By Ed g2s – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27722655
After a poor start to the season, Arsenal have recovered to win four of five unbeaten matches in all competitions. New centre-back signing Shkodran Mustafi still seems to be getting used to the pace of the Premier League, often being caught out of position only for Koscielny to cover his mistakes, as they’ve yet to keep a clean sheet when he’s started. This has been a fixture to frustrate the Gunners of late; failing to beat their London rivals in each of the last nine league meetings (D3-L6).
Chelsea flunked their first true test under Antonio Conte as their 2-1 defeat to Liverpool highlighted that they’re still a work in progress. Fabregas’ mid-week cameo could earn him a starting spot against his former club, as the Blues certainly looked to be lacking his creativity against the Reds with both Kante and Matic sitting deep. The question is whether Conte will select the more attacking midfield option away at the Emirates, especially with a defence that has conceded six in their last three.
Surprisingly this is a fixture that’s produced few high-scoring games in recent years with just one of the last six meetings seeing more than two strikes and one team failing to score in each of these. However, with neither side currently looking solid at the back and two strong attacking outfits it seems that goals are likely this time round. Furthermore,
nine of the 10 league games featuring these two so far this campaign have had at least three strikes so that’s worth backing at 1.7.
Additionally, the Gunners rightly start as favourites but given their recent record against Chelsea and that they’ve shared the spoils in half of their last 16 at home against top-six sides we’ll also back the draw, a result we think Conte would be happy with.
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