Arsenal V Chelsea Live – Can Gunners Fly At The Emirates?

Arsenal V Chelsea

Sunday 26^th April. 4PM. Sky Sports 1

Super Sunday brings a headline London derby between the Premier League’s top two as Arsenal meet Chelsea at the Emirates.

Both sides enjoyed fantastic results last weekend, with Arsenal progressing to the FA Cup final whilst Chelsea further cemented their place as title favourites with a professional victory against Manchester United.

It’ll be a passionate affair in North London and should be an intriguing battle game on.

In-Form Gunners Out To Fire Warning Shot

Last weekend’s FA Cup semi-final served as a perfect microcosm of Arsenal’s season as a whole: the Gunners endured a few scares during an intense battle at Wembley but ultimately Arsene Wenger’s men managed to get over the line.

Domestically, Arsenal have been the form side of 2015 and talk of a potential title challenge could resurface should they win this clash at the Emirates. However, Jose Mourinho seems to hold a mental edge when taking on Wenger and the Gunners know they’ll need to be at their very best to grab the three points here.

The hosts have won nine straight Premier League matches at home whilst their overall run stands at eight straight victories heading into this crucial battle. Star man Alexis Sanchez will be eager to follow up his cup double by getting on the scoresheet, whilst the likes of Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Oliver Giroud are all enjoying rich veins of form also.

Even if the title is unobtainable, the Gunners would love to end their recent curse against Mourinho’s Blues. Meanwhile a victory would virtually guarantee their place in next year’s Champions League. Expect a big performance from the hosts.

Blues Cruising Towards Title

Regardless of Sunday’s outcome, Chelsea will be firm favourites to finish the job by securing a first Premier League crown in five years. Nonetheless, Mourinho would love to get one over his old rival by inflicting Arsenal’s first domestic home defeat of 2015.

Like Arsenal, Chelsea have enjoyed some tremendous form, which was underlined by last week’s victory over the Red Devils. However, the Blues aren’t hitting top gear and haven’t actually won a game by more than one goal since smashing five past Swansea over three months ago. Rather than being a deterrent, though, it simply highlights the professionalism of a Mourinho team.

The visitors will be missing top scorer Diego Costa once again but a midfield of Eden Hazard and co still provides plenty of talent. Meanwhile, Cesc Fabregas returns to his former club and the influential midfielder could have a huge impact on proceedings once more.

Chelsea are unbeaten in seven matches against the Gunners, keeping clean sheets in each of the past four. Even a point would suit Mourinho fine.

Arsenal V Chelsea Betting Tips

Arsenal are the Premier League’s form side and have been established as the slight pre-match favourites at 13/10 with Bet365. Meanwhile, Chelsea are 21/10 whilst the draw is 23/10.

Despite Arsenal’s great form, it’s very hard to see Mourinho’s champions elect getting it massively wrong at the Emirates. If the Gunners are to win then it’ll probably be by a goal, whilst recent head-to-head meetings indicate that might not be the case for Chelsea should they get their noses in front.

However, the main motive for Chelsea is to avoid defeat and we can expect a relatively conservative approach. With this in mind, we have to fancy a tight tentative affair.

Under 2.5 match goals @ ¾ with BetVictor

The main issue for Arsenal is deciding whether to attack or attempt to play in a manner reminiscent of the way they did at Manchester City away. It would be very brave to replicate the later on home turf but it could be an option worth testing.

Predicting Arsenal is a little harder than Chelsea. However, that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy to break down the visitors and we’re backing a true captain’s display to essentially secure the title.

John Terry to be named Man of the Match @ 25/1 with BetVictor