Premier League Preview: Who will prevail between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates?

Just one Premier League game today but what a fixture it is, with Arsenal taking on Chelsea in a tasty London derby.

Who is expected to play? What have the managers said? And crucially, how could the game go?

Football Manics takes a look at all of this in our preview.

Standings

Arsenal were nudged down into sixth place in the Premier League table after Tottenham Hotspur won 2-0 at Swansea on Tuesday night. That said, their form hasn't necessarily been bad, with no defeats in six league games and 13 wins from their last 15 home games. They're just getting too many draws, particularly against teams they should be seeing off.

Chelsea currently sit third, seven points above Arsenal, and know victory at the Emirates Stadium will see them leapfrog Manchester United into second. The Blues have dropped just two points over the festive period so far, having won four of their last five league games, most recently sticking five past struggling Stoke City.

Head to head

Arsenal won this exact fixture 3-0 last season, after a five-game winless run against them in the Premier League at the Emirates (D3 L2).

In all competitions, no team has won more away games at the Emirates Stadium than Chelsea (5, level with Manchester United).

The last time Arsenal didn't lose either Premier League meeting with Chelsea in a season was in 2011-12 (W1 D1), while the last time they kept a clean sheet in both league meetings was 1998-99.

Arsenal have failed to score in seven of their last nine games against Chelsea in the Premier League, netting just four goals in total in this run.

There have been six red cards in the last seven meetings between these sides in all competitions, with Chelsea having a player sent off in each of the last three.

Team news

Arsenal duo Mesut Ozil and Laurent Koscielny have an outside chance of returning from injury for tonight's game.

Koscielny's likelihood of playing is rated at 30 per cent by Wenger while Ozil is close to recovering from a knee problem and will be assessed.

Sead Kolasinac, however, will be out for two weeks after taking a knock to his ankle against West Brom on Sunday. Aaron Ramsey, Olivier Giroud (both hamstring) and Nacho Monreal (ankle) all remain sidelined.

Chelsea have no fresh injury problems for the trip to Arsenal, though defender David Luiz (knee) and forward Charly Musonda (groin) remain out.

Both have returned to training and could feature in Saturday's FA Cup trip to Norwich City.

Pre-match views (BBC Sport)

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "In football, there's only one thing and that's the next game.

"We know that our home form will be absolutely vital and we just come home from West Brom frustrated because we lost two points. We know it puts us under even more pressure to deliver a big result tomorrow.

"The target in 2018 is to win every single game, and the next one is Chelsea."

Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte: "We face five tough months because we have to fight for a place in the Champions League and it won't be easy to reach this target.

"I think now [Manchester] City have created a big gap between them and the other teams, but at the same time we have to try to put everything into every game to try to get three points and put a bit of pressure on the teams above us."

Prediction

Arsenal are strong at home, while Chelsea have stumbled on the road recently. However, the visitors have 13 points from their last five games and could become the first team this season to keep five consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League. In contrast though, the Gunners have scored in 24 consecutive league home games. I predict a tight, nervy game that will end in a score draw