Down the years, the crème de la crème of London derbies may have been the North London derby matches between Arsenal and Tottenham hotspur, the showdown between Arsenal and Chelsea is another exciting derby to look out for in the English Premier League.
Arsenal started the season with a disappointing 2 – 0 defeat by EPL newcomers, Brentford, at Brentford Community Stadium, in the first match of the season. On goal on either half of the match from Sergi Canos and Christian Norgaard ensured Brentford went away with all three points.
I was not surprised (and I can bet no one was) at the result of that encounter, The Bees deserved the win. It is a new season but the same old Arsenal. Nothing changed, no obvious improvement.
On the other hand, Chelsea started on a strong note with a 3 – 0 victory over Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge, with goals from Marco Alonso, Christian Pulisic, and Trevoh Chalobah.
The London Derby: Arsenal vs Chelsea
Today, Arsenal hosts Chelsea at the Emirates stadium in the 9th match of gameweek two. With their form, Chelsea will enter this match as favorites and I bet they would leave with at least a point.
Team News
Arsenal: Thomas Partey, Edie Nketiah and Gabriel Magalhaes are out with injury. Alexandre Lacazette, Willian and Runarsson won’t be available for the encounter. They returned a positive test for COVID-19. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is doubtful.
Chelsea: Hakim Ziyech , Ruben Loftus-Cheek, N’Golo Kante, and Christian Pulisic won’t be available for selection. Romelu Lukaku is expected to be given his second debut today.
Team Stats
There have been 203 showdown between Arsenal and Chelsea with Arsenal having won 79 times to Chelsea’ s 65, with 59 draws as at the writing of writing this post.
Head-2-Head
Chelsea 0 – 1 Arsenal | May 12, 2021
Arsenal 3 – 1 Chelsea | September 26, 2020
Chelsea 2 – 2 Arsenal | January 21, 2020
Arsenal 1 – 2 Chelsea | December 29, 2019
Arsenal 2 – 0 Chelsea | January 19, 2019
Chelsea 3 – 2 Arsenal | August 18, 2018
Arsenal 2 – 2 Chelsea | January 3, 2018
Chelsea 0 – 0 Arsenal | September 17, 2017
Chelsea 3 – 1 Arsenal | February 4, 2017
Arsenal 3 – 0 Chelsea | September 24, 2016
In the last 10 matches Arsenal won 4 to Chelsea’s 3 with 3 draws.
My Fantasy Team
Three players in my Fantasy Premier League team, Marcos Alonso, Smith Rowe, Romelu Lukaku, will be playing in this encounter. I hope they put in a good performance and earn me some points.
My Prediction
Chelsea won Arsenal 2 – 1 few in a friendly match a couple of weeks ago and come into this match as favourites and I won’t be surprised if they leave the Emirates Stadium with all three points. Both teams will like to record at least one goal.
We have few hours to kickoff, I will leave for the viewing centre in a few minutes to watch the match. I hope the Gunners puts in an encouraging performance even if they don’t get to win the match.
