Chelsea v Arsenal
Wednesday January 10
Live on Sky Sports

Chelsea can snap stalemate run

A much-changed Chelsea were held by Championship opposition on Saturday evening when Norwich kept a forward line of Willian-Michy Batshuayi-Pedro at bay in a 0-0 draw. That was the second stalemate in a row for Antonio Conte's side, the Blues conceding an injury time equaliser when 2-1 up at The Emirates. The west London outfit are nevertheless in fine fettle, losing just once in all competitions since November.
Chelsea have enjoyed serene progress through the League Cup this year, never behind in any tie, though all three games were played at home.

Sliding Arsenal suffer cup embarrassment

Oh dear, it's all gone wrong again. The Gunners enter this fixture off the back of one of their worst results in recent years - a 4-2 defeat at Nottingham Forest, as the champions exited the FA Cup at the earliest possible stage. As with most Premier League teams in the third round, Arsenal played a weakened side but were expected to comfortably make it past a Forest side enduring their own struggles in the second tier.
It all forms part of a downbeat picture in north London - most observers expect the club to lose either or both of Alexis Sanchez and Mezut Ozil either during this transfer window or at the end of the season - and they sit five points off the Champions League positions, having once been a mainstay in the top four.

Chelsea rightful favourites for first leg win

Betfair Exchange customers make Chelsea 1.84 to gain a first leg advantage and that seems fair enough given the Gunners have won just one of their last nine visits to Stamford Bridge, drawing one and losing the other seven.
That's not the only reason to support the home side - using Premier League games as a guide, Chelsea are the fourth best team in the top-flight, winning eight of 11. A cup final is within touching distance here and we can expect Conte to play his strongest XI. It should be enough to win this.
Arsenal are 4.80 to pull off an unexpected victory while the draw is 3.95.

First legs can be tight but these are two prolific sides

If last week's 2-2 draw is anything to go by we are in for an entertaining encounter but semi-final first legs are not always open affairs. Both of last year's went under 2.5 goals and an argument can be made that this will be cagier than anticipated.
Then again the Arsenal backline has been porous in recent weeks, conceding 12 in the five fixtures since their last clean sheet (a 1-0 defeat of West Ham to reach the semi-final of this competition) and it seems likely that Chelsea will score. Given Arsenal scored 11 goals of their own across that run and are likely to feature their crown jewels in attack they, too, can find the back of the net although the home defence has been in impressive form of late (four clean sheets in their last six fixtures).

Blues offer match odds options

If we put all these assumptions together a wager on Chelsea winning with both teams scoring looks an attractive wager. It can be backed at 3.40 on the Sportsbook. A less ambitious shout would be to back the home win and over 2.5 goals at 2.40.

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