Chelsea vs Arsenal will be an interesting game. Chelsea will probably play a 3-4-3. Arsenal played a 4-2-3-1 vs Watford but switched back to the 3-4-3 at around the 60 minute mark. Lots of interesting little details to the game:

Chelsea have struggled playing out of the back in the 3-4-3 in recent games. Liverpool caused them problems and Wolves did too. Wolves blocked central areas and forced Chelsea to move the ball out wide. From there they struggled to progress the ball.

The ball would move wide and the wing-back or wide CB would have no real pass option centrally. They would have to play a risky pass inside or go back to the CBs whilst Wolves carried on blocking central areas.

Here's an example of Alonso losing the ball when attempting to play a risky pass inside. Lampard needs Jorginho and Kovacic to come across to give the wide player a passing option. A forward dropping into those zones or running in behind could help at times too.

Lampard should watch 16/17 games back and steal a few of Conte's sequences. Would help them play out of the back and a few players will be familiar with it- Giroud, Willian, Azpi and Rudiger.

Lampard can also try to bypass the press with his front 3 dropping in behind Arsenal's press and the CBs/GK going long to them. Giroud is also capable of winning balls and holding play up.

Chelsea won the majority of their duels/second balls against Manchester United which helped them dominate play and stop United from playing. However, Wolves did dominate them in that aspect for periods (especially in the first half).

Winning duels/second balls will be crucial (always is in big games), especially if both sides use the 3-4-3. Chelsea's CBs were aggressive vs United and followed forwards into midfield. However, it can be exploited- Salah rolled Rudiger a few times. Pepe can too.

Arteta should think about instructing his forwards to drop either side of Chelsea's pivot to draw a CB out. From there you can work on patterns to exploit the space they vacate.

Chelsea are very dangerous when Pulisic moves centrally and dribbles through the middle. He draws bodies and can beat people. However, playing with Mount on the right didn't help him because he often dribbled centrally with no one running in behind to pass to vs Wolves.

Think Willian and Giroud should be starters in the front 3, with either Mount or Pulisic in the other role.

Arsenal could go with the 4-2-3-1 or the 3-4-3. Wouldn't be surprised if Arteta went with something else though.

Arsenal have looked to go direct to their forwards (running in behind) more which has helped them when playing out of the back.

They have to be careful as Watford won long balls played into Arsenal's forwards a couple of times.

Both sides' wingers can be dangerous, especially if the opposition wingers don't track them. Pepe is dangerous 1v1 and has also used the move where he cuts back in onto his left, and crosses (vs City). Dangerous move- Auba + other forwards can get in between the CBs and score.

Also, AMN can make underlaps and offer a pass inside for Pepe. Would be dangerous if he isn't tracked + runs are hard to track as he'll come from a deeper position. Chelsea have struggled to stop crosses getting into the box so this could be effective.

Arsenal can also be pressed and did give away chances vs Liverpool when they were pressed. With their CBs, there is always a chance of a mistake. Expect both sides to press and both sides to play out of the back. The side that plays out of the back best will probably win.

Arsenal struggled to contain Watford on their left in both the 4-2-3-1 and the 3-4-3. Chelsea can exploit that -can create overloads in the 3-4-3 (against the 4-2-3-1 and if wingers don't track back). Azpilicueta, James and Willian can all cross.

Both sides also leave gaps between midfield and defence when they press in the 3-4-3. The back-lines don't push up enough which leaves space to exploit. Both sides can hurt each other if they beat the press and get their forwards in that zone between midfield and defence.

Could work well with Arteta's 4-2-3-1 as they could have 4 men in that area. If both sides play the 3-4-3, they can get 3v3 in transition which is so dangerous, with both sides' poor defences. Arteta will also want to isolate Jorginho in transition too.

Playing out of the back will be important for both sides. If they can do that, they can hurt each other on the transition and also dominate play. The 3-4-3 stylstically suits beating Arteta's 4-4-2 low-block with its natural width- Lampard should work on that.

Arteta has sat deep in a 4-4-2 at times and it has proven to be effective. Lampard needs to be prepared for that- work on moving the ball wide (stretching Arsenal).

Loads of ways both sides can hurt each other + goalkeeping errors, defensive errors, mistakes when playing out of the back, set-pieces etc are all crucial things that can lose you the game.

The game might come down to the midfield battle- Jorginho and Kovacic vs Ceballos and Xhaka. Who will be able to beat the press + win 50-50s/duels and let their team dominate the ball? However, both teams do have errors in them and they can change the game.

I think a week is enough time to prepare for this game so both managers should have plans/routines they've worked on- ways to reduce errors from their team and ways to hurt the opposition.

Arsenal can also get in behind Alonso. Pepe getting in behind him can cause problems but Alonso can also force Pepe to track back if he gets forward. Lots of interesting battles.

Don’t think Arteta wants to match Chelsea’s 3-4-3 after they dominated United’s 3-4-3 in the duels/second balls. Arsenal usually fall off intensity-wise after 60-70 minutes so it would be risky to match Chelsea’s 3-4-3.

@m8arteta