Arsenal’s last competitive game was against Chelsea at Wembley, and so is the next. Wenger’s men will hope for a repeat of the result in the FA Cup final, where the Gunners were by far the better side. Once again, Arsenal will line up with 3 at the back, a formation that saw the team perform very well in the latter stages of last season.
Here’s the Arsenal line-up in full (3-4-2-1)
Cech;
Holding, Mertesacker, Monreal;
Bellerin, Elneny, Xhaka, Chamberlain;
Welbeck, Iwobi;
Lacazette
Alexandre Lacazette will make his full debut against Chelsea and after a fairly quiet preseason, the Frenchman will be looking to kick start the season with competitive football and show the Arsenal fans what he is capable of.
Arsenal’s only other signing of the summer, Sead Kolasinac starts on the bench alongside Ospina, Willock, Nelson, Maitland-Niles, Walcott and Giroud.
Laurent Koscielny starts but he will be unavailable for the season opener due to him still being suspended from the end of last season. Rob Holding and Shkodran Mustafi are still lacking match fitness.
Here’s the Chelsea’s line-up in full (3-4-3)
Courtois;
Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill;
Moses, Fabregas, Kante, Alonso
Willian, Batshuayi, Pedro
There’s no full debut for Alvaro Morata, but Michu Batshuayi starts through the middle. He impressed in pre-season and will be hoping he can get more minutes this season.