Arsenal v Chelsea – Preview, Predictions and Best Bets

Arsenal host Chelsea in the English Premier League at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday evening. Mikel Arteta’s side did the double over their London rivals last season with a 3-1 home win and 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal were soundly beaten by Brentford in their opening fixture whilst Chelsea cruised past Crystal Palace 3-0 despite Romelu Lukaku not being available.  

Arsenal Form

After a poor start to last season, Arsenal accrued more points than 18 other teams in the Premier League in the final 23 rounds of action, behind only Man City. Arteta’s side won their final five league matches last season including beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in-between beating four teams in the bottom eight.

Despite optimism going into this season, Arsenal lost their opener 2-0 to Brentford. The Gunners had trouble with their opponents’ direct, high tempo style and were deserved losers on the day.

Arsenal Team News

Arsenal are still without Gabriel in central defence and Thomas Partey in midfield for this match. That should mean another start for Pablo Mari alongside Ben White whilst Albert Sambi Lokonga will start again in midfield.

Up front, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are both still doubtful due to illness and Eddie Nketiah is out. Bukayo Saka will start after a substitute outing against Brentford. Either Gabriel Martinelli or Folarin Balogun will lead the frontline unless a false nine is used with an extra midfielder or defender coming in to solidify the backline.

Arsenal Motivation

Arsenal often seem to get results against Chelsea against the odds including doing the double over the Blues last season. They will really be up for this match and can play more reactively than usual, sitting deep and playing on the break plus setting up specific pressing traps.

Arteta will play to nick a win in this match but would probably be pretty happy with a draw especially after an opening day defeat and a match against Man City after this one.

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Chelsea Form

Having had a dip prior to the UEFA Champions League final last season – losing 1-0 to Leicester, 1-0 to Arsenal and 2-1 to Aston Villa – Chelsea then went on to lift the cup with the big ears after a 1-0 win against Man City in Porto.

Chelsea started this season with a win on penalties in the Super Cup against Villarreal after a 1-1 draw before cruising past Crystal Palace with a 3-0 win. Marcos Alonso, Christian Pulisic and Trevor Chalobah were on target.

Chelsea Team News

Thomas Tuchel has Romelu Lukaku at his disposal and will be tempted to start his big money striker right away. Timo Werner is most at threat of losing his place having performed poorly against Crystal Palace.

N’Golo Kante should be fit enough to feature after an ankle injury but he may have to make do with a substitute role. Trevor Chalobah is pushing hard to start once again in the back three in preference to Kurt Zouma and Thiago Silva. Marcos Alonso will keep his place at left wingback.

Chelsea Motivation

With Lukaku available, Chelsea will be very eager to take all three points from this match. The two defeats to Arsenal last season will sting and the Gunners also beat the Blues in the 2019 FA Cup final. Motivation to win at the Emirates will be very high.

Chelsea will look to control the match and keep a clean sheet firstly, but won’t play for a draw.

Key Stats

Arsenal have lost 3 of their last 7 home PL matches

Arsenal’s last 3 home defeats have come to zero

Arsenal have seen under 2.5 goals in 3 of their last 4 home PL matches

Chelsea have kept 19 clean sheets in their last 30 matches

Chelsea have seen under 2.5 goals in 22 of their last 26 matches in all competitions

Chelsea have lost 1 of their last 9 away PL matches (W6, D2)

Romelu Lukaku scored 28 goals last season for Inter Milan

Prediction

Arsenal were very poor in their opening match and Chelsea were excellent. However, Arsenal have found a way to beat Chelsea in recent seasons due to wasteful finishing from the Blues. Lukaku should solve that problem. A Chelsea win to nil looks like the best value bet for this match.