Mikel Arteta is well aware that Chelsea will have an abundance of talent available for tonight’s Premier League meeting with Arsenal.
Arteta made reference to the vast array of quality at the fingertips of Thomas Tuchel ahead of this evening’s London derby at Stamford Bridge.
Is Chelsea’s squad the best in the land?
Like many managers up and down the country, the Spaniard must feel slightly jealous about the plethora of players Tuchel can call upon.
Chelsea’s second team could probably give most sides in the division a good run for their money.
Last weekend against Crystal Palace, Thiago Silva, N’Golo Kante, Romelu Lukaku, Hakim Ziyech and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were all brought on at various stages of the match.
Most of these individuals would walk into pretty much any starting XI, an indication of the strength in deep accessible to the European champions.
This isn’t even mentioning the names who were either absent or overlooked for the FA Cup semi-final.
Ben Chilwell and Callum Hudson-Odoi missed the match through injury, whilst Mateo Kovacic had to be removed in the first-half.
Christian Pulisic, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Saul Niguez and Malang Sarr stayed stationary as unused substitutes.
That’s not a half-bad troop in the slightest, one that Arteta will have to try and contain in just a few hours’ time.
Arsenal are looking limp
“They (Chelsea) have world-class players on the pitch and on the bench. That’s unquestionable,” admitted the Arsenal manager.
“They have their qualities and we have ours.”
Whilst Chelsea’s camp is still a healthy size, despite the regular inductees to the treatment room, Arsenal’s looks quite the opposite right now.
At Southampton on Saturday, Arteta had to name four academy products on the bench due to missing several senior stars through injury.
His decision to seriously trim the squad looked like a wise one when the Gunners were winning.
But that might now come back to bite him if Arsenal fail to qualify for Europe this season.
The Gunners are three points behind Tottenham Hotspur in fifth place, with a tricky run awaiting them.
After Chelsea, they host Manchester United at the Emirates, then make the short trip across the capital to West Ham United.
Best of luck (not), Mikel!
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