Arsenal vs Chelsea
Premier League title hopefuls Chelsea head to the Emirates on Sunday aiming to plunder three more points to add to their opening day win, while Arsenal will be desperate to shake off the memory of their season opener nightmare against Brentford.
Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea are brimming with confidence and he might have a new addition to the starting line-up, while his opposite number Mikel Arteta already has problems in the new campaign.
Talking Points
Arsenal in opening day disarray
Of all the Premier League 2021 results from the first round of games, Arsenal had the most embarrassing, losing to newcomers and Championship play-off winners Brentford. While the Gunners had plenty of possession, they did very little with it and had no answer to the Bees’ collective will and positive approach. The manner of defeat will have been deeply worrying to Arteta. The Gunners need to get inspiration from somewhere and the boss seems doubtful he can find it within his current collection of stars, so he has recruited experienced scout Tony Lima, in an attempt to sign former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona, where the attacking midfielder appears to have been frozen out by head coach Ronald Koeman.
Arteta was also impressed by Norway international Martin Odegaard during his loan spell at the club last season, and he is keen to resign the midfield man from Real Madrid on a permanent deal. He hopes to land his man before the 31st August deadline to boost his creative line-up. There have been whispers that the club might be willing to offload 32-year-old skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, to shift a chunky wage and assist in rebuilding at the club, which will take more than one window.
But the club needs some results on the pitch now, and Arteta is not helped by his injury list. Defender Gabriel, midfield and Thomas Partey and young striker Eddie Nketiah are all out, to add to the manager’s woes.
Lukaku expected to feature
In stark contrast Chelsea are in the best shape they have been for a while. At 4.50 to win the league, Chelsea are now second favourites, according to the latest Premier League 2021 betting odds here at SBOTOP, and the way they dispatched Crystal Palace last week in a 3-0 win the Blues look to be Manchester City’s biggest rivals.
The recruitment of Romelu Lukaku is a real statement of intent and he could be the final piece in Tuchel’s jigsaw. His team are already European Champions and Lukaku’s goals could bring domestic glory. He rejoined the club for a fee of £97.5m, having left in 2014 when he failed to score in 15 appearances. Since then, at Everton and then Inter Milan, he has been prolific as well as scoring for fun for Belgium. Last year his 24 league goals fired Inter to a first Scudetto in 11 years and a similar return could do the same for Chelsea in the Premier League.
History
At one point, quite recently, Arsenal were the best side in the country, possibly even in Europe as the Invincibles won the club’s 13th top flight title, in 2004. But despite being top four mainstays for the remainder of Arsene Wenger’s extraordinary tenure as head coach, success since then has been limited to cup competitions, notably with four FA Cup wins in the last eight seasons.
Chelsea’s Premier League triumph in 2005 was their first top flight title in 50 years but it signalled the start of a period of Blues’ dominance following the club’s takeover by Roman Abramovich. Chelsea now have six top flight league titles, the last in 2017, and this side looks to be the best equipped to top the league since then.
As two of the Premier League mainstays, these two London giants have met 75 times since 1993, and there have been some almighty battles, with the Gunners edging it by 29 victories to 26 while there have been 20 draws.
Arsenal have won the last four competitive meetings, including a league double last term, 1-0 at Stamford Bridge last May and 3-1 at the Emirates earlier in the season, a result which ended a seven-game winless run under Arteta.
But recent form favours the Blues who are unbeaten in six games, including a friendly 2-1 win over Mikel Arteta’s side, while that game sparked a run of three consecutive losses for Arsenal, who are without a win in five.
Betting Tip
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Arsenal vs Chelsea | Chelsea Asian Handicap -0.75 @ 2.06 |
| August 22, 23:30 (GMT+8) |
Neither an Arsenal win at odds of 4.30, nor a draw at 3.55 fills me with much confidence, and not even the double chance, Arsenal or Draw, can tempt me to have faith in the Gunners.
For a score-line, 2-0 to the Blues at 7.60 looks pretty near to the mark for me but, if you’re not convinced that Tuchel’s men will come through then 2-3 goals at 1.89 might be the alternative for you.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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|---|---|---|---|
| = €20 (Highly confident) |
 = €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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