Enzo Maresca can benefit from dream Chelsea scenario for first time this season in Arsenal clash

Enzo Maresca has a rare commodity available to him on Sunday afternoon as his Chelsea side go to the Emirates Stadium to battle Arsenal in the Premier League.

The Blues head coach has seen a few of his key players return in recent weeks. One of those is Wesley Fofana, who sat out of Chelsea's win against Copenhagen on Thursday evening, and he could make his second successive start in the Premier League. Last time out against his former club Leicester City, Fofana was used as a right-back because of an injury to Malo Gusto and Reece James also being absent through illness.

However, we could see something different at the Gunners this weekend. It could be the first time Maresca fields - what many people view as - his first-choice back four. James at right-back, Fofana next to him, with Levi Colwill and Marc Cucurella on the left-hand side. The four haven't started together this season but have been on the pitch for 65 minutes together.

Chelsea have conceded 36 goals over the course of 28 Premier League matches this season. Only Arsenal (24), Liverpool (27), Nottingham Forest (33) and Crystal Palace (33) have let in fewer goals than the Blues. You cannot help but feel, however, that if Maresca had these four players available to him for more of the campaign, then the 'goals against' column would look a lot better from a Blues perspective.

Behind the back four, whoever it consists of, will be Robert Sanchez. The Spanish goalkeeper will keep his place between the posts after keeping a clean sheet against Leicester last weekend. Filip Jorgensen had briefly taken over as the club's No.1 shot-stopper but Maresca has revealed the reason he dropped Sanchez was to take him out of the spotlight and allow him to mentally recover.

Speaking to reporters after Chelsea's Conference League win against Copenhagen on Thursday, where Jorgensen kept a clean sheet for the Blues, the head coach said: "It will be Robert playing against Arsenal. Since we started, the idea was not to change goalkeepers, but sometimes you have to modify, you have to be flexible in your ideas.

"We do this in the game plan, with the way we want to attack, the way we want to defend, but also we need to be flexible on players. I thought Robert needed some days off, to rest his head, mentally. Now he is back and hopefully we are not going to change until the end. I said many times, we are quite happy with both goalkeepers."

It is a brilliant chance for Chelsea to not only go within three points of Arsenal with a victory on Sunday, but also make a statement to the rest of the Premier League. Under Maresca this season, the Blues are yet to beat any side in the current top five. Maresca likes his players to keep possession and try to gain control in every game but the Italian has acknowledged that will be difficult to do at the Emirates Stadium this weekend.

"The intention will be that [to control the game]," he explained. "If we are or not, it will depend a lot on the opponent. If we plan the game to sit back and wait, for sure our strikers, wingers, they are going to do 20 sprints for 60, 70 metres.

"But when you play most of your game in the opposite side, there is no space to do that kind of sprint. So, Arsenal, our plan is to control the game, but also it's a team that they're going to try to press high and they're going to try to be aggressive and probably we will have more space for attacking in behind."