Match: Arsenal vs Chelsea
League: English Premier League
Date: Sunday, 29 December 2019
Kick-off at 14:00 UK/ 15:00 CET
Venue: Emirates Stadium (London).
Arsenal vs Chelsea: Chelsea slowly slips into an inconsistent race, and if they don’t finish very quickly, their place in the top four could be seriously threatened. Meanwhile, the Gunners are trying to find their place under the new foreman Mikel Arteta. They have the advantage at home, but the fact that the new manager did not have time to settle could act against them this Sunday.
The last time the two met was in the final of the previous edition of the Europa League. Then, helped by a double by Eden Hazard, the Blues had sailed to triumph in the continental competition, once again depriving the Gunners of the opportunity to raise a European trophy.
However, things have changed considerably since then. Hazard left for Real Madrid, Christian Pulisic was recruited, club legend Frank Lampard took over the Chelsea canoes and really impressed critics at the beginning of the season, even before the transfer ban.
Arsenal is also going through a transition period. Unai Emery was fired after a run of undefeated games, Freddie Ljungberg was appointed interim director, and now former captain Mikel Arteta has handed over the reins.
At this time, the two teams are fighting for points and are desperate to make a mistake. With both teams considered elite in England, a victory would be a great boost of confidence and relief for any of the teams this Sunday.
Arsenal was on tour the last day of the game and faced Bournemouth. However, even though the hosts were not in good shape, the Gunners had a 1-1 draw and were denied a winning start for Arteta at the helm.
Meanwhile, at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea was defeated by Southampton, and that too with a white sheet. With increasing pressure on Lampard, the Blues succumbed to a score of 0-2.
This Sunday, Chelsea visitors came out slightly favorites. The main reason would be that his coach had enough time to get in touch with his players, and was even in an impressive race a few days before the game.
On the other hand, it is possible that Arteta has not yet learned the full names of all his players.
Continuing, Chelsea had defeated this side of the Gunners in their last H2H match, which was also in the Europa League final, also with a 4-1 score.
In addition, Arsenal has only one victory to show in its last fourteen days of play and has been running without a home victory in the last six attempts.
Meanwhile, despite their poor course, the Blues have re-recorded victories in three of their previous six games and beat Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham 0-2 on their last trip.
In addition, Chelsea has been the dominant team in the h2h clashes for some time. In fact, 11 of the last 16 h2h wins have been for the Blues, and they were the champions of the league two seasons before.
On that same note, keep in mind that Arsenal had its last win in the league the previous decade.
With all these observations in mind, count on Lampard Chelsea to do everything possible on the field to return to victory. They may not be able to win, but they have a very low probability of losing this Sunday.
However, understand that Gunners have a local advantage. They are also being led by a new manager and will be tired of the sad race they have been going through for some time.
In addition, they have scored two or more goals in the last six official home games h2h, and have found the home net at home in 20 of their last 21 games in 2019.