Confirmed Arsenal injury blow ahead of Chelsea with trio ruled out of London derby

Chelsea have lost five of their last six meeting against Arsenal and go into Sunday’s derby having lost their last five games since Frank Lampard took over from Graham Potter.

It has been an incredibly tough season for the Blues that has seen them slump to 11th in the league table and without a chance of qualifying for Champions League football next season.

A few weeks ago, Arsenal were flying and looked like they would finally win the first Premier League title for the first time in the invincible year, 2004, but three draws and a damaging 4-1 defeat at the Etihad has thrown that advantage to the Manchester City who are looking to win their fourth league title in five years.

Mikel Arteta though still maintains nothing has been decided yet and they will look to rekindle their campaign when they host Chelsea at the Emirates this weekend.

One of the reasons that their season has been tailed off has been injuries to key players, William Saliba, Mohamed Elneny and Takehiro Tomiyasu will not be ready for the game.

Chelsea also have key players unavailable including the irreplaceable Reece James and Mason Mount who have both been ruled out for the rest of the season.

There is still doubt over the fitness of Kai Havertz who missed the defeat to Brentford but was tipped to return at some point this week to help see out the campaign.

Arsenal will also monitor the progress of midfielder Granit Xhaka who was withdrawn halfway against Manchester City and is suspected of carrying a knock.