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Chelsea make the short trip to north London and to the Emirates Stadium this weekend to take on Premier League title hopefuls Arsenal
While Liam Rosenior refused to place the blame on Wesley Fofana for his red card in Chelsea's draw with Burnley on Saturday, the head coach must have been raging inside. Rosenior spoke to the media not too long after the full-time whistle at Stamford Bridge and was clearly frustrated with how his side ended up drawing to Championship-bound Burnley.
At 1-0 up, thanks to Joao Pedro's fourth-minute strike, Chelsea were not playing particularly well. Supporters were growing more and more frustrated with the Blues' lack of attacking impetus. Saying this, however, Burnley never looked like scoring.
Rarely did the Clarets enter Chelsea's final third when it was 11v11 but Fofana's second yellow card on 72 minutes gave the visitors encouragement that they would end up taking advantage of. And Chelsea got very fortunate in the end to come away with a point after Burnley missed a golden opportunity to win the match moments after they had equalised in SW6.
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It very much felt like two points dropped and while it was not solely down to Fofana and his clumsy moment, a lot of it can be attributed to Burnley growing in confidence when their opponents had a man less on the field. Not only was it a blow for last weekend's draw but Fofana will now serve a one-match suspension, ruling him out of Sunday afternoon's trip to Premier League leaders Arsenal.
The Gunners are not in the best form - winning just three of their last eight matches in the top-flight, but spirits would have been lifted following their 4-1 victory over north London rivals Tottenham at the weekend. Either way, Chelsea's defence will have to be 100% on it when they go to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Without Fofana, Chelsea's defence loses an aggressive, fast and physically dominant centre-back, who is also very confident in possession. The Frenchman and Trevoh Chalobah have formed the Blues' go-to centre-back partnership this season, which has been continued under Rosenior after initially impressing while Enzo Maresca was in charge.
There could be a first Premier League start for Mamadou Sarr, who was recalled from his loan spell at sister club Strasbourg in the January transfer window. Sarr's only start for the Blues was in the FA Cup fourth round victory over Hull City earlier in the month and the Senegal international impressed alongside Fofana on the night.
Perhaps Rosenior will feel it is too soon for Sarr, and in that case he could turn to a more experienced Premier League option in Tosin Adarabioyo. However, the Chelsea centre-back has been in poor form this season when he has played, so that in itself seems a risk against a dangerous Arsenal attack.
Benoit Badiashile, too, has not been at his best this term, though with a left-footed centre-back, he could be the most balanced option for Rosenior. Josh Acheampong would probably be the most popular choice, for the supporters anyway, but Rosenior might deem it too big of a risk to play the 19-year-old on such a stage.
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