Chelsea VS Arsenal Match Prediction
2018-08-18
16:30:00
Chelsea
VS
Arsenal
Our Prediction Tip
Chelsea will win this match.
2018-08-1816:30:00 Chelsea will win this match.
In competitive fixtures, Arsenal are unbeaten in their last six matches against Chelsea and have won 76 times in this fixture compared to the Blues' 62, with 57 draws. Arsenal also beat Chelsea in Dublin less than three weeks ago in the International Champions Cup friendly tournament - triumphing on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
Four of last season's five matches between the two ended in draws, including the Community Shield - Arsenal winning the shoot-out after a 1-1 draw. In the league, they drew 0-0 and 2-2 while Arsenal progressed 2-1 on aggregate in the Carabao Cup semi-finals despite a goalless first leg at Stamford Bridge. In the second leg, the most recent competitive match between the two, Eden Hazard gave Chelsea the lead, but an Antonio Rudiger own goal and Granit Xhaka's strike sealed an Arsenal win.
Here are the results of their last five competitive matches:
Jan 24, 2018: Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea
Jan 10, 2018: Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal
Jan 03, 2018: Arsenal 2-2 Chelsea
Sep 17, 2017: Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal
Aug 06, 2017: Arsenal (p)1-1 Chelsea
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Chelsea looked far more impressive than Arsenal on the opening weekend, though they have now both lost 2-0 to in-form champions Manchester City this month - Chelsea in the Community Shield and Arsenal in the Premier League.
Chelsea will be boosted by Eden Hazard's return, however, and the immediate return to top form of N'Golo Kante after his World Cup success.
Arsenal, in reply, are short of options at left-back and still look to be settling on their strongest line-up with new signings to bed in for Unai Emery.
Emery got his tactics wrong last time out, playing into City's hands by trying to play it out and press high up the pitch, and he would be wise to adopt more caution against Chelsea.
But the Blues showed a ruthless streak in their 3-0 defeat of Huddersfield and are now pushing for a big early win against a rival to continue that - buoyed by the addition of Hazard and possibly Giroud to their line-up.
Jorginho and N'Golo Kante's partnership in the middle has already started successfully, while Pedro is in form on the wing.
It all bodes well for Maurizio Sarri ahead of his competitive home debut as Chelsea manager - and, despite Arsenal's good record in this fixture lately, it is hard to look beyond a win for the Blues.
Chelsea are odds-on favourites to earn a home win in Maurizo Sarri's first Premier League game at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues 4/5 with Bet365, Ladbrokes, Betfair, Betway and 10Bet.
They have kept clean sheets in their last two matches now - the win against Huddersfield and a goalless friendly draw with Lyon - and also kept Arsenal out in both games at Stamford Bridge last season. A Chelsea win to nil is 12/5 with Bet365 and Ladbrokes.
A Chelsea clean sheet is a best price of 15/8 with Ladbrokes on its own. Likewise, you can bet against BTTS at 13/10 with Betfair.
Eden Hazard is going to be key on his return to the starting line-up and is 9/5 to score at any time with Betway. Pedro scored against Huddersfield, meanwhile, and was in good goalscoring form in pre-season - he can backed at 3/1 with 888sport.
Chelsea impressed on the opening day while Arsenal did not, albeit against a very different calibre of opponent. Nevertheless, the Blues are favourites for this one and can certainly claim all three points.
Eden Hazard is set to return to the starting line-up to face Arsenal – his first start since the World Cup – and Mateo Kovacic could make his Chelsea debut having signed on loan from Real Madrid following Croatia’s World Cup runners-up spot. N’Golo Kante – a World Cup winner with France – returned to the starting line-up faster than expected to start, and star, against Huddersfield last week. Fellow World Cup winner Olivier Giroud was an unused sub in that game, and is reportedly the subject of interest from Marseille, but with Alvaro Morata out of form he could still start against his former club.
Eden Hazard – One of the stars of Belgium’s run to the World Cup semi-finals, keeping hold of their playmaker could be better than any new signing for Maurizio Sarri
Pedro – Continued his goalscoring form by netting against Huddersfield, having also scored twice in pre-season.
Kepa Arrizabalaga – The world’s most expensive goalkeeper is likely to face a much bigger test of his shot-stopping ability than Huddersfield posed on the opening weekend.
After winning just once in pre-season – their opening game against Perth Glory – Chelsea got back to winning ways on the first day of the Premier League season. After losing the Community Shield to Manchester City, 2-0, after being outplayed at Wembley, N’Golo Kante, new signing Jorginho (from the penalty spot) and Pedro all scored in a 3-0 defeat of Huddersfield Town last time out.
Arsenal are short of options at left-back, with Ainsley Maitland-Niles forced off with a knee injury against Manchester City and Sead Kolasinac on the long-term injury list with a knee problem. Nacho Monreal is back in training after his own injury problems, but his lack of match fitness is likely to mean Stephan Lichsteiner makes his full Arsenal debut at left-back. Petr Cech was preferred to Bernd Leno last time out, but the former Chelsea man struggled with his distribution and nearly scored a disastrous own goal – the German could replace him. Another new signing, Lucas Torreira, is also pushing for a first start after appearing from the bench against City. Club captain Laurent Koscielny is out until the new year, meanwhile.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – The Gabonese striker knows where the back of the net is after ten goals in 13 games last season since arriving from Borussia Dortmund.
Mesut Ozil – After a fairly anonymous first game of the season against Manchester City, he will be keen to make an impact at Stamford Bridge.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – Showed little flashes of his best form against City last time out but Arsenal need it far more consistently now.
Arsenal enjoyed some big wins in pre-season, including a 5-1 thrashing of a young PSG side in Singapore and their penalty shoot-out defeat of Chelsea after Alexandre Lacazette’s stoppage-time equaliser in a 1-1 draw. They lost their first Premier League game under Unai Emery, however, as defending champions Manchester City won 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium.
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