahead, so much so that not even the rash of transfer activity during the week has been enough to lift the spirits of the club faithful.
While the European champions will know better than to take the outcome of any derby (let alone this one) for granted, they will be aware this is as good a chance as any to arrest their poor run of recent form against the Gunners.
Quite apart from the form sheet, there has been an inversion of fortunes for both sides where it matters most. While Arsenal could, in all likelihood, be without the services of their two senior strikers – Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette – for the second week running, Chelsea are set to hand a start to their new standard bearer in attack.
© Provided by Sporting News Romelu Lukaku moves to Chelsea.
For Romelu Lukaku, the opportunity to be the main man for the club he first joined as a teenager back in 2011 has been a long time coming.
The Belgium international has had to prove himself away from London in the ensuing decade, but now returns as a striker at the very zenith of his powers and as one of the premier practitioners of the finishing art in football today.
His hefty transfer valuation, which Chelsea were only too happy to pay to prise him away from Italian champions Inter, is testament to that.
That he is making his second debut in this fixture is also quite significant and symbolic. It is, after all, against Arsenal that Didier Drogba, the man Lukaku has cited as an idol growing up, often let loose.
The Ivorian wreaked havoc frequently upon the Gunners, being the embodiment of the very things that Arsene Wenger’s post-Invincibles vintage struggled with: unabashed physicality and explosiveness.
© Provided by Sporting News Didier Drogba Chelsea Arsenal
As Arsenal shifted toward a more technical, prosaic style, Drogba feasted, allowing Chelsea to play quickly and directly and himself dominating duels against the likes of Philippe Senderos, Kolo Toure, former teammate William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen.
In all, he scored 13 goals in 15 appearances against the Gunners, memorably snatched the 2009 FA Cup trophy late on, and left mental and emotional scars in his wake. “I knew Philippe Senderos… against Chelsea, against Didier Drogba, where he would genuinely panic, like he was going through the match before playing it,” Gallas told French outlet RMC in 2018.
Instructively, Arsenal only ever managed one Premier League win over the Blues with Drogba in the line-up: a 3-1 triumph in 2010 at the Emirates Stadium.
Lukaku does not himself have such a gilded record against Arsenal.
Over 17 appearances across four clubs in England, the 28-year-old has only scored thrice when facing the Gunners, and only has four wins under his belt against Chelsea’s London rivals.© Provided by Sporting News Drogba Chelsea Arsenal 2007
However, there is an important caveat to take into account.
For one, while Drogba arrived on the Premier League scene fully formed as a whirling force of nature, Lukaku has had to learn his craft on the most pressurized of stages.
The Belgian has also lurched between managerial approaches: from the minimalist stylings of West Bromwich Albion and Manchester United under Jose Mourinho, to the expansive, front-foot football of Roberto Martinez (first at Everton and now at international level with Belgium) and Antonio Conte.
It is under the latter that Lukaku has come on in leaps and bounds, dominating Serie A and leading Inter’s title charge over the last two seasons. At 28, where earlier in his career there was a degree of uncertainty as to how best to harness his manifest gifts, now the idea of Lukaku is crystallized. He will isolate, pin centre-backs, spin in behind, dominate in the air and finish with aplomb…just like Drogba.
The Ivorian’s first goal against Arsenal only came at the age of 27. Lukaku is a year late then, but that will not worry him too much. It won’t be any comfort to Arsenal’s defensive line on Sunday either, one can imagine.
The common denominator in all of Chelsea’s three recent defeats to the Gunners has been the absence of a true centre-forward to stick the ball in the back of the net. With Lukaku, that won’t be much of a problem anymore.
