There is not always a standout one-v-one battle to look forward to before matches, but Chelsea versus Arsenal has had one brewing for a few years now.
Whenever these sides meet, the individual skirmishes between Marc Cucurella and Bukayo Saka always seem to play a part.
November’s 1-1 Premier League draw at Stamford Bridge was dominated by their duels, and that has been the case since their first meeting as Chelsea and Arsenal players that same month in 2022. Cucurella had previously faced Saka and Arsenal while a Brighton & Hove Albion player in the 2021-22 season, but that afternoon, all it took was two and a half minutes to reintroduce himself, cynically stepping across the England winger after the ball had passed by.
A similar challenge (below) was deemed fair later in the first half. Saka, shocked by this decision, retaliated by deliberately fouling Cucurella and was booked.
It was a spark for what has come in the intervening years, but that afternoon, Cucurella bettered Saka in some instances and vice versa. The Spain international made sure to be front-footed whenever he engaged Saka, whereas the winger left west London with a match-winning assist for Gabriel from a corner.
The pair have faced each other five times since, and including that match at Stamford Bridge. Cucurella has committed 13 fouls (11 of them on Saka), while Saka has assisted four of Arsenal’s 10 goals in those five meetings.
Saka has found success, but Cucurella does not make life easy for him, which is what sport is about — two competitors trying to get the edge and rising to a challenge. With this pair in particular, the momentum is constantly ebbing and flowing.
“I try not to give space,” Cucurella told Sky Sports when asked what he needs to do well when facing Saka after a 2-2 draw between the sides in November 2024. “I try to always be close to him. We know he’s a special talent, so I try to help my team.”
Take a look at any match between Chelsea and Arsenal, and that touch-tight approach is noticeable when Mikel Arteta’s side move the ball to their right wing.
When done correctly, defenders set the tone well, but it is a balancing act. When those challenges are mistimed early on, the attacker takes the upper hand, which was the case in that 1-1 draw a couple of months back.
Their competitive feud reignited within 30 seconds of kick-off as Cucurella gave Saka a nudge which caused him to miscontrol a throw-in. Arsenal’s No 7 was shown chuckling to himself, and two minutes later, he was on the receiving end of Cucurella’s first foul of the game. The left-back was then booked after 11 minutes for going through the back of Saka on the halfway line.
From then on, the England international was in control of their individual duels.
He often baited Cucurella to follow him one way then dashed off in the other, before putting the defender on the back foot to work a crossing angle for Arsenal’s equaliser (see below).
Similarly, his other two assists when facing Cucurella have come after the Spaniard had been booked. Both were in the 2023-24 season and can be seen below.
For the first, a late Leandro Trossard equaliser, Cucurella was immediately looking to contain as Saka dropped a shoulder to cross from just outside the box.
For the second, Saka drove Cucurella back into his box again, threw a couple of step-overs at him, then simply laid the ball square for Kai Havertz to make it 4-0.
That type of response to on-pitch pressure has been a necessary part of Saka’s growth as a wide threat.
He has regularly been double/triple-marked since he was 20 years old in the 2021-22 season, which has taken a toll. Since the start of 2019-20, he ranks seventh for fouls won (359) in the Premier League and fourth for fouls won in the final third (111).
When asked in 2023 about the increasing number of kicks the England international was taking, Arteta said: “If you ask him how it used to be when he was aged 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 — it isn’t very different. Wingers and talented players get kicked and fouled and (also) get the demand to win games, and that is the chance he has.
“He needs to learn when to take certain balls, what to do with that ball, how to use his body, when to jump (to avoid impact injuries). There are a lot of things we can train (him in), but it is very difficult to understand what the opponent is going to do.”
Saka’s use of his body has since become a staple of his game.
Fulham left-back Antonee Robinson told The Athletic in 2024 that the Arsenal wide man is “one of the strongest players, pound for pound, that I’ve played against”. It’s easy to see why he may think that when Saka gets between man and ball before rolling away from pressure, like below.
Reflecting on his quote from 2023 about Saka dealing with kicks from opposition players, Arteta said: “Every position brings challenges. The opposition learns from you as well, and they try to stop you in the most efficient way. You need to have solutions against each opponent to be efficient and beat him.
“The impact that he has consistently is remarkable. It’s very difficult to see a player in his position constantly doing what he’s doing. It’s a credit to the team as well and the players around him to support that.”
As Arteta alluded to, Arsenal’s benefit is that their attack does not just depend on the outcome of Saka versus Cucurella duels. Saka did not assist Arsenal’s goal in the 1-1 draw of November 2024, but Martin Odegaard managed to by playing a cross from a similar area to the one where Saka assisted Trossard in the encounter 12 months earlier.
The number of threats Arsenal carry besides Saka was even more pronounced in April 2024. While Saka left that match with an assist for Havertz, solely watching his encounters with Cucurella may suggest the game was tighter than the 5-0 victory Arsenal eventually secured.
A key battle when @Arsenal took on @ChelseaFC 😤
Will rivalries be renewed between Bukayo Saka and Marc Cucurella in the #Euro2024 final? 🏴🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/1Y4UNW41R1
— Premier League (@premierleague) July 13, 2024
With Cucurella back from suspension after getting sent off in last week’s 2-1 Premier League loss to Fulham and Saka rested for Sunday’s 4-1 FA Cup win against Portsmouth of the Championship, both should be in line to lock horns again in west London this evening (Wednesday). Now at the semi-final stage of the Carabao Cup, it’s an opportunity for both men (and their teams) to lay down a marker.
Cucurella said to Sky Sports about facing Saka: “We’ve played each other a lot of times. I think it’s big respect. I try to do my work, he tries to do his, so it’s a good battle and hopefully we can do more.”
There are likely to be moments this evening and in the second leg next month where one seems to have the better of the other, but if previous meetings show anything, that momentum can swing quickly. Three weeks passing between the two matches may take some of the tension away, but this should be the battle to look out for, both at Stamford Bridge and the Emirates Stadium.
