Arsenal vs Chelsea: Gunners to Continue Marching Towards Title?
by Bradley Gibbs | by Bradley Gibbs
Key Arsenal vs Chelsea details
Last week, the Gunners proved that they’re absolutely up for this title fight, delivering another strong big-game performance against bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
The Blues go into this game off the back of two ties against bottom-half opposition, so can the hosts continue to smell blood and now see off another wounded animal? My Arsenal vs Chelsea picks suggest that the answer to that question could be no.
Key Arsenal vs Chelsea details:
Date: Sunday, March 1st
Kick off time: 11:30 EST
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Where to watch: NBCSN/Peacock
Familiar foes with few secrets
These two big hitters will do battle for the second time in the league this season, but this won’t be their second meeting, oh no. Following what was a tense and tight affair at Stamford Bridge back in November, when the pair tied 1-1, they were drawn together in the EFL Cup semi-finals.
In the first leg, the Gunners got their noses in front, winning by three goals to two, and they were able to see out the job back at Emirates Stadium a week later, winning by a goal to zero.
It’s less than a month since the pair clashed in that second leg in North London, so both sets of players will know exactly what to expect on Sunday. The question is should we expect a similar result?
Well, it’s easy to assume that the league leaders, having won each of the two most recent renewals of this fixture, will come out on top here, but if we dig beneath the surface a little, can we make a case for the visitors?
At the very least, I’d say that a positive result for the Blues is far from out of the question. After all, in that second leg just under a month ago, Liam Rosenior’s men were arguably the better team. If nothing else, they certainly matched their opponents for the entirety of the contest, so should they really be as big as +450 to win this game? Probably not.
Play Sunday’s big game with this player prop
For those looking to make things a little more interesting, take a chance on the following player prop:
Joao Pedro 1+ Shots on Target
I’ll get right down to business here and say that Chelsea forward looks generously priced to shoot on target at least once at odds of +110, which at the time of writing are available at DraftKings.
For starters, only Enzo Fernandez has taken more EPL shots for Chelsea than Joao Pedro this season, with the Brazilian averaging a decent 2.19 shots per 90 minutes. He’ll arrive at Emirates Stadium having registered a shot on target last time out, while he should be feeling confident having scored in five of his last six starts for the Blues.
In only one of his last six league games has the forward failed to register a shot on target, firing off a total of six shots on target during that time. More importantly, against Arsenal earlier in the season, Joao Pedro hit the target, doing so in other big games against Tottenham, Aston Villa and Newcastle in the league this season.
We know that the Blues will enjoy moments of promise on the break on Sunday, and we know that the in-form Brazilian is capable of doing damage, even against the best teams, so all in all, odds of +110 are hard not to take advantage of.
