London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea have top-four finishes to nail down on the run-in and the Blues’ troubles away from home do not offer much encouragement as they head to The Emirates, where their record is poor.
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Arsenal vs Chelsea betting tips
- Arsenal win & Over 1.5 Goals @ 5/4
- Anytime Scorer – Declan Rice @ 19/4
- Match Tackles – 35+ @ 6/5
- Spotlight Tip Treble – was 7/1 now 8/1
Enzo’s away blues play into Gunners’ hands
Arsenal and Chelsea head to The Emirates after European adventures for what is always a spicy London derby – and one with plenty riding on it.
The Gunners may have chucked in the title race towel, but they will still want to book a top-four finish, which is also the prize on offer to Enzo Maresca’s men.
History certainly favours Arsenal, who are unbeaten in their last six Premier League shootouts against Chelsea, thrashing them 5-0 when they last visited in April.
And while the Blues’ current four-game winning streak is commendable, last week’s 2-1 win in Copenhagen in the Conference League snapped a seven-game winless run on the road stretching back to before Christmas.
Maresca made changes galore for the return game against Copenhagen on Thursday, a match the English side won 1-0, a second successive underwhelming 1-0 win having beaten Leicester at home by the same scoreline on Sunday.
Arsenal have had an extra 24 hours after drawing 2-2 with PSV in the Champions League on Wednesday, sealing a 9-3 aggregate triumph.
They have lost two of their last 14 and however he perms his attacking options, Mikel Arteta’s No.9-less troops still look like a serious scoring threat.
Rice nice price to slice Chelsea apart
With Arteta still missing a recognised line leader and Raheem Sterling unavailable, the Spaniard will try to form a front line from the likes of Leandro Trossard, Ethan Nwaneri, Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli.
And, while all are decent players and have a goal in them, contributions from deeper are proving critical for Arsenal, whose centre-backs are a threat, as are midfielders Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice.
Rice, remember ostensibly a sitting midfielder when he signed from West Ham, has proved his worth going forward with five goals this term – two shy of last season’s haul – and he has scored twice this week, in the draws against Manchester United and PSV Eindhoven.
The England mainstay scored in the 2-2 draw at Chelsea last season and can punish them once again this weekend.
Derby tension can lead to high tackle count
When Chelsea played Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in November there were 32 tackles in a game that was always on edge.
These rivals bring out the feisty in each other and now, with the stakes high and the season drawing to its conclusion, expect a full-on, combative showdown with the tackle count set to soar.
Arsenal average 16.3 tackles per game, Chelsea 15.6 for a combined 31.9, but most of those are registered in normal games.
There is far too much riding on an Arsenal-Chelsea dust-up for it ever to be labelled normal. Get on 35 tackles or over.
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