Arsenal v Chelsea Betting Tips: Can Gunners revive their top-four hopes?
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Odds and preview for Premier League clash
We’re still in January but are Arsenal’s chances of finishing in the top four already hanging by a thread?
One win in their last four Premier League matches has seen the North Londoners fall six points behind fourth-placed Chelsea. If that gap extends to nine points tonight, it’s hard to see a side as inconsistent as the Gunners making it up.
Unai Emery’s side will take confidence from a run of 13 wins from their previous 16 home fixtures. But Chelsea go into this one knowing they could deal a major blow to their London rivals.
It gets going at 5:30pm on BT Sport 1 and you’ll find all the pre-match odds right here…
Head-to-Head
Arsenal went six league games without even scoring a goal against Chelsea between October 2013 and January 2016. But they’ve now got a much better recent record against the West Londoners.
They’ve won three of the last 10 meetings. Chelsea have also won three, with four ending in a stalemate.
Chelsea ran out 3-2 winners at Stamford Bridge back in August, but the Blues haven’t won on any of their last four visits to the Emirates.
Likely XIs
Arsenal’s defensive injury crisis has eased, which means Unai Emery may revert to a back four here. His side has struggled to get their attacking play going with a three-man defence. An extra man in midfield could make all the difference, with Lucas Torreira set to return.
Mesut Ozil is fit and available, but it would still be a surprise if he was included. That means Alex Iwobi looks likely to continue behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.
It only seems a matter of time until Gonzalo Higuain is a Chelsea player, but Eden Hazard should carry on in attack for the visitors for this one.
Sarri is set to go for the experience of Willian and Pedro in wide areas ahead of the exciting Callum Hudson-Odoi. Mateo Kovacic’s composure on the ball should see him get the nod ahead of Ross Barkley too.
Key Battles
Will Arsenal be able to get Aubameyang into the game? He was a bystander for much of their defeat to West Ham United last week. The league’s joint top-scorer needs good service to shine.
As well as creating chances, Iwobi also has a role to play without the ball. He’ll be asked to press Jorginho and stop the Italian from dictating play.
The Arsenal defence will need to pay careful attention to Pedro as well. As Hazard drops deep to get on the ball, the Spaniard will look to race into the space he leaves behind.
Match Odds
Chelsea are 13/10 favourites to inflict Arsenal’s third-straight league defeat. The hosts are back at 19/10, with the draw going for 5/2.
Emery’s side have only kept one clean sheet in league action since September. There’s 8/15 about Both Teams to Score. We go 4/6 for these sides to produce Over 2.5 Goals for the third clash in a row too.
Hazard has six goals in seven games against the Gunners. He shares first goalscorer favouritism with Aubameyang at 9/2. The duo are also 11/8 apiece to score anytime.
Olivier Giroud could also feature against his former side. The World Cup winner is 15/8 to score an away goal at the Emirates for the first time.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
