New Telegraph

Lukaku effect ignites London derby

…as Arsenal, Chelsea clash in crunch tie

Romelu Lukaku is a returnee at the Stamford Bridge. He was a former Chelsea player. He later featured for Manchester United before moving over to Italy to play for Inter Milan. Lukaku only made 10 Premier League appearances in his first spell at Chelsea, failing to score a goal, but did manage to hit 17 in 35 outings on loan at West Brom before joining Everton in 2014.

The former Inter star scored 68 goals in 141 outings for the Toffees, attracting interest from Manchester United in the process, and he eventually moved to Old Trafford for £74 million in the summer of 2017. Lukaku played in 66 Premier League games for the Red Devils, and found the net on 28 occasions before being shipped off to Inter. Lukaku went on to reveal that he has been in contact with former Chelsea team-mate Didier Drogba, who has urged him to keep striving for improvement after his impressive two-year spell in Serie A with Inter. “He was really happy about the improvements I made in the last couple of seasons,” the striker said of his conversations with the Blues legend. “But he says there is always more work to be done, it’s all about improvem e n t w e e k i n , week out. “Now I get the chance to join a team that’s very hungry and very ambitious.

It’s good to be back. You are fighting to achieve your dreams. I’m here now and I can’t wait to be on the field. It’s time to get down to business and let my performance do the talking.” The Belgian has declared himself ready for a start in this crunch encounter. Interestingly, Arsenal skipper, Pierre-Emerick Aubumeyang and Wllian are expected to make a return for the Gunners after a sloppy start of the season in which they lost 2-0 to Bretford last week.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have provided an update on the team ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash a g a i n s t Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners started their league campaign with a poor show- ing at newly-promoted Brentford, succumbing to a 2-0 defeat. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette were ruled out in the lead up to the game, with reports saying that they were ‘unwell’.

The north London club have now disclosed that the duo tested positive for coronavirus alongside Willian and Alex Runarsson. Lacazette and Runarsson are still recovering from COVID-19 and have been ruled out of the London derby this weekend.

However, Aubameyang and Willian have tested negative for the virus but will be assessed in training ahead of the encounte.r Meanwhile, Gabriel Magalhaes, Thomas Partey and Eddie Nketiah remain sidelined as they recover from their respective injuries. Gabriel sustained a knee injury in training with Brazil ahead of the Olympics. He is anticipated to return to training this month. Partey is out with an ankle ligament injury. The setback is only a minor one, and he could also return to the training pitch by next week. The Gunners were missing key players against the Bees, but their defensive display was far from acceptable as they were nearly at full strength. Mikel Arteta will be expecting a response from his side against the Blues, who will be full of confidence after a convincing 3-0 win over Crystal Palace. The European champions appear favourites to beat the Gunners with momentum on their side and could hand Lukaku his second debut. However, the London derby does not get decided on paper. The Gunners did the double over the Blues last term with a 3-1 win on their home turf. The Blues have won just one of their previous five meetings across all competitions.

Read Previous

Nigerian nurses, midwives honour Kanu

Read Next

Without Messi, Ronaldo, EPL trio on the cards for Europe’s top award

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *