Chelsea vs Arsenal Preview, Team News, Likely Line-ups & Predictions

Arsenal make the short trip across London on Sunday to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge looking avenge their 2-1 defeat to the Blues at the Emirates back in December.

The last time the two clubs met Roberto Di Matteo was still in charge at the Bridge but it will be under-fire interim boss Rafa Benitez who will be in the dug-out this time around looking to do the double over the Gunners.

The Spanish boss has endured a turbulent time since taking over the helm at Chelsea and is struggling to win-over the Blues fans, with their poor home form in recent weeks doing nothing to help relations.

Chelsea blew a two-goal lead against Southampton on Wednesday to draw 2-2 and the result now leaves them trailing league leaders United by 13 points.

Sixth-placed Arsenal head into the game off the back of last weeks 2-0 defeat to champions Man City which ended a five-game unbeaten run, but a win this weekend will see the north Londoners move to within five points of the hosts with a game in hand.

Team News

Benitez is expected to risk captain John Terry from the start after the defender recovered from his knee injury to make two substitute appearances in the last week.

Striker Demba Ba is expected to get the nod over Fernando Torres with Frank Lampard likely to retain his place in midfield with Victor Moses and John Obi Mikel both on international duty with Nigeria at the African Cup of Nations.

Arsenal are able to welcome back Laurent Koscielny after he served a one-game ban during the midweek win over Swansea, however the Frenchman is likely to have to make do with a place on the bench with Mertesacker expected to keep his place alongside Vermaelen at the back.

Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky remain sidelined through injury, meaning Abou Diaby is likely to start his third game in a row since recovering from injury. Francis Coquelin is also pushing for a start after impressing against the Swans.

Likely Line-ups

Betting preview and predictions

Chelsea have been hit and miss at the Bridge in recent weeks. One week they’re putting 8 past Villa, then they go and lose 1-0 to QPR. Arsenal are also inconsistent this season so it could be down to which team turns up on Sunday as the result is so unpredictable.

To help us try and come up with a score-line, we headed over to Betegy.com and their software has crunched the numbers and they predict there is a 38% of a Chelsea win, 34% of a draw with an Arsenal win at 30%:

A Chelsea win is currently 19/20 with William Hill but if betting on the exact score is more your thing, Betegy data predicts there is a 33% chance the Blues will win 2-1 which is currently a 15/2 shot with William Hill.

Why not head over to Betegy and see what all the fuss is about? It’s free to join and you’ll receive free and accurate predictions for games throughout Europe every week. They have an excellent success rate so far so why not give it a try?

What would your line up be and what’s your score prediction for the game? Get involved in the comments section below.