Arsenal vs Chelsea LIVE commentary: Gunners must hit back in title race as Lampard desperately searches for first win – kick-off time, team news and how to follow

Arsenal must bounce back from their humbling defeat at title rivals Manchester City when they host Chelsea next week.

The Gunners’ Premier League title charge is faltering after dropping points in their last four games.

Mikel Arteta’s side have lost form at the wrong time, and they need a win over their London rivals to have any hope of beating City to the title.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have lost every game under Frank Lampard and are in real danger of finishing below Crystal Palace, Wolves and possibly West Ham.

Chelsea have scored just 30 goals this season and are out of all cup competitions.

The west Londoners are 20 points off the top four but would take great joy in putting a massive dent in Arsenal‘s title challenge with a win.

Arsenal vs Chelsea: talkSPORT coverage

This Premier League clash is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, May 2.

Kick-off at the Emirates is set for 8pm.

The match was initially meant to be played on Saturday, with a 5:30pm kick-off, but has been moved for safety reasons.

talkSPORT will have live and exclusive commentary from north London, with Adrian Durham serving as your presenter.

Commentary will then come from Sam Matterface, former Arsenal winger Perry Groves and ex-Chelsea defender Scott Minto.

talkSPORT.com will also be running a live blog.

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

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Arsenal vs Chelsea: Team news

The Gunners will hope William Saliba recovers from his back injury in time to feature.

The Frenchman’s absence has coincided with Arsenal’s drop-off in form, but Arteta hinted he wouldn’t be available.

Mohamed Elneny and Takehiro Tomiyasu will definitely miss out and are unlikely to return for the remainder of the season.

Chelsea will be without Reece James and Mason Mount.

Marc Cucurella and Kalidou Koulibaly have also been ruled out but there is hope Kai Havertz will return.

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Arsenal vs Chelsea: What has been said?

Arsenal fan and TalkTV host Piers Morgan believes the Gunners have blown the Premier League title race.

Speaking to talkSPORT, he said: “We choked a two-goal lead against Liverpool, we choked a two-goal lead against West Ham, struggled to even draw with Southampton, and now, were absolutely destroyed by Man City.

“That’s four in four games. I’m afraid there’s no easy way to say it… we have bottled it.

“I do think it comes down to mentality. We’ve got the ability, we’ve got the talent, we’ve got the players, the youthful zest and energy. We’ve got all those things.

“I don’t think anybody thought that, man for man, Man City’s players were way better than Arsenal.

“Truthfully, after that game, every single City player played immeasurably better than the Arsenal players.

“The whole team were frankly hopeless and I do think it’s a mentality thing.”

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Arsenal vs Chelsea: Match facts

• Arsenal have won four of their last five Premier League games against Chelsea (L1), as many as they had in their previous 23 against the Blues (D6 L13).
• Chelsea won this exact fixture 2-0 last season – only once in the Premier League have they won consecutive visits to Arsenal, doing so in May and November 2009.
• Arsenal are looking to win three consecutive Premier League games against Chelsea for the first time since February 2004. Indeed, they could achieve their second league double in three seasons against the Blues, having done so just once in the previous 20 campaigns beforehand (2003-04).
• Arsenal have never lost a midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Premier League game against Chelsea, winning four and drawing six. This is the first such meeting at the Emirates Stadium since a 2-2 draw in January 2018.
• Only Southampton have kept fewer home clean sheets than Arsenal (3) in the Premier League this season. However, the Gunners have only failed to score in one of their 16 at the Emirates so far this term (0-0 vs Newcastle in January).
• Chelsea have lost all five matches in all competitions since Frank Lampard’s return to the club, their worst losing run since a six-game run in October/November 1993. The Blues have lost 19 games in total this season, last losing 20 in a single campaign in 1987-88.
• Chelsea have lost 11 of their 26 Premier League matches since Thomas Tuchel departed (W7 D8), as many as they lost in their 63 games under the German between January 2021 and September 2022 (W35 D17 L11).
• Arsenal forward Leandro Trossard scored against Chelsea in Brighton’s 4-1 win in October this season. Only two players have ever scored against the Blues with two different clubs in the same Premier League campaign – Gary Speed in 1997-98 (Everton and Newcastle) and Dean Windass in 2000-01 (Bradford and Middlesbrough).
• Mikel Arteta’s first ever defeat as Arsenal manager was against Chelsea in his first home game in charge (second overall). Since then, he’s won five of his seven meetings with the Blues in all competitions (D1 L1), though three of those wins have been at Stamford Bridge.
• Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka has been directly involved in 16 goals in his 16 Premier League home games this season (9 goals, 7 assists). He’s both scored and assisted a goal in three different games at the Emirates in the competition this season, with Alexis Sánchez the last Gunners player to do so more in a single campaign (4 in 2014-15).