Chelsea Vs Arsenal: Three key battles those could decide game's outcome

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New Delhi, Sep 16: Chelsea will host their arch-rivals Arsenal in the headliner game of the fifth game week in the Premier League on Sunday (September 17).

Antonio Conte's Blues began the campaign with a 3-2 home defeat by Burnley, but have won their next three games including a 2-1 Wembley victory against Tottenham.

While Chelsea will be confident heading into Sunday's clash, Arsene Wenger badly needs a victory to shut the mouth of the critics after a tough start to the campaign.

Arsenal have beaten Chelsea in their last two domestic matches, the FA Cup Final and Community Shield but their recent record in the League against Chelsea is quite poor.

Here are three key battles those could decide the outcome of the game:

N’Golo Kante vs Granit Xhaka

Both teams are likely to feature in a similar 3-4-3 formation, a system in which the two central midfielders need to work a lot. N’Golo Kante usually dominates the middle of the park and hardly has a poor outing. So, the work of Granit Xhaka will be doubled against Chelsea as he has to battle with Kante for dominance in midfield.

Alvaro Morata vs Laurent Koscielny

Very few players can make an immediate impact in the Premier League after moving from a foreign country but Chelsea’s club record signing Alvaro Morata has done just that. The Spaniard is in sublime form right from the beginning of the season and will prove to be a tricky customer to deal with for Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny.

Alexis Sanchez vs Cesar Azpilicueta

Despite all the efforts from Manchester City to lure Alexis Sanchez away from Arsenal, the Chilean is still an Arsenal player and looking sharp ahead of the game and will be looking to make his presence felt. Cesar Azpilicueta is likely to start on the right-hand side of the 3-man defence of Chelsea and will have the big job on his hands to keep Sanchez silent.