Arsenal Face Chelsea In A Crucial Premier League Clash

Arsenal face a must-win Premier League clash this weekend as they take on London rivals Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium. Last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United means Arsenal now trail leaders Liverpool by 15 points, albeit with a game in hand.

With Liverpool not playing in the league this weekend due to their Carabao Cup Final clash with Newcastle United, this is that game in hand for the Gunners.

However, while the win is imperative to try and keep up a little pressure on the runaway league leaders, it is also as important for Arsenal as their lack of form in the league of late has allowed the likes of Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, Chelsea, Brighton and Newcastle United all close the gap on them.

With five places likely to be allocated to the Premier League for next season’s Champions League, Arsenal will be well aware that they do not want to be caught by any of the chasing teams. 

Arsenal v Chelsea – Statistical Breakdown

Arsenal v Chelsea – Data Deep Dive

• Chelsea have won just one of the last ten against Arsenal, a 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium back in August 2021.
• Arsenal have won seven of those last ten matches, including a 5-0 win over Chelsea when the teams last met at the Emirates in April 2024. 
• Two of the last ten have finished as a draw, including a 1-1 draw between the teams when they met earlier this season at Stamford Bridge in November.
• All of Chelsea’s last three wins over Arsenal have come away from Stamford Bridge, two at the Emirates and one on a neutral venue in Baku in the 2019 Europe League Final.
• Arsenal have won one of their last three at home (5-1 v Man City), they have drawn 2-2 with Aston Villa and lost 1-0 to West Ham in their most recent home game. 
• The Gunners are 15 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool with one game in hand. 
• Chelsea are six points behind Arsenal in the table, but could cut that to three with a win here.

Predicted Teams

Arsenal 

Mikel Arteta may choose to rest some key players in their midweek Champions League home tie with PSV as the Gunners lead 7-1 from the first leg. That could allow Arsenal to come into this game fresher than their opponents. Arsenal will still be without attacking trio Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz through injury, but Gabriel Martinelli did feature against Man Utd last week and could be in line to play.

Predicted Line Up – (4-3-3) – GK Raya, DR – Timber, DL – Lewis-Skelly, DC – Saliba, DC – Gabriel, MC – Partey, MC – Rice, MC – Odegaard, AMR – Nwaneri, AMl – Trossard, AMC – Merino

Chelsea

Chelsea face a second leg in the Conference League against Copenhagen, leading 2-1 from the first leg in Denmark. Enzo Maresca won’t have the luxury of resting key men for that game. Injury means Chelsea will be without Nicolas Jackson, Noni Madueke, Mark Guiu, while Malo Gusto and Romeo Lavia are thought to be still a little way away from a return from injury.

Predicted Line Up – (4-2-3-1) – GK – Sanchez, DR – Fofana, DL – Cucurella, DC – Adarabioyo, DC – Colwill, MC – Caicedo, MC – Fernandez, AMR – Sancho, AML – Neto, AMC – Palmer, AC – Nkunku

This promises to be an exciting London derby with both teams desperate to pick up something from the game. Neither has particularly great form heading into the match which means that punters should be able to get some great value odds from bookmakers across a range of markets for the game!

Kick off is Sunday 16th March at 1.30pm.