PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: CHELSEA V ARSENAL

CHELSEA STATS
The Blues have won 10 of our last 11 Premier League games at Stamford Bridge drawing the other to Newcastle in May. Our last home league defeat was against Liverpool on 6 February.

The Blues have only kept one clean sheet in our last 13 Premier League games - at Stoke on the opening day of the season.

Chelsea have won all five Premier League games when we have opened the scoring.

It is a year (33 games) since the Blues last lost consecutive league games - Sunderland home and Birmingham away.

Didier Drogba has scored 13 goals against Arsenal in 12 starts plus two substitute appearances since joining us in 2004.

2011/12 Premier League scorers
Lampard 4 (pen), Sturridge 4, Ramires 3, Terry 2. Torres 2, Anelka 1, Bosingwa 1, Drogba 1, Malouda 1, Mata 1. Total 20.

League games since
A home win: 0
A home draw: 4
A home defeat: 11

MILESTONES
Chelsea's next goal will be our 6000th in the league in our 106-year history.

Daniel Sturridge, if selected, will make his 50th Chelsea appearance.

Salomon Kalou's next appearance from the bench will be his 100th for the club as a substitute, a feat not achieved by any other Chelsea player.

ARSENAL STATS
Formed 1886

Major trophies
13 League championships, last in 2004
10 FA Cups, last in 2005
2 League Cups, last in 1993
12 FA Charity/Community Shields (1 shared), last in 2004
1 European Cup Winners' Cup in 1994
1 Fairs Cup in 1970

Arsenal's six years without silverware is the worst period since the eight-year gap between 1979 (FA Cup) and 1987 (League Cup).

The Gunners had the best away record last term with 31 points from 19 games.

This season they have won one point from their four away matches which is the equal worst record in the Premier League. Since their last away win at Blackpool in April, the Gunners have won three points from a possible 24 on their travels.

Only Bolton (24) and Blackburn (20) have conceded more goals than Arsenal's 18 in nine Premier League games.

They have lost all three games when their opponents scored first.

Arsenal have won seven of their last eight matches in all competitions.

Robin van Persie has scored 25 goals in 26 Premier League games in this calendar year which is over half of Arsenal's total Premier League goals in 2011.

Arsène Wenger is the second longest serving manager (15 years) in the Premier and Football League behind Sir Alex Ferguson (25 years).

Manager Arsène Wenger
Days in charge: 5,507
Played 863
Won 493
Drawn 208
Lost 162

2011/12 Premier League scorers
Van Persie 7, Gervinho 2, Arshavin 1, Arteta 1, Chamakh 1, Ramsey 1, Song 1, Walcott 1, Total 15.

League games since
An away win: 8
An away draw: 3
An away defeat: 0

WINDOW WATCH
Completed summer transfers
Arsenal
Ins Gervinho (Lille, £10.5m), Carl Jenkinson (Charlton, £1m), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Southampton, £12m), Park Chu-Young (Monaco, undisclosed), Andre Santos (Fenerbahçe, £6.8m), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen, £8m), Mikel Arteta (Everton, £10m), Yossi Benayoun (Chelsea, loan).
Outs Cesc Fàbregas (Barcelona, £30m), Gael Clichy (Man City, £7m), Emmanuel Eboué (Galatasaray, £3m), Denilson (Sao Paulo, loan), Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (Ipswich, £1.1m), Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad, loan), Samir Nasri (Man City, £24m), Armand Traore (QPR, undisclosed), Henri Lansbury (West Ham, loan), Nicklas Bendtner (Sunderland, loan), Manuel Almunia (West Ham, loan).

THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Referee Andre Marriner is officiating his first Chelsea match of the season. His last Blues game was our 2-1 win over Tottenham in April. His last four outings have been Bolton 0-5 Man Utd, Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal, Fulham 6-0 QPR and Liverpool 1-1 Man Utd.

OTHERWISE ENGAGED
Yossi Benayoun is not eligible to play for Arsenal due to the terms of his loan.

Didier Drogba (second of three) and Ross Turnbull (one match) are suspended.

Frank Lampard and John Terry have four yellow cards and are one booking away from a domestic suspension.

Chelsea v Arsenal