Team news: Odegaard and Rice to start at Chelsea | Team news | News

Martin Odegaard will make his first start for us since the end of August after being selected to skipper our side against Chelsea this afternoon.

The Norwegian missed 12 matches with an ankle injury sustained on international duty, but after returning to training this week and playing the final few minutes at Inter Milan on Tuesday, he has been deemed ready for today’s London derby.

He will line up alongside Declan Rice in midfield who sat out that game at the San Siro with a toe injury but has now recovered, and those are the only two changes to the side that tasted defeat in Italy five days ago.

Leandro Trossard and Mikel Merino are demoted to the bench, but Raheem Sterling is unavailable as he cannot feature against his parent club.

Chelsea meanwhile have made just one change from their previous Premier League encounter that saw them draw 1-1 with Manchester United last weekend, with Marc Cucurella preferred at left-back instead of Reece James.

Enzo Maresca has once again named a completely different 11 players to those who began their 8-0 Conference League win against Noah on Thursday, with the headline news that Cole Palmer has been passed fit to start despite missing training this week, but Jaydon Sancho remains on the injury list.

Line-ups

Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Fofana, Colwill, Cucurella, Caciedo, Lavia, Madueke, Palmer, Neto, Jackson.
Subs: Jorgensen, James, Badiashile, Adarabioyo, Veiga, Fernandez, Nkunku, Mudryk, Felix.

Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Havertz.
Subs: Neto, Zinchenko, Lewis-Skelly, Kiwior, Jorginho, Merino, Nwaneri, Trossard, Jesus.

Ahead of the game, load up on all the need-to-know stats, a guide to Chelsea’s tactical plans, how to watch the game on TV and much more in our match preview