Here are 11 things you should know about Arsenal and Chelsea prior to kick-off tomorrow afternoon at The Emirates:
1. Arsenal played out a thrilling draw with Manchester City last weekend as a late equaliser from Laurent Koscielny earned a point for The Gunners. It was an impressive all-round performance from Arsenal, with Aaron Ramsey and Santi Carzola in particular turning in excellent games.
2. Carzola is closing on Yaya Toure in the race for the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index’s top passer, and is now just four behind the Ivory Coast midfielder with 237 passes in his opponent’s half, compared to Toure’s 241.
3. Aaron Ramsey went toe-to-toe with Man City midfielder Javi Garcia in the game, and they were two of four players to put in performances that entered the top ten for distance covered in a single game so far this season. Ramsey covered 7.01 miles, enough for 7th place.
4. Ramsey’s 7.01 miles is also the most covered by an Arsenal player so far this season, and their team total of 63.56 miles is also a season high.
5. Mikel Arteta was one of the top performers in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index for distance covered last season, and is fifth after five games this time around with 31.32 miles on the clock so far.
6. Carl Jenkinson has also had an excellent start to the season, and has completed more passes in his opponent’s half than any other defender with 126 so far this season.
7. Chelsea stole a win against Stoke at Stamford Bridge, with Ashley Cole poaching a late goal for the current league leaders. Chelsea struggled to breach Stoke’s seemingly impenetrable defence for almost the entire match, despite the best efforts of new signing Oscar, who impressed again after his stellar performance in midweek against Juventus.
8. Goal scorer Cole also covered the most ground of any Chelsea player in that game with 6.45 miles – a season high for a Chelsea player so far.
9. Fernando Torres has been moving back to something like his best form in recent weeks but could still do with improving on his defensive consistency. He’s conceded 10 fouls this season, more than any other Chelsea player according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.
10. Despite only playing 165 minutes in the league so far this season, Oscar is already joint second in the Chelsea squad for shots on target with five.
11. Juan Mata has been quietly going about his business in midfield this season while new signing Eden Hazard has taken many of the headlines. Mata completed 55 passes in Stoke’s half last season as Chelsea plugged away at the Stoke defence, the highest of any player in the last round of games.
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