Arsenal are at risk of suffering their worst run of Premier League away form since the pre-Arsene Wenger era if they fall to defeat in Sunday's London derby with Chelsea.
Mikel Arteta's men have plenty of wrongs to right at Stamford Bridge this weekend, having only taken one point from their last three Premier League games to drop out of the top four of the table.
In that time, the Gunners have only managed to score two goals - both of which came in the 2-2 home draw with Liverpool in October - as they have succumbed to defeat away to Bournemouth and Newcastle United without scoring.
William Saliba's early red card proved fatal in a 2-0 loss to the Cherries in October, before the Magpies ran out 1-0 winners on November 2, as Arsenal failed to respond to Alexander Isak's header from a brilliant Anthony Gordon delivery.
Should Arsenal go down to Enzo Maresca's men without finding the back of the net on Sunday, it will mark the first time since August 1994 that they have lost three Premier League games away from home on the spin without scoring.
Arteta could suffer fate Wenger never did at Arsenal
© Imago
At the end of the 1993-94 season, Arsenal's last away game ended in a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle, before they began the 1994-95 campaign with a 1-0 loss at Leeds United and a 3-0 reverse to Liverpool.
All throughout Wenger's 22-year reign, the Frenchman never oversaw three straight Premier League losses on the road without his side scoring in any of them, but Arsenal also failed to fire on the road in Wednesday's 1-0 Champions League loss to Inter Milan.
However, Arteta received a huge boost towards the end of that San Siro defeat with the return of Martin Odegaard from an ankle injury; his skipper was able to play a couple of minutes of second-half injury time.
Arteta hinted in Friday's pre-game press conference that he would be prepared to throw Odegaard back into the starting lineup at Stamford Bridge, but Declan Rice is yet to train as he manages a broken toe.
Mikel Merino and Kai Havertz are also touch-and-go for the meeting with Maresca's men, but Arsenal have traditionally flexed their muscles in London derbies and have also had Chelsea's number in recent times.
The statistics behind Arsenal's terrific London derby streak
© Imago
The Gunners have played six Premier League London derbies in 2024, and they have won all six of them, scoring a staggering 22 goals while only letting in three at the other end of the field.
Furthermore, three of those six capital victories saw Arteta's men score at least five goals, including April's 5-0 destruction of a Mauricio Pochettino-led Chelsea at the Emirates.
That North London mauling saw Arsenal stretch their unbeaten run against Chelsea to five Premier League games, last losing to the Blues in the top flight in the second week of the 2021-22 season.
It has also been over six years since Chelsea last beat Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, edging out Unai Emery's Gunners 3-2 in August 2018 thanks to a late winner from Marcos Alonso.
As Arsenal sweat over the fitness of Rice, Havertz and Merino, Chelsea coach Maresca has delivered an update on the condition of Cole Palmer ahead of Sunday's mouthwatering derby.
Ben Knapton
