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

Martin Odegaard will be in our starting XI for the first time since the end of August after being selected to captain our team against Chelsea this afternoon.

The Norwegian missed 12 games due to an ankle injury sustained during international play, but after returning to training this week and playing the final minutes at Inter Milan on Tuesday, he is considered ready for today’s London derby.

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

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

Chelsea have made just one change from their last Premier League game, which saw a 1-1 draw against Manchester United last weekend, with Marc Cucurella preferred at left-back in place of Reece James.

Enzo Maresca has once again named a very different 11 players to those who started Thursday’s 8-0 Conference League win over Noah, with the headline being Cole Palmer declared ready to start despite missing training this week, Jaydon Sancho, however, remains on the injured list.

Lineups

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, find out all the key stats, a guide to Chelsea’s tactical plans, how to watch the game on TV and much more in our match preview