Saturday 18th August 2018
Chelsea v Arsenal 17:30

With five meetings last season between Chelsea and Arsenal they are probably sick to death of each other. However, they face-off again in an early season Premier League game that is probably the pick from the ‘week two’ fixtures.

The reason they met five times was because they also played twice it the League Cup and also in the 2017 Community Shield. From the five clashes last season four ended in draws, with Arsenal winning the other one.

The sides had mixed opening game results with Chelsea winning away 0-3 at Huddersfield, while Arsenal went down 0-2 at home to Man City.

So, it’s certainly been a tough opening two games for the Gunners and it might not get any easier here if the match betting is anything to go by.

Chelsea are on offer at 1.80, with the draw 4.00 and Arsenal 4.00 – however, with the Gunners having lost just one of their last 8 vs Chelsea in all comps then the North London side will head into the game with some degree of confidence.

Having said that, Chelsea are in fact unbeaten in their last 6 home games vs Arsenal so the advantage of playing in front of their home fans will be a big one for the Blues.

As pointed out though, there has been a lot of draws between the sides and in recent seasons Arsenal don’t lose many games when playing Chelsea. With that in mind the 4.00 on offer on the stalemate is sure to be popular. Last season’s repeat fixture ended 0-0 too, as did the EFL Cup clash at Stamford Bridge last season, so even though this will be bad news for the neutrals it’s still on offer at 13.00 and might be worth a saver.

It’s also a clash that can be a fiery affair as we’ve seen three RED CARDS in the last six head-to-heads, but despite last season’s 0-0 in this fixture it’s still worth pointing out 3 of the last 4 meetings saw OVER 2.5 GOALS – that can be backed at 1.70.

Both teams to score has also been popular – this has paid out in 5 of the last 7 clashes and can be backed at 1.66.  However, it’s hard to get away from the amount of draws these sides played out last season and with Arsenal keen to not start their first two games with zero points then you feel the Gunners will happily take a point here and move on to easier targets in the coming months – knowing they’ve got two of their hardest games of the season done-and-dusted.

BEST BET: DRAW @4.00

 

===========================================================

Saturday 18th August 2018
Chelsea v Arsenal 17:30

– Last season’s repeat fixture ended, Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal
– Met 5 times last season (2 Prem, 1 Comm Shield, 2 EFL Cup)
– 4 DRAWS from last season’s 5 head-to-heads
– Arsenal have lost just 1 of their last 8 vs Chelsea (all comps)
– Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 6 home league games vs Arsenal
– 3 of the last 4 league head-to-heads went OVER 2.5 GOALS
– 3 RED CARDS in the last 6 head-to-heads (all Chelsea)
– Both teams scored in 5 of the last 7 head-to-heads