Chelsea vs Arsenal Preview | Team News | Expected Line-Ups | Prediction | Betting

Chelsea will look to build on their impressive start to the season when they welcome Arsenal to Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.

Former Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri replaced Antonio Conte as manager in the summer and the Italian coach got off to a winning start after Chelsea eased to a 3-0 win over Huddersfield Town at the John Smith’s Stadium last weekend.

The Blues will face a much stiffer test in their first home game of the new campaign as Arsenal make the short trip across London looking to bounce back from a disappointing opening defeat to Manchester City at the Emirates.

It was a baptism of fire for new boss Unai Emery and things don’t get much easier as he takes his Arsenal side to the Bridge tomorrow but the Spanish coach has called for unity as they head in to the post-Arsene Wenger era.

Team news

Chelsea will continue to be without Cesc Fabregas as the midfielder isn’t fit to face his former club due to a niggling knee injury but he could return to full training next week.

Mateo Kovacic isn’t fit enough to start as he continues to build on his fitness following his late arrival to pre-season training following his deadline day move from Real Madrid but Sarri says the Croatian star could come off the bench.

Eden Hazard is expected to be recalled to the starting eleven after an impressive cameo appearance off the bench at Huddersfield.

Arsenal have been dealt a blow ahead of the game with the news that Ainsley Maitland-Niles has been ruled out for two months with a fractured leg after suffering the injury against City.

Sead Kolasinac is also out until October with a knee injury but Nacho Monreal could be recalled after returning to full training this week following his own knee problem.

Danny Welbeck is also back in training so he could make the bench while Lucas Torreira is in-line to make his full debut but Laurent Koscielny (Achilles) and Carl Jenkinson (ankle) are absent.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal: The Blues have an excellent recent record against Arsenal having won five or their last six meetings on home soil and the Gunners have failed to score in four of their last five trips to the Bridge. Sarri’s side looked impressive at Huddersfield but I saw some positive signs for Arsenal against City and fancy them to put up a real fight tomorrow. It will be an interesting tactical battle but I’m going to back the Gunners to nick a point.

Betting Tips

The bookmakers make Chelsea 17/20 favourites to win this game while you can back Arsenal at 10/3. Despite Arsenal’s poor recent record at the Bridge, ‘both team to score’ is tempting at 3/5 while our predicted score of 1-1 is available at odds of 6/1. If you want more value, then we can add Hazard as the first goalscorer in a 1-1 draw for odds of 30/1.