Arsenal had a better chance than they’d had in years to win the Premier League last season as Manchester City, Chelsea, and Manchester United all fell out of form. However, they couldn’t stop the charge of Leicester and only pipped Spurs to the runners up spot due to a late collapse in form from their rivals.
This season didn’t look like it would go any better as they fell to a thrilling 4-3 defeat at home to Liverpool in their opening game of the season. However, they have managed to recover from that very early setback.
Arsenal followed their opening day defeat with a goalless draw at Premier League champions Leicester but then managed wins against Watford and Southampton. Their Champions League opener saw them battle to a 1-1 draw at the Parc des Princes against PSG, and a convincing 4-1 thrashing of Hull followed in the Premier League. They maintained their unbeaten streak with a 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the midweek League Cup clashes, with new boy Lucas Perez getting his first goal for the Gunners.
However, now a bigger challenge awaits as they play host to Chelsea. The dethroned 2014/15 Premier League champions endured a torrid time of things last season, but Antonio Conte looked to have turned things around at Stamford Bridge. They won their opening four matches of the season.
They required a late equaliser to rescue a point at Swansea a couple of weekends ago though, and last weekend their unbeaten start to the campaign ended courtesy of two first half Liverpool goals at Stamford Bridge. A second half goal from Diego Costa ended up as a consolation as they lost 2-1.
Midweek saw Chelsea in action in the League Cup as well, with them travelling to Leicester and going two goals down in the first half. However, a late first half goal from Gary Cahill sent them into the break on the front foot, and they came out to score an equaliser through Cesar Azpilicueta. The game was then taken to extra time, and Cesc Fabregas netted two goals early on to win the visitors the match.
Neither of these two teams have been shy in front of goal this season. Arsenal have netted 12 in their five games so far and Chelsea have ten to their name. As a result, we’ve seen five of Arsenal’s six domestic games have at least three goals scored in them, with all but one of their Premier League outings also ending with both teams on the scoresheet.
Chelsea have seen three or more goals in all of their seven games so far this season, and both teams have found the net in all but one of them. This makes odds of 1/1 for Over 2.5 Goals and Both Teams to Score look like a good value bet, so I’m going for that along with a 2-2 correct score prediction at 12/1.
Head-to-head Arsenal FC vs Chelsea FC
Arsenal have failed to score against Chelsea in their last six Premier League fixtures and haven’t breached the west Londoner’s defence in a league encounter since Theo Walcott’s goal in a 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge back in January 2013.
What is the plural for a group of snakes? It’s hard to believe it’s nearly six years since an Arsenal team containing the likes of Fabregas, Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy and Alex Song tore Chelsea to pieces and firmly established themselves as contenders to win the Premier League title.
Ultimately, Arsenal lacked the bottle to see the job through and crashed out of three competitions in the space of a week, while Chelsea sacked Carlo Ancelotti for having the temerity to finish second a year after he wont he double.
Arsenal FC vs Chelsea FC Prediction
Chelsea are leaking goals, while Arsenal are banging them in for fun so it’s all set up for a classic Fabregas inspired smash and grab raid that’s destined to leave the Gunners way off the title pace already.
The last 5 matches of Arsenal FC
17.09.2016 Hull City - Arsenal FC 1:4 W
10.09.2016 Arsenal FC - Southampton FC 2:1 W
27.08.2016 Watford - Arsenal FC 1:3 W
20.08.2016 Leicester City - Arsenal FC 0:0 D
14.08.2016 Arsenal FC - Liverpool FC 3:4 L
The last 5 matches of Chelsea FC
16.09.2016 Chelsea FC - Liverpool FC 1:2 L
11.09.2016 Swansea City - Chelsea FC 2:2 D
27.08.2016 Chelsea FC - Burnley 3:0 W
20.08.2016 Watford - Chelsea FC 1:2 W
15.08.2016 Chelsea FC - West Ham United 2:1 W
Tag :
English Premier League
