Arsenal take on Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on Saturday evening as the London duo battle it out for the FA Cup.
The Gunners have endured a tough campaign as they finished eighth in the Premier League table and are in danger of missing out on European football for the first time in 25 years.
In order to preserve that record, Arsenal need to beat Chelsea in the FA Cup final this weekend to qualify for the group stages of the Europa League so the North Londoners have a lot riding on this game.
There is no such pressure on Chelsea as the Blues have already secured a place in the Champions League next season after finishing fourth in the Premier League with a 2-0 win over Wolves last weekend.
Frank Lampard can now wrap-up an impressive first season as manager by lifting the FA Cup for the ninth time in the clubs history and they’ll be in confident mood after beating Manchester United in the semi-finals.
Betting odds
Chelsea are the 6/10 favourites to win the final on Saturday while Olybet Casino has Arsenal priced at 11/8 to lift the cup. If you think it will end all square after 90 minutes then you can get odds of 5/2.
Anything can happen in a final but there are usually fewer goals than league games, particularly when two of the big clubs are competing. However, both defences have been poor this season so we think over 2.5 match goals is good value at 20/23.
Chelsea should just have the edge and a 2-1 win for the Blues can be backed at odds of 15/2. If we add Willian as first goalscorer in a 2-1 Chelsea win then we get excellent odds of 63/1.
Team news
Arsenal still have a number of injury problems to deal with as Shkodran Mustafi is the latest defender to be sidelined after he was ruled out until October with a hamstring injury that he sustained during the semi-finals.
Pablo Mari, Calum Chambers and Gabriel Martinelli are also long-term absentees for the Gunners while Bernd Leno isn’t expected to be involved after only recently returning to full training following a knee injury.
The good news for Arsenal is that Hector Bellerin is set to return after missing the win over Watford with a calf problem.
As for Chelsea, they’ll hand a late fitness test to N’Golo Kante as he’s still struggling with a thigh injury that’s hampered him recently while Billy Gilmour remains out following knee surgery.
Prediction
Chelsea are understandably the favourites but Arsenal put-in a superb performance to stun Manchester City 2-0 in the semi-finals so they should be quietly confident heading to Wembley. We also shouldn’t forget the Gunners have won the FA Cup more times than any other club [13] so they are more than capable of turning up on the big day.
However, despite their inconsistent form in defence recently, we still think Chelsea will prove too strong this weekend and back the Blues to edge out Arsenal 2-1 to lift the cup.
Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea
