3 key battles that could decide Sunday’s clash against Chelsea

Battle #3 Thomas Partey vs Mateo Kovacic

Both managers will undoubtedly want to impose themselves in this match, and control within the midfield may just be the way to do this. Partey has become a crucial part of Arsenal’s success this season, and this isn’t just to do with the goals he’s finally scoring.

The Ghanaian sets the tempo for the north London club. When he is given space on the ball, either Gabriel Jesus, Granit Xhaka or Martin Odegaard is able to find and occupy pockets between the lines that they previously couldn’t. This is demonstrated perfectly in Reiss Nelson’s first goal against Nottingham Forest. After Partey picked the ball up following a Forest attack, the space that he was in meant that Xhaka could make a darting run through the Forest defence and play the ball back to Jesus, who found Nelson.

But while this looks like a simple manoeuvre from the league leaders, it was all due to the space that Partey was given, something which Kovacic will be tasked with stopping. The 28-year-old was absent from Graham Potter’s starting line-up against Dinamo Zagreb in the midweek Champions League fixture, but there will be hope that he can be fit for Sunday.