The English Premier League schedule picks up on Monday and today's match is the best of the week, as Arsenal is hosting Chelsea and the result will likely change the top of the league table and the match start time is at 8:00 pm GMT and 3:00 pm ET and will be on the NBC Sports Network and Sky Sports and streaming online from the NBC live extra and is coming live from Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners were at the top of the table heading into the week and after Liverpool won, they reached the top of the standings for now and Arsenal has the chance to take the lead back before the holiday schedule picks up. The Monday match offers the Gunners and the Blues a chance to get back on track after a couple weeks of less than stellar results and this would be a nice boost heading into the New Year and the holiday schedule with Christmas and other big EPL matches coming up. Both teams have the Champions League to look forward to as well later in the year in February and on Monday both will get the chance to move up in the league standings.
Liverpool won over Cardiff this weekend after some nice play once again from Luis Suarez and that means that Arsenal needs a win to regain the lead on the Barclays table. Arsenal has been bumped down to third on the table with Manchester City at 35 points heading into the match on Monday, as the Reds now are in first by a point, while Chelsea was bumped down to fifth position after the win by Everton and they too would like to get back into the top part of the standings. Everton has a one point lead over the Blues and Chelsea can get into a share of the lead with Liverpool if they can get a victory on Monday and Jose Mourinho said that his team has been very well prepared and will be ready for the match and that even though the team beat the Gunners back in the FA Cup that this match is different since it is in the Premier League.
Both clubs have not been at their best lately and heading into the Boxing Day matches as well as New Year's, each would like a positive result on Monday. The Gunners come in after getting thrashed last weekend against Manchester City 6-3 and that came after another disappointing defeat in the Champions League by Napoli and even though the team advanced, they now have to play Bayern Munich in the knockout round.
The team also pulled a draw with Everton before that, so their last win in the Premier League was weeks ago against Hull City and now they have the chance to play against Chelsea before matches against West Ham, Newcastle and Cardiff City and the next two after Chelsea will be away from Emirates Stadium. Chelsea comes in after losing to Sunderland in the Capital One Cup and the Blues also just were able to get by Crystal Palace in their last EPL win, making this match one they need to win.
Click here for the fixture schedule from ESPN.com or more on the league table and standings.
