Chelsea vs Arsenal | Premier League – Matchweek 2 of 38 Betting Preview and Tips
Chelsea vs Arsenal – Sat 18th August, 17:30, Stamford Bridge, Ref: Martin Atkinson
How we have missed London derbies. Fulham vs Crystal Palace kicked it off (kind of but not really) but, Chelsea vs Arsenal is easily the biggest so far. It’s certainly a tough ask for Emery in his first two games as manager of Arsenal. City at home then Chelsea away. It doesn’t get much harder than that.
In fact, Arsenal will be keen to avoid starting the season with two defeats for the first time since 1992. In their defence, it is probably their two hardest games to start a season for quite some time.
These two teams have a finely balanced head to head record with around 50% win rate each. They have met a total of 52 times in the Prem with Arsenal having the better of the first 26 games with a 54% win rate. Then, along comes, Abramovic with his Russian billions and Chelsea now have the 54% win rate in their last 26 meetings.
Chelsea were far from convincing in pre-season, scoring just three goals in four games. Then, their pretty dreadful game against Man City in the Community Shield. However, it was a lot more positive against Huddersfield away in the first game of the Premier League. The Terriers are not the best of teams, but they are usually hard to break down.
It took just 34 minutes for Kante to get on the score sheet. Followed by a Jorginho penalty, before Pedro finally sealed the three points late on with their third goal. All in all, it was a solid performance from Chelsea, despite not having Hazard. But, he will be back and fit for this Saturday.
Arsenal had a tougher opening game against a rampant Man City. They barely created any chances and spent long periods of the match on the back foot. It is hard to judge a team against City though. They have made so many teams look below average (apart from Liverpool) with their dynamic, high-pressure style of football.
Betting Tips
We like the odds on a Chelsea win. The Gunners have a pretty awful away record with just four wins in 19 away games, whilst losing 11 last season. They haven’t exactly inspired with their new signings either. Combine that with Arsenal dreadful record against the “top six” teams, and it’s not a pretty sight for Arsenal fans.
Under Conte, Chelsea were a fairly dull team to watch, especially when compared to Liverpool and Man City. Not as boring as Man United, but a close second… However, Sarri is not that type of manager. His Napoli side was one of the highest scorers in all of the leagues around the world. As well as being very strong at home. Sarri only lost four games in 57 home matches with Napoli, winning 43 and drawing 10.
Arsenal will be starting with Lichstenier (or potentially fit Monreal) at LB with Kolasinac and Maitland-Niles all being injured. Can a 34-year-old really compete with the pace of Hazard, Willian and Pedro? Also, the partnership of Mustafi and Sokratis looked pretty weak and full of mistakes against City. This game could be very difficult for Arsenal and we expect a fairly comfortable victory for Chelsea.
Chelsea’s 4-3-3 with Hazard back will prove far too much for Arsenal’s weak looking defence to handle. We can see Chelsea winning by 2 or more goals and are backing them for -2 Asian handicap at 24/5 with Unibet.
We also like the look of an Eden Hazard anytime goalscorer at 9/5 with Betway.
Steven is the product manager on BettingLounge and is an experienced iGaming writer who has been working in the industry since 2018.
