Graham Potter risks Arsenal clash for Chelsea…

Graham Potter risks Arsenal clash for Chelsea experiment as he gives stars audition in new shape

After getting back to winning ways last weekend against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, Arsenal face a crunch week in their 2022/23 season. Mikel Arteta's side face Zurich in the Europa League on Thursday with top spot on the line before travelling to Stamford Bridge on Sunday for a London derby against Chelsea.

Arsenal put recent bad results against PSV and Southampton firmly behind them as they comfortably dispatched of Forest at Emirates Stadium ahead of a potentially huge week in their season.

The Gunners welcome Zurich to north London on Thursday evening where a victory will see them bypass the Europa League round of 32 and head straight into the round of 16. Three days later they are back in action and this time on the round as they take on Graham Potter's Chelsea.

While the huge London derby is sure to be on the minds of Potter and Arteta, both teams have to focus on their respective European competitions with Chelsea also in mid-week action against Dinamo Zagreb tonight (November 2) in the Champions League.

Both sides have secured qualification to the next round but Chelsea have also guaranteed top spot and with a crucial league fixture on the weekend, the chance to rest some of their first-team players,, but when speaking to reporters ahead of the game Potter suggested he would still name a strong team.

He said: "We have to have respect for the competition and respect for the teams. We have to prepare to win. We're at home, we want to finish the competition off well at this stage and we want to respond from the disappointment of the weekend. We'll pick a team that we think can win with respect to the opponent and we'll try our best."

It perhaps also may have been a good opportunity to use some of the younger players in the Chelsea squad pushing for more first-team involvement such as Omari Hutchinson and summer signing Carney Chukwuemeka, but Potter again seemed to dismiss that as a possibility.

"As I said before I don't think it's a time to be using young players just for the sake of it. I think we have to be competitive and respectful of the competition. There are still teams looking for points for their own qualification. So from our perspective we have try and pick a team we think can win the game."

Potter's comments have been mirrored by his team selection with Mason Mount, Jorginho and Trevoh Chalobah among the names starting the fixture, with Denis Zakaria also making his Blues debut, while Potter has confirmed the Blues are lining up with a back four for the first time since he arrived at the club.

Speaking on BT Sport ahead of the Champions League match against Zagreb, Graham Hoddle offered his thoughts on the Chelsea team: "It’s difficult for them but I think this is a good fixture for them. To have this game up your sleeve that doesn’t mean much, he is going to find out more about his players, and he may reshape it a little bit and go to a back four.

Hoddle added: "He has still gone with a strong side, I thought he would have brought in a few more different players to find out what they’re like in different positions."