Soccer English Premier League Prediction

Arsenal vs Chelsea - Match Preview

⚽ 2 May 2023 - 19:00 GMT +0

Arsenal fans have experienced a season of surprising highs followed by unnerving lows in the most recent rounds. The Premier League (PL) title race is effectively over according to some bookmakers, though Arsenal stopper Aaron Ramsdale was keen to point out that “stranger things have happened”, but if Arsenal pick up maximum points, they’ll need Manchester City to drop at least four.

That is a situation Arsenal must believe in until the title becomes mathematically impossible, but the revival has to start here in this previously postponed London derby against Chelsea. The rescheduling disgruntled the hosts enough to release a club statement, yet fans may take heart from it as Arsenal has never lost against Chelsea in the Premier League between Tuesday-Thursday (W4, D6)!

Frank Lampard’s Blues may not threaten that run after losing all five games since their former coach took interim charge in what is their worst losing run since 1993! In fact, Chelsea is at risk of losing 20 competitive games in one season for the first time since 1987/88 should they fall again here, as this once-great club sleepwalks towards their first bottom-half finish since 1996.

Trying to keep a squad of more than 30 players happy was always going to be a mammoth task for any manager, but it appears that the £500m+ gamble hasn’t paid off in the short term. For all the negatives, Chelsea can at least boast a relatively respectable record in PL London derbies this season (W3, D4, L4), even if they do come into this on the back of a 2-0 defeat to West London rivals Brentford.

📋 Players to watch: Arsenal’s ever-present forward Bukayo Saka has as many home league goal contributions as he has PL home appearances this season (G9, A7). He also assisted in the reverse fixture. As for Chelsea, Conor Gallagher remains the scorer of their only goal in Lampard’s second coming.

⚡ Hot stat: Chelsea has won just one PL game against current top-half opposition this season (W1, D6, L9).