Arsenal V Chelsea Betting – Sunday 29th November

Arsenal V Chelsea

Kick-off: Sunday 29th November – 16:00 GMT

Venue: The Emirates

Arsenal

League Position: 3rd

Recent Form: WDWWL 

Arsenal appeared to be in cruise control until they met Sunderland over the weekend. After previously winning six of their last seven games in the league, Sunderland abruptly ended their decent run of results with a stunning 1-0 victory. Now it’s a time for the Arsenal players to show their fighting spirit and some bounce back ability as their first defeat of the season took them head first into another, straight off the back of it. Will the Gunners make it back-to-back defeats for the second time this season or will they make an immediate return to form with a hard fought win over the current league leaders?

We’re inclined to think the former as Arsenal were pretty poor at the weekend. In the absence of Robin Van Persie, Eduardo keenly stepped up but did next to nothing to cover over the void left by the Dutch play-maker. Van Persie’s off the ball movement and trickery on the ball, in combination with a lethal cross and finish, is something Eduaro doesn’t posses right now and, without Van Persie, Arsenal will, and have already have to some extent, struggle, especially as their next best, Nicklas Bentnder, is still out injured, also.

Arsene Wenger is somewhat fortunate that, although his best attacker is out for some time, this game with Chelsea is at The Emirates, home of the Gunners. Arsenal have pitted their wits against both Manchester outfits already this season, ending up on the losing side on both occasions, however, they were both in Manchester, so this home fixture will be welcomed with open arms by the Arsenal fans. That doesn’t mean the three points are a foregone conclusion, not by any means, but if Arsenal are to beat one of the ‘Big Four’ at present, without Van Persie, then surely their best chance of doing so will come at home.

At The Emirates this season, Arsenal have been prolific, maintaining a 100% winning record up till this point. However, Tottenham have been their only real test at home, and even that was somewhat of an anti-climax, with the Gunners running out comfortable 3-0 winners. This really will be a huge test for Arsenal at a venue where they’ve been more than comfortable in front of goal, scoring 20 thus far. In return, Arsenal have conceded just four goals, so they really are a tidy little outfit at The Emirates, which is just as well considering they will be missing their biggest asset.

However, Arsenal do have too many BIG negatives going against them. The first being the absence of Robin Van Persie, which we’ve mentioned on half-a-dozen occasions already. The second being their weekend demise at Sunderland. A result like that can only hinder the team spirit, whilst their lack of fire-power in the final was clearly evident. We still fancy the likes of Arshavin & Cesc Fabregas, to carve out decent goalscoring opportunities but the omen of scoring perhaps the winning goals could be burdened with their midfielder’s. Arshavin & Fabregas have been their most prolific in the middle, with the latter scoring six for the season and Arshavin on four. Also, Arshavin did score a superb goal at Old Trafford, whilst he put four past Liverpool last season, and he doesn’t tend to shy away from the big encounters.

Chelsea

League Position: 1st

Recent Form: LWWWW

Carlo Ancelotti must be very happy with his squad and supremely confident of his talented squad getting yet another set of three points and their third successive win over a ‘Big Four’ team as he takes his Chelsea team across London to The Emirates. With their match day opponents losing at the weekend, Chelsea are now the inform side in the league and only a win will do now as they aim to keep up the winning trend.

Top of the Premiership, a five point cushion over their closest pursuers, safely through to the next round of the Champions League, as group winners. Quite literally, everything is going right for Carlo Ancelotti and Chelsea right now. A win over the Gunners would be so significant in so many ways. Not only would it take them to 3/3 against top four opposition but it would also see them stretch away from their London rivals, with a victory taking them eleven points clear of Arsenal.

We did mention earlier that Chelsea are a team on fire at present and their demolition job of Wolves last Saturday just epitomised their current form. Chelsea stormed to a 4-0 win, one which should have been a whole lot bigger, but the win now means Chelsea have won four on the spin. However, not only have they been winning games for fun but they’ve let rip in front of goal, scoring 14 goals in their last four games, averaging nearly four goals a game. In fact, the only team they haven’t put four past of late was Manchester United, which could actually be seen as a small negative.

Another small dent in the Chelsea express is that just one of their four wins in a row has come on the road, and Chelsea have had some away issues in recent months. The blues’ struggled at both Wigan Athletic (3-1) and Aston Villa (2-1), with Chelsea well below par in both. They did end their baron away run with a victory over Bolton but Bolton have been terrible in recent weeks so that was far from a surprising result and Chelsea’s away hoodoo could strike again at The Emirates against another tough opposition.

Head-to-Head (Last 10):

Arsenal W: 2 Chelsea W: 4 Draws: 4

Chelsea have generally faired better in the London Derby against the Gunners. In their last five visits to Arsenal, Chelsea have lost just once, whilst managing to victories, their most recent coming in a 4-1 battering last season. However, that thumping did come at the latter end of last season when Arsenal had nothing at all to play for, league wise, whilst there will be more at stake this time around with the season still very young.

Arsenal’s last success over Chelsea came two seasons ago in a narrow 1-0 victory, and that is Arsenal’s only win over the Blues’ in the last five meetings on Arsenal soil.

Match Verdict:- Draw – 2.85 Expekt

We will sit on the fence with this one, with several factors putting us off betting on either side. Chelsea are by far and away the inform side now after Arsenal lost at the weekend, but The Emirates should provide the Gunners with a safety blanket and it should even the playing field. Arsenal still have several quality players which can turn any game on it’s head but Chelsea are on fire at current and will take some stopping. We can’t see this being a dull 0-0 draw but goals aren’t all that popular, either. Cesc Fabregas does have a knack of scoring in the big games and he might be a fun small stake punt on what will be a tight, nervous affair between two London rivals.

Match Odds:

Arsenal – 2.75 SkyBet

Draw – 3.40 Boylesports

Chelsea – 2.85 Expekt

SoccerBetting Value Tip: Cesc Fabregas Anytime Goalscorer – 4.30 WilliamHill