Craig Burley says a ‘much better version’ of the Chelsea team that beat Barcelona will be needed as the Blues prepare to face ‘different ball game’ Arsenal this weekend.
Chelsea clinched an impressive 3-0 win over Spanish champions Barcelona in the Champions League to boost their hopes of automatic qualification to the knockout stages.
Jules Kounde’s own goal saw Chelsea take the lead and Barcelona’s task got even steeper when captain Ronald Araujo was sent off for a second yellow card just before half time.
Estevao Willian continued his stunning rise with Chelsea’s second before summer signing Liam Delap added a third.
The victory sends Chelsea up to fifth in the Champions League group phase – the top-eight qualify automatically for the knockout stages – while last season’s semi-finalists Barca slip to 15th.
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Burley was impressed by Chelsea’s performance against Barcelona but says they will still need to ‘up their game’ to compete with Arsenal this weekend.
Chelsea welcome the Premier League leaders to Stamford Bridge on Sunday in a huge London derby hoping to cut Arsenal’s lead to just three points.
‘Believe it or not but a much better version of Chelsea will need to turn up,’ ex-Blues midfielder Burley told ESPN. ‘They will have to up their game from what we saw tonight to face Arsenal.
‘Arsenal are not going to play like Barcelona did tonight. In some sense that’s the acid test for Chelsea rather than the Barcelona game.
‘We’ve seen enough of Barca this season – it’s been there week in week out to see, the poorest teams in La Liga have all had chances against them.
‘So Chelsea beating them is not a surprise – it’s a great win but it’s not a surprise if you watch La Liga regularly.
‘If they do something similar to Arsenal then that’s a huge statement because Arsenal are clear favourites to go on and win this Premier League.
‘The statement for Chelsea has to be the weekend because Arsenal are a different ball game.’
Another former Chelsea player, Mario Melchiot, believes Enzo Maresca’s side are capable of ‘grabbing’ Arsenal, the short favourites to win the Premier League.
‘Chelsea had a really good game regardless of their one-man advantage,’ he said. ‘But you’ve got to do it again at the weekend, that’s the key thing.
‘That’s going to be a tough one. Do I think it’s possible? Yeah, they’re at home and they feel comfortable at home.
‘But Arsenal at the moment are really strong – we will see how they fare against Bayern Munich but I still route for Chelsea and think they can grab them because they’re in a very good mood at the moment.
Who do you think will win on Sunday?
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Arsenal
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Chelsea
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Draw
‘Enzo Maresca prepped really well for this game, when it comes to Arsenal and Arteta, they know each other very well.
‘The game against Arsenal is going to be tough but being at home, they’ve got to take that advantage because Arsenal will be coming to play.’
Pedro Neto’s 70th-minute equaliser earned Chelsea a 1-1 draw against Arsenal in this fixture last season after Gabriel Martinelli broke the deadlock.
Mikel Merino scored the only goal of the game as Arsenal clinched a narrow win over Chelsea in the reverse fixture.
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