Emmanuel Petit is confident both Chelsea and Arsenal will recover from Sunday’s London derby to record wins that will keep their Premier League title challenges on course.
The current leaders were forced to settle for a share of the spoils last weekend at Stamford Bridge after they were unable to make their numerical advantage count.
Mikel Arteta’s men are back in action tomorrow evening against Brentford, a side who have proven to be obdurate opponents in the recent past.
The Bees have draw on two of their last three visits to Emirates Stadium and it required a late Kai Havertz winner for Arsenal to prevail during the 2023/24 run-in.
Arteta will again be sweating on the fitness of some key personnel, including William Saliba, but Petit is confident one of his old sides will get back on track and claim all three points.
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‘Arsenal must win at the Emirates,’ Petit told Snabbare. ‘When I look at the schedule of the upcoming games until Christmas, they have so called easy games.
‘This is an opportunity over the next five games to increase the gap with the top teams in the Premier League. So, definitely a victory for Arsenal.
‘I would say Brentford can be a nuisance sometimes, but I don’t see why Arsenal would drop points. I would probably say something like a 3-0 win.’
Chelsea, meanwhile, are also likely to shuffle their pack in light of concerns over Reece James’ workload.
Enzo Maresca has conceded three games in the space of a week is too much for his captain, who produced a man of the match display against Arsenal.
Moises Caicedo will, of course, be absent has he begins a three-match ban but Chelsea fans are likely to see Cole Palmer back in action after his lengthy lay-off and Petit is backing the England international to have a decisive say.
He said: ‘Leeds vs Chelsea is never easy. Playing against Leeds at home is a battle, but come on, Chelsea have to win now.
‘They have to show that they are fighting for the title, too. They cannot afford to drop points because they are pretty sure that Arsenal will win against Brentford.
‘Can you imagine if they drop points? That would probably be an eight or nine-point gap.
‘I know it’s not a huge gap in the Premier League because we are not even at the halfway point, but it goes very quickly in both ways in the Premier League.
‘But I see Chelsea winning. Cole Palmer will score. This is a typical game for him to score goals.’
