Arsenal's Chelsea Streak Relies on Bukayo Saka
Arsenal do not lose to Chelsea anymore. Not since August 2021.
Back then, it felt like two different clubs to the ones that will walk out at the Emirates on Sunday. Kai Havertz wore blue. Kepa Arrizabalaga sat on Chelsea’s bench. Jorginho patrolled their midfield. All three have since passed through north London in one way or another.
Gabriel Martinelli, who started that day for Arsenal, has now left. Of those involved for the Gunners in that defeat, only one remains.
Bukayo Saka.
He is the lone survivor of that 2-0 home loss, and the one player Arsenal now need more than ever as Chelsea roll back into town.
From “ageing shed door” to brick wall
The contrast in Arsenal’s back line across those five years is almost comical.
Mikel Arteta sent out Rob Holding and Pablo Mari at centre-back in that 2021 game, with Cedric Soares and Kieran Tierney at full-back. It looked fragile. It played fragile. Chelsea, with Romelu Lukaku at his most bullish, walked through it.
The current version is unrecognisable. Arsenal’s defence has become their superpower, an armour-plated screen in front of David Raya.
Two matches into the Premier League season, two clean sheets. Coventry and Aston Villa have managed one shot on target between them. One. For all the talk of Arteta’s positional play and rotations, the numbers scream something simpler: this team is brutally hard to break down.
That will be tested by a Chelsea front line that has teeth. Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro give Xabi Alonso one of the most dangerous attacking trios in the division. How they cope with Arsenal’s new-found granite will shape the rhythm of the afternoon.
But the game’s real hinge may be at the other end.
Saka, the only one who remembers losing
Saka is the only player in this Arsenal squad who has actually felt a Chelsea side beat him in red and white.
He started that 2021 defeat on the left wing, a detail that now feels almost quirky given how firmly he has made the right flank his own. It also underlines how long he has carried responsibility in this team.
Across the summer, the noise around Arsenal’s attack grew louder. The club chased a top-class forward and came up short. Names like Vinicius Junior floated into the conversation. None arrived.
The conclusion from many: Arsenal lack a true attacking superstar, the kind who guarantees goals and removes the need to lean on that defensive crutch every week.
Asked on Friday if he believes he has a world-class attacker in his ranks, Arteta did not exactly plant a flag.
“I love my players, that's all I can say,” he replied. “In that bracket, how you want to put them, I don't know.”
Saka will know exactly where he thinks he belongs. Thierry Henry does too. The Arsenal legend challenged him directly this week, telling the winger he is waiting for a 15-goal, 15-assist Premier League season.
That came after Saka had already scored the winner against Aston Villa, adding to his goal in the opening-night win over Coventry. Two games, two decisive contributions. The 25-year-old looks lighter, sharper, freed from the Achilles problem that nagged him last season and through the World Cup.
The manner of those goals matters. Both came from him arriving in the six-yard box, sniffing out crosses and loose balls. That is centre-forward territory. If that instinct sticks, Saka’s numbers will climb.
Arteta spotted the shift early in pre-season.
“I noticed that straight away,” he said. “This happens in your career and you need certain motivation, or a little pinch sometimes, to take it to a different level.
“And there are really good signs that Bukayo is giving to think that is going to be the case.”
A modest Chelsea record, a big Chelsea chance
Since that defeat in 2021, Saka has faced Chelsea nine times and scored just once. For a player of his talent, that is a modest return.
Sunday feels like the moment to correct it.
Chelsea under Alonso look thrilling going forward but generous at the back. Fulham scored twice on the opening weekend. Brighton hit three a week later. The three-at-the-back structure leaves gaps, especially wide, and that is Saka’s favourite hunting ground.
If Jorrel Hato starts as a more defensive wing-back, it will be partly with Saka in mind. Even then, the spaces will be there. Chelsea’s ambition with the ball almost guarantees it.
Crucially, Saka is operating inside a familiar framework. Ben White has started every match behind him at right-back, their understanding almost telepathic now. Martin Odegaard has been busy and sharp in the inside-right pocket, sliding passes into the channels Saka loves.
Arsenal did not land the transformational attacker many expected. So the evolution must come from within. Saka is the clearest candidate to drag the attack to a higher level.
In 2024-25, he finished with six league goals. The season before, he managed only one more. Those totals sit below what his talent suggests is possible. With his fitness restored and his role increasingly central, they should not just be beaten. They should be smashed.
From starboy to talisman
Sunday’s derby is not just another early-season marker. It is a stage.
Across from Saka will be Palmer and Rogers, two England team-mates Arsenal tried hard to bring to the Emirates earlier in the summer. They chose, or ended up at, Chelsea. Saka will not need telling what a statement it would be to outshine them in this fixture.
Asked this week what he made of Chelsea’s new look, he kept it short.
“We’ll see on Sunday.”
The response was clipped, but the message was clear enough. He is ready to be judged on the pitch.
Arsenal’s unbeaten run against Chelsea stretches back years now. The defence, once an “ageing shed door”, is a wall. The structure is in place, the platform secure.
What they need now is a face for this era. A player who does not just carry the “starboy” tag but owns the biggest nights and the fiercest derbies.
If Arsenal are to keep Chelsea at arm’s length again, and if this season is to move from solid to special, it feels like it has to be Bukayo Saka.
