Arsenal take on Chelsea in their second Premier League match and the Gunners are now desperately trying to avoid a second straight defeat.
The North London side have lost their first game 0-2 to Brentford FC and now they have a mountain to climb since Chelsea are in the form of their life under Thomas Tuchel.
The Blues have one of the fiercest attacks in the Premier League plus Arsenal’s defence looked really shaky in their season opener. And this is why Mikel Arteta will have to sort out all the defensive issues if he wishes to halt Chelsea’s progress, according to Dimitar Berbatov’s prediction.
He has told Metro: “What a game. I’m going to come out and say that I think Arsenal are going to have a terrible start to the season.
“Lukaku could feature for the first time since re-joining Chelsea, and I think he will be eager to show what he can do, and if Arsenal don’t fix their major defensive frailty, that they have had for so many years, they are so easily bullied and Lukaku will run riot.”
Can Arsenal be defensively rigid against Chelsea?
The duo of Ben White and Pablo Mari looked really shaky against Brentford and since Gabriel is still out injured these two will once again take the field.
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And if Romelu Lukaku is playing then the Arsenal defence could be under all sorts of trouble on Sunday.
Manager Thomas Tuchel has already hinted that the new arrival could be in line to start up front meaning he will be the focal point of all the attacks for the Blues.
The manager said, as quoted: “We hope he will be on the pitch on Sunday and it looks likely.”
Lukaku has the power to bully defenders so the likes of Mari and White need to be on their toes throughout the match, plus they will need to stop the other Chelsea attackers from running behind them.
It is very early in the season but it already feels like this weekend is massive for Ben White.
That £50m price-tag is there now and pretty much everyone is expecting him to struggle against Lukaku.
A 10/10 performance from him would do big things for his early Arsenal career. pic.twitter.com/NLE1lq6h8t
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) August 19, 2021
All this will be easier said than done and since Ben White is still settling down at the club, there’s a big chance that we can see some nervy moments on Sunday.
Against Brentford, Ben White had a rating of 6 out of 10 while Pablo Mari managed 6.5 out of 10.
