The Spaniard, who featured throughout our 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday, breached the Gunners' net in three consecutive seasons between 2017 and 2019. When you factor in he also has three goals against Tottenham to his name, precisely 22 per cent of Alonso’s 27 Chelsea goals have come against our north London rivals.

‘For some reason I have more goals against London teams, maybe it’s that different feeling of a London derby or maybe just coincidence, but it’s a good feeling,’ says Marcos.

‘I am always happy to help the team with goals and it would be a pleasure to score another one. London derbies do feel different, even more so when it’s against a team like Arsenal.

‘It will be a very good game for the fans and hopefully one we can get another win and make a statement.’

Today’s game was rescheduled from February due to our involvement in the Club World Cup. Having reached the final of both domestic cups and contested the Super Cup at the outset of this campaign, we will have played in all but three possible fixtures – the Champions League semi-finals and the final – that we possibly could have back when the season started in August.

Managing that hectic schedule has taken plenty of due care, and the wing-back role Alonso often deploys requires extra energy to patrol the flanks.

‘You need to use all the time to recover well and get ready for the next game,’ he stresses.

‘Maybe not so much training outside, but more inside with all the staff and in the pool. You need to try to rest when you are at home as well, trying to use every minute of it to be ready for the next one because it is really hard.

‘You need to attack and defend as a wing-back and you need to run a lot,’ he adds.

‘When you are playing this many games it’s not easy to always be 100 per cent for 90 minutes every game, but I like to help the team up and down, and as much as my body can. I will always do my best.’