Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is relishing the prospect of facing longtime friend Xabi Alonso in the Premier League for the first time when the defending champions host Chelsea on Sunday.
Both sides have made perfect starts to the season, with Arsenal and Chelsea both taking six points from their opening two matches.
Arteta and Alonso, both 44, grew up together in Spain’s Basque Country and have remained close throughout their playing and coaching careers.
The pair first faced each other as managers in a friendly in 2024 when Alonso was in charge of Bayer Leverkusen, but Sunday’s encounter will be their first meeting in England’s top flight.
“I am really happy for him. It’s incredible because obviously we have the history we have together,” Arteta told reporters on Friday.
“To be facing each other at such a level and with the responsibility we have managing some of the top clubs in the country is a really beautiful thing to experience.”
Chelsea’s attack has been impressive early in the campaign, with Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer all finding form in front of goal, but Arteta said controlling the flow of the game would be crucial.
“That will depend on a lot of factors and game state is a massive one, especially because the two games that they played, they scored very, very early and that changes the momentum and the shift of the game,” Arteta said.
“But they are capable and he’s capable of playing in various ways. He’s been a really successful manager so far.”
Arsenal were linked with a number of high-profile attacking targets during the transfer window, including Rogers, Julian Alvarez and Vinicius Junior, but their only forward addition was Greece winger Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge.
Arteta, however, brushed off suggestions that Arsenal had fallen short in the market.
“I don’t know, these are just opinions,” the Spaniard said.
“The window is closed and I prefer to look at all the incredible things that we have in this squad and not to spend any more time on the things that are not part of us right now. That’s it and that’s my main responsibility.”
Arsenal will lean heavily on the likes of Kai Havertz, Viktor Gyokeres and Bukayo Saka but Arteta insisted the attack is not weaker compared with last season, despite the departures of Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli.
“We have to understand the amount of minutes that those players played and the ones that were injured last year, especially in the first six months, and the data shows something completely different,” Arteta said.
“But it is what it is. It is what we have and, as I said before, we already have some very, very good players.”
Alonso hopes everyone at Stamford Bridge can now “move forward” following the protracted sale of Enzo Fernandez to Manchester City.
The Argentina midfielder left Stamford Bridge to join City in a British record-equalling 125-million-pound ($169m) deal ahead of the window closing on Tuesday.
Chelsea had hoped to offset Fernandez’s exit by bringing in midfielder Lamine Camara from Monaco, but that move collapsed when the Ligue 1 side backed out having not signed a deal sheet before the window closed.
Alonso, though, insists his focus is on the future, starting with Sunday’s trip across London to Premier League champions Arsenal, when Chelsea will be bidding to maintain their 100 percent start to the new campaign.
“We take all the decisions together,” Alonso told a pre-match news conference on Friday. “We are responsible for them with our work together, the big ones, small ones.
“We knew ultimately the last goal is to have the best for the team, for the squad, for daily work here. We want to build a good spirit and a good team, and we have always taken the decisions thinking that we wanted to reach that.”
Alonso added: “In football, many things happen, and you need to be prepared for everything.
“With Enzo, we have had conversations, but always with respect as well.
“What he has done for the club, it has been great, and we are thankful, but now it is time to move forward. We have a lot of big personalities, players with a lot of quality in all the different positions and now we are ready to go.”
Alonso also refused to go into more detail about the collapse of the deal for Camara.
“I think that we are prepared and happy with the squad, the depth, with the healthy competition we have in different positions,” he said. “It is a good balance between players of different stages [of their career].
“We need to build that energy during the week to perform well at the weekends. So far, it is just two games, but it has been a good start and now we know who is in the building and that is good to have that certainty.”
Chelsea’s squad has undergone major change over the summer.
“We can be very happy with the whole transfer window,” said Alonso, who will make a late check over midfielder Moises Caicedo, who went off during the closing stages against Brighton.
“What we started talking about in late May-early June, many things we have accomplished.”
The Opta supercomputer gives Arsenal a 56 percent chance of victory, but only offers Chelsea a 21 percent chance of claiming all three points.
This will be the 216th meeting between the sides with Arsenal winning 87 of the encounters and Chelsea taking the spoils on 66 occasions.
Cristhian Mosquera and Bruno Guimaraes both missed training for Arsenal on Thursday and are doubts for the game. The former was forced off with a knock, alongside Declan Rice, in the Gunners’ last match, leaving question marks over their fitness.
Ezri Konsa is set to make his full debut, so could be a straight swap for Mosquera
Jurrien Timber has returned to training following a groin injury, but William Saliba remains sidelined with a back problem.
Predicted Arsenal starting lineup: Raya; White, Konsa, Gabriel, Calafiori; Lewis-Skelly, Rice; Saka, Odegaard, Tzolis; Havertz
Moises Caicedo is a doubt with a knock, while Jordan Henderson and Marco Palestra are both confirmed absentees.
Predicted Chelsea starting lineup: Martinez; Lacroix, Colwill, Fofana; James, Gusto, Lavia, Hato; Rogers, Palmer; Pedro
