Despite heading to Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night sitting 12th in the Premier League table, Mikel Arteta believes Chelsea will be “dangerous” opponents for us.
After a season of turmoil at Stamford Bridge that has seen Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter depart despite spending more money than any other team in world football, the Blues head across the capital on the back of five defeats in a row, their worst losing run since 1993.
However, with a wealth of talent at Frank Lampard’s disposal and the excitement generated whenever we meet our London rivals, Arteta isn’t taking Chelsea lightly as we aim to get back to winning ways ourselves.
Evaluating Tuesday’s opponents, he said: “I don’t know what their approach will be. They are really dangerous because when you look at the individuals that they can put on that field, for sure they have huge threats so we need to be aware of that.
“They are going to try to come to the Emirates to beat us. They have a great manager and exceptional players, so it is very difficult to predict what they will do because they can play in various ways with different players and different qualities as well. We are going to prepare for the game to win it, that’s it.
“It is going to be a very different game. It is a London derby and they have something to prove, and we have something to prove. The atmosphere is going to be incredible to play in that stadium and we are going to have to be at our best again.”
Since Todd Boehly took charge of the Blues, the American businessman has splashed out a reported £540 million over the past two transfer windows, bringing in the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Wesley Fofana, Mykhaylo Mudryk, Mark Cucarella, Wesley Fofana and Raheem Sterling, yet Chelsea are on track to record their first bottom-half finish since 1995/96.
However Mikel doesn’t feel they’ll struggle for much longer due to the quality within their squad, and that they have the potential to be back challenging for the title in 12 month’s time.
“Next season they may get 100 points - we don’t know,” he added. “With all that exceptional talent, if they make that work they can do anything because they have the players, the infrastructure and the history to do it. I cannot assess what is right and what is wrong because you cannot assess in two months when they’ve made those changes, it is not fair.
“It is extremely difficult to find that thin balance with players because in recruiting you can have the best intentions but then the player has to come here, fit in and get that chemistry with the manager, teammates, staff and the country. It is not easy at all, so credit to everybody that makes those decisions.”
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