Arsenal's Chelsea Streak: Bukayo Saka's Key Role
Arsenal have forgotten what it feels like to lose to Chelsea. More than five years have passed since the last time the blue half of London had their number.
That defeat in August 2021 feels like a different era. It was a day when Chelsea’s matchday squad was packed with players who would later call the Emirates home. Kai Havertz started in blue. Kepa Arrizabalaga sat on the bench. Jorginho patrolled midfield for Chelsea and has already come and gone as an Arsenal player since.
Gabriel Martinelli’s departure this week strips away another link to that afternoon. From the Arsenal side that lost that day, only one man is left standing for the reigning Premier League champions.
Bukayo Saka.
He is the last survivor of that XI, and the one player Arteta can least afford to lose as Chelsea arrive in north London on Sunday.
From rickety backline to Arsenal’s steel core
The transformation under Mikel Arteta has been most brutal at the back.
Five years ago, Arsenal’s defence resembled an old shed door: Rob Holding and Pablo Mari at centre-back, Cedric Soares and Kieran Tierney at full-back. It did not take much for Chelsea to blow it open.
Now? It is the team’s superpower.
Two games into the Premier League season, two clean sheets. Coventry and Aston Villa have managed just one shot on target between them against David Raya. Arsenal squeeze the life out of games, smother attacks, and dare teams to find a way through their brick wall.
They will need that again against Chelsea. Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro give the visitors one of the sharpest attacking trios in the division. How they cope with William Saliba, Gabriel and company will say a lot about where both sides are heading.
But the real question sits at the other end of the pitch.
Who grabs this derby by the throat?
The only one who remembers losing
Saka is the only player in this Arsenal squad who has actually lost to Chelsea in an Arsenal shirt.
He started that 2021 defeat on the left wing, a small but telling detail given the constant conversation about the Gunners’ options on that flank. Even then, he was the one Arteta trusted on a big day.
Since that loss, Saka has faced Chelsea nine times and scored just once. For a player with his talent and ambition, that number will grate.
This weekend offers a chance to change that narrative against a Chelsea side who look dangerous going forward but loose at the back. Fulham put two past them on the opening weekend. Brighton scored three the following week. Xabi Alonso’s three-at-the-back system leaves gaps, and Saka will already be picturing those spaces out wide, even if Jorrel Hato starts as a more conservative wing-back.
The “world-class” debate and Saka’s response
Arsenal spent the summer chasing a top-class forward and came up empty. Vinicius Junior was the dream, the type of headline name many supporters craved. He never arrived.
The noise since has been predictable: this team lacks a true superstar in attack, a player who can churn out goals and ease the burden on that iron defence.
Asked on Friday if his squad contains a world-class attacker, 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 have heard that. He will also know where he believes he belongs.
Thierry Henry certainly nailed his colours to the mast. On Monday night, he told Saka he is waiting for a 15-goal, 15-assist Premier League season from him. That is the standard being set.
Saka has started the campaign like a man determined to meet it. He scored the only goal against Aston Villa, adding to his strike on the opening night against Coventry. The Achilles problem that dogged him last season and at the World Cup has been shaken off. He looks lighter, sharper, angrier.
What stands out is where those goals have come from: the six-yard box. Twice now he has drifted into prime poacher territory, sniffing out crosses and loose balls. If that becomes a habit rather than a quirk, Arsenal suddenly have a different kind of threat on their hands.
Arteta saw the change in him as soon as pre-season began.
“I noticed that straight away,” the manager 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.”
Familiar faces, familiar rhythm
Saka’s fast start has not happened in isolation. It has come with the comfort of old partnerships.
Ben White has started every game at right-back behind him. Their understanding is almost telepathic now: when to overlap, when to underlap, when to sit. Martin Odegaard, operating in those inside pockets, has been bright and close to his best, feeding the No7 in the channels he loves.
Arsenal did not land that “transformational” attacker in the market. So the solutions have to come from within. Saka is the clearest one.
In 2024-25 he scored six league goals. The season before, he managed just one more. Those numbers will not be enough if Arsenal want to stay champions. If he remains fit, both tallies should be left far behind.
A derby, a statement, and a spotlight
Sunday’s game arrives early in the season but carries real weight. It is a measuring stick for Chelsea’s rebuild, a test of Arsenal’s title defence, and a stage for England internationals to go head-to-head.
Saka will relish the chance to get one over Palmer and Rogers, two players Arsenal pushed hard to sign in the summer but ended up watching join Chelsea instead.
Asked this week for his view on Chelsea’s new look, Saka kept it simple: “We’ll see on Sunday.”
So will everyone else.
The eyes will be on Arsenal’s No7, not just today but deep into the season. The defence has been rebuilt. The squad has evolved. The Chelsea streak is intact.
Now Arsenal need something more.
They need their starboy to become their talisman.
