Arsenal saw off Wolves 2-0 on Saturday to breathe new life into title ambitions that had been undermined by a loss to Aston Villa a week prior, as well as going a long way to regathering morale after being dumped out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich a few days after the Villa defeat.
Referencing his side's European exit, Mikel Arteta told Sky Sports after the Molineux victory: "When a competition touches your ego and questions who you are as a team, the best way to respond is on the pitch.
"Now is the time to prove who we are as a team," he continued. "We have to live these weeks and deal with the outcome. If you want to live at the top the only way is down so I'm really pleased with how the players responded today."
Arteta then said in Monday's press conference that the win had energised his team so much that he had to ask them to ease off in training.
"When I saw them this morning I had to stop them because winning is a big boost of energy and after their performance against Wolves, winning and having to play a London derby tomorrow, everybody is ready for it," he said.
All indicators are that Arsenal are brimming with confidence and should have too much for a side eight places - and 27 points - below them in the Premier League table.
FA Cup scars and key players missing
On the day Arsenal beat Wolves, Chelsea endured a semi-final defeat by Manchester City in the FA Cup at Wembley. It was a game in which Chelsea, not for the first time in a Cup knockout game this season, were left to rue a spate of missed opportunities that would have helped them win the game and bury the inevitable questions about the mental strength of their young squad.
"Today we competed well. I cannot say we were the better side because that is difficult to measure. The most important thing is we competed," Mauricio Pochettino told reporters after the Wembley loss.
"We need to take positives from the game. This group needs these types of moments from games to improve."
Another concern for Chelsea is the form and availability of some of their key players. Enzo Fernandez, for one, is not playing at his best. The Argentine underperformed against City over the weekend and was similarly ineffective when Chelsea drew 2-2 with Sheffield United at Bramall Lane earlier this month.
The game which was bookended by those two fixtures was a 6-0 thrashing of Everton – the only game of the three in which Fernandez did not feature. There will certainly be question marks over whether Pochettino needs to rest the misfiring 23-year-old out for such a big game.
There is also the concern that Cole Palmer could miss the game after Chelsea announced the youngster had missed training.
"We will see tomorrow morning. Today, I don't believe he can be involved," Pochettino said on Monday.
"Even if he is good tomorrow, maybe he is not in a condition to play. We hope he can recover from this situation and be involved with the team."
However, the Argentine refused to go so far as to say the team would struggle without their young superstar, who is the Premier League's current top scorer along with Erling Haaland.
"He is an important part of the team and is doing fantastic for us, but we are Chelsea and we have plenty of players that can perform and do the job," Pochettino said.
Regardless of how much Pochettino would like to play it down, the side's top scorer not being there to score goals as well as organise the team for this match would be a huge loss.
Another two names of concern are Ben Chilwell and Malo Gusto, with Chelsea listing both as "undergoing medical assessment" this week. With Reece James still out injured, it means Chelsea could be without the services of a recognised right-back for their fixture against the team that has scored the most Premier League goals this season.
Given all the disruption of the injuries and emotional baggage from Wembley, surely Chelsea are there for the taking on Tuesday night?
And yet...
But there is a reason there was so much celebration from the Arsenal players when they beat Wolves. Prior to that their entire season had appeared to be unravelling on the back of three games in 11 days; fixtures they felt they should have won, and fixtures in which they leaked five goals - four at home - and scored only twice in response.
And though Chelsea may have their scars from failing to capitalise in various cups, Arsenal have scars of their own from being in this position in the Premier League in previous seasons and falling away when it mattered most.
Chelsea’s departure from their last distraction of the season might also mean that they are able to throw their full force behind climbing up the Premier League table. The Blues are only three points behind Newcastle in sixth place and have played one game fewer than their rivals.
"We have to really focus and get the boys together because we've got another seven finals ahead of us to make things right,” defender Trevoh Chalobah said after the City game.
"We want to show up for the fans and get the club where it should be up the table."
Pochettino’s side also haven’t lost in the league since being beaten by Wolves on February 4th; a run that saw them stutter to draws with Sheffield United and Burnley while also thrashing Everton; coming from behind in a thriller with Manchester United and getting a point at the Etihad - something only a handful of teams have managed this term.
That is what makes this Chelsea team so hard to pin down. They are every bit the team that can score two goals in stoppage time to stun United, and also every bit the team that can throw away a two-goal lead late on as they did in the reverse fixture against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in October.
A wounded Chelsea team is exactly the prospect Arsenal would want, but an unpredictable team of any variety is precisely what they don’t want. After all, Chelsea have all manner of results to take out of Tuesday’s game that would still make them happy.
Even a loss, in a game in which their players play outstandingly well, would still be some cause for Pochettino to smile - his words after the City loss would suggest that.
"Now is a time to finish the season in the best way and then talk about how we can be better," he said on Saturday.
Whereas Arsenal can’t be unpredictable. They can’t look for positives out of any other result than a win and three more points. Chelsea can be good, but Arsenal need to be near perfect, and that fact is not lost on them.
Arteta said on Monday: "We've been like this for nine months, nine-and-a-half months, and we want really to give it a real go and be really determined to do what is in our hands to try to lift that trophy and tomorrow we are going to have a very tough opponent in front of us.”
This Chelsea team and all of its inconsistency is precisely what makes them "a very tough opponent”, and it is why the Arsenal fans will be nervous come kick-off under the lights of the Emirates on Tuesday night.
