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Blues have hit stride
When Burnley took an utterly shocking 3-0 first-half lead at Stamford Bridge on opening day, those mumblings that something wasn't quite right at Chelsea appeared to have validity - even if Chelsea did bring it back to 3-2 despite having two men sent off.
But a 2-1 win against Tottenham at Wembley quickly stamped out the crisis talk and now the Blues are showing signs that they're becoming a winning machine again.
The current count is four wins on the bounce after a 2-0 home victory v Everton, a 2-1 success at Leicester and a 6-0 thumping of FK Qarabag in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Eden Hazard has been nursed back with a couple of appearances off the bench, Alvaro Morata is scoring goals to prove that Chelsea can function without Diego Costa and, quite simply, Conte's men look ready to make a big title defence.
Gunners firing blanks on the road
The fixture list hasn't been kind to Arsenal when looking at their opening three away games but you'd expect the title-winning Gunners of old to have emerged with perhaps five points from trips to Anfield, the Britannia Stadium and Stamford Bridge.
Instead, this brittle lot could end those visits with precisely none.
They couldn't turn dominance into goals at Stoke, losing 1-0, were played off the park in a horrid 4-0 capitulation at Liverpool and a check of the record books shows that they's lost their last five visits to Chelsea.
In addition, last season's Premier League failure is now set to produce further negative impact. By failing to qualify for the Champions League, the Gunners are now consigned to Thursday night Europa League action.
Yes, they fought back from 1-0 down to beat Cologne 3-1 but it means Chelsea have had two more days to prepare for Sunday's London derby and you feel it's Arsenal, not the hosts, who need every edge they can find.
Chelsea odds-on favourites
Chelsea were hovering around even money ahead of this same fixture back in February but this time the market has them as clear odds-on favourites at 1.85.
The draw is 4.00, while Arsenal are 4.60 to win an away game at one of the Premier League's top six for the first time since January 2015. Their record in those 13 matches since then is lost eight and drawn five.
Arsenal haven't kept a clean sheet in their last 12 trips to Stamford Bridge and those five consecutive defeats have been by scorelines of 3-1, 2-0, 2-0, 6-0 and 2-1.
Yes, they've won two of the last three competitive games against Chelsea (Emirates and Wembley) but repeating that at the Bridge is a different matter altogether.
Arsenal have actually won all three home games this season. It's on the road where their weaknesses are being exposed.
Blues can dominate from the start
Being caught cold by Burnley has only acted as a wake-up call for Chelsea.
Since that almost surreal opening 45 minutes, Conte's side have led at half-time in all four matches, going on to win each.
That means there's definite scope to back the Chelsea/Chelsea Half Time/Full Time double result at 2.90 as it gets us over a point bigger than the basic win price of 1.85.
Such a bet would have landed in four of Chelsea's five consecutive home league wins over Arsenal and the Gunners were 2-0 down at Liverpool (could have been more) on their last away trip.
Expect Goals
Unsurprisingly with all the attacking talent on view, Over 2.5 Goals is just 1.69 while Unders is 2.42. I expect Overs to land but wonder just how much help Arsenal are going to give to the goal count.
That's based on this season's two away blanks, Chelsea's clean sheets on their last two home starts and the historical evidence of Chelsea winning this fixture to nil in three of the last four campaigns.
Instead, I prefer to side with Chelsea scoring three goals or more all by themselves.
For the record, the Blues have scored in 23 successive Premier League games at Stamford Bridge and scored three or more in over 50% of them (12).
They've beaten Arsenal 3-1 and 6-0 in two of the last four head-to-heads at Stamford Bridge, so there's plenty of evidence to back the Sportsbook price of 21/10 for Chelsea to Score 3 or more.
Hazard warning for Arsenal
With goals in both his home Premier League games and another at Leicester, Alvaro Morata is already being quoted at an odds-on price 1.90 to score, even in big games like this.
Overall though, Morata is a tad short while Hazard hasn't got enough game time under his belt to be backing him at 2.74.
Ref watch
Michael Oliver gets the gig on Sunday. The Northumberland official has had a relatively quiet start to the season, showing 12 yellows and no reds in his four games.
In the Premier League, he's booked only seven players in three matches.
It's worth noting though that Chelsea have had a player sent off in their last two matches against Arsenal.
Recommended Bets
1pt Chelsea/Chelsea Half Time/Full Time at 2.90
1pt Chelsea to Score 3 or more at 21/10 (Sportsbook)
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