Chelsea welcome Arsenal to Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon looking to wipe last weekend's 4-1 thrashing at Brighton out of the memory. They face an Arsenal side enjoying their best start to a season under Mikel Arteta at the top of the Premier League table.
The two sides have been handed the most hectic schedules across the league with European fixtures taking place more consistently than a regular campaign. With the World Cup taking place this month, the pair have played 18 games between them already with their entry to the EFL Cup and FA Cup still to come.
Graham Potter's men will come into the contest at the weekend with three days of rest after they concluded their Champions League group with a 2-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday night. Arsenal have one less day than their rivals to prepare for Sunday's clash after they ensured they finished top of their Europa League group with a 1-0 victory over FC Zurich on Thursday.
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Normally on a Sunday, Sky Sports show two games (2pm and 4:30pm). However, on weekends following European football, more fixtures fall on a Sunday due to the Gunners, Manchester United and West Ham United all playing on Thursday nights.
Fixtures are moved to Sunday, or Monday, to allow the clubs reasonable time to recover from their mid-week action and prepare for their league fixture. This weekend there are five Premier League games on Sunday.
But why is Arsenal vs Chelsea kicking-off at 12pm?
The game has been moved from the Saturday 12:30pm slot on BT Sport due to Arsenal's Europa League commitments. The turnaround between a Thursday evening and a Saturday lunchtime kick-off is too short and would be unreasonable to expect the Gunners to be able to take that workload on - especially so close to the World Cup.
It will now take place at mid-day on BT Sport as the first of three live games on Sunday. Southampton host Newcastle at 2pm on Sky Sports followed Tottenham vs Liverpool at 4:30 on the same channel.
Last season, Arteta criticised the scheduling from the Premier League after his side were forced to take on Aston Villa at 12:30pm on Saturday after beating Liverpool on Wednesday evening. Luckily, Bukayo Saka's goal was enough to hand the Gunners victory.
He said: “Thank you so much to the Premier League, to do that and they’ve done it again when we have to play Chelsea and Manchester United, so if they want to give them any advantage, I say to them today, thank you so much for doing that.”
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