Arsenal vs Chelsea
London’s calling for some box office action this week when the second leg semi-final, EFL Cup: Arsenal vs Chelsea will see the fans flock to the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
The Gunners were cruising in the first leg at Stamford Bridge, twice leading by two goals; but when Alejandro Garnacho completed a late brace the Liam Rosenior feel-good factor kicked off. Since that defeat the Blues have gone on a five match winning run under their new head coach but they meet the formidable Arsenal, who have led the Premier League for most of the season and Mikel Arteta’s men are hot favourite to make the EFL Cup final according to the Arsenal vs Chelsea betting odds here at SBOTOP.
At the first leg final whistle Rosenior said: “I’ve only been with this team for six days, but we want to win games now, so we have to learn quickly, but we’re still in this tie. It’s only half time.”
The Chelsea boss has been true to his word and Arteta knows his men have plenty of work to do in this second leg.
Talking Points
Arteta’s strike options
All last season, talk in North London surrounded the Gunners lack of a goal scorer and, while Arsenal still don’t have a prolific goal scorer, Arteta has more firepower at his disposal with the recent return to fitness of Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz. And with summer signing Viktor Gyokores on target in Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Leeds United on Saturday, making it three goals in four games, Arteta’s options are increasing.
Jesus too was on the score sheet against Leeds and he scored a brace when Arsenal beat Inter Milan two weeks ago, while former Chelsea star Havertz made his first starting appearance in the Premier League in almost a year on Saturday and he looked sharp after scoring in the Champions League win over Almaty last week. With goals coming too from Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard the Gunners have multiple threats in open play, not mention the threat of defender Gabriel at set pieces.
The only piece of bad news from Arsenal’s trip to Yorkshire was an injury to winger Bukayo Saka in the warm-up, but the blow was softened by the performance of his replacement Noni Madueke who made two first half goals, teeing up a Martin Zubimendi opener and forcing an own goal.
Rosenior will go strong
After losing his first home game in charge the Chelsea boss has gone on the attack and has been rewarded with an exciting winning run. He has shuffled his pack and made seven changes from the team that beat Napoli in the Champions League for the visit of West Ham United on Saturday, but only when he brought on his main men did the Blues overturn a two goal deficit to win 3-2. West Ham were clinical on the counter attack and led 2-0 at the break, but the introduction of Joao Pedro, Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana on the hour turned the game around. Fofano teed up Pedro for a goal before Cucurella got in the score sheet, heading in a rebound after Liam Delap had hit the crossbar from point blank range.
When Enzo Fernandez won it in injury time the Stamford Bridge faithful erupted and they are getting used to last-gasp winners. And the re-appearance of Cole Palmer was another reason for the Blues to be cheerful, and I expect him to start against the Gunners.
History
The Arsenal vs Chelsea head-to-head results have been fiercely fought out with the Gunners winning 30 to the Blues’ 26 and there have been 24 draws over the past 80 games; and at the Emirates Chelsea have had plenty of success with 12 wins and ten draws from 40 outings.
The last time the Blues visited the Emirates they fell to a 1-0 defeat, but since then they have drawn 1-1 in the league at Stamford Bridge and then came second in the EFL Cup semi-final first leg thriller two weeks ago.
In terms of recent form Arsenal have won four, draw one and lost one of the last six while Chelsea have won five and lost one.
Betting Tip
Both clubs are going well in the Champions League and are through to the fourth round of the FA Cup and this match promises to be a cracker between two teams bang in form.
Arsenal are at 1.65 to win the second leg with Chelsea at 4.25 and the draw at 3.80 but, following the departure of Enzo Maresca from the Bridge the Blues haven’t really looked back, so I expect them to have a real go against Arsenal.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR (⭐) BETS ARE WORTH:
⭐⭐⭐= €20 (HIGHLY CONFIDENT)
⭐⭐= €10 (CONFIDENT)
⭐= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT)
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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