Arsenal vs Chelsea Prediction - All Set For The Important London Derby

Next Sunday, 26th of April 2015, an extremely motivated Arsenal will entertain a not less motivated Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium for round 34 of the English Premier League.

After an excellent league run, Arsenal granted a place in the FA Cup final last weekend by defeating the Championship side Reading on extra-time. It was an extremely complicated match for the Gunners but the usual suspect, Alexis Sanchez, managed to find a way to overcome the opponents’ defence line on two different occasions.

As for the EPL, Arsenal are currently on an excellent streak. The last time they have lost a league match was back in February at White Hart Lane at the hands of an extremely inspired Tottenham. That particular moment and the defeat against AS Monaco for the UEFA Champions League were truly an eye-opener for Arsene Wenger’s men who have won their last nine official matches.

Next weekend’s clash against their neighbours and rivals of Chelsea will be a good test to this refurbished Arsenal and it will be interesting to see if they can, in a way, delay the Blues hypothetical EPL title celebrations for a few more weeks.

As for Chelsea, it is fair to say that the team has been affected by the somehow premature elimination from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Paris SG in London last month. Regardless of such fact, José Mourinho’s boys continued their winning streak at the English Premier League and they are currently on a fairly motivating row of four consecutive wins. Last weekend, the Blues showed Manchester United that having more ball possession and plenty of chances to score doesn’t mean anything these days. With some mere 30% ball possession percentage, Chelsea overcame the Red Devils by 1-0 thanks to a goal from Eden Hazard and put an abrupt end to United’s recent positive streak.

Next weekend’s clash against Arsenal might become one of the most important matches of the season for the Blues, since, if they manage to win it, they will build up a comfortable 13 point advantage over their neighbours and rivals and they will certainly secure once and for all the 2014-15 English Premier League’s title.

Regardless of Arsenal’s recent good moment, it is fair to give Chelsea slight favouritism for the upcoming clash, since José Mourinho’s men tend to be very effective and fairly clinical in these particular types of matches.

Arsenal

Stats: W-5 L-0 D-0

Recent Form - WWWWW

Chelsea

Stats: W-4 L-0 D-1

Recent Form - WWWWD

Possible Line-ups

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) – Ospina - Debuchy - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Gibbs - Cazorla - Flamini - Ramsey - Ozil - Sanchez - Welbeck

Chelsea (4-3-3) - Courtois - Ivanovic - Terry - Cahill - Azpilicueta - Matic - Zouma - Fabregas - Hazard - Oscar - Drogba

Injury List / Suspended Players

Arsenal

Mikel Arteta (inj)

Oxlade-Chamberlain (inj)

Chelsea

Diego Costa (inj)

Head-to-head matches:

Top Players:

Arsenal

Alexis Sanchez

Aaron Ramsey

Mesut Ozil

Chelsea

Cesc Fabregas

Eden Hazard

Nemanja Matic

Predictable Goal Scorers:

Arsenal

1. Alexis Sanchez
2. Danny Welbeck
3. Olivier Giroud

Chelsea

1. Eden Hazard
2. Didier Drogba
3. Cesc Fabregas

Half-Time Score

Arsenal 1 Chelsea 1

Full-Time Score

Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2