This London derby is one of the stand-out boxing-day EPL fixtures as Arsenal seek to dig themselves out of a hole when they host Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium.
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Arsenal are enduring a nightmarish start to this season’s EPL campaign as they find themselves in 15th place on the log coming into this derby after failing to win any of their last 7 premier league games, losing 5 of them and drawing two.
The lost 2-1 at Goodison against Everton last time out but in all fairness to the Gunners, they did pick themselves up, particularly in the second half of the game but ultimately couldn’t come up with the goods to get anything out of the game as a dogged and determined Everton team held on to claim all three points on offer.
Pressure is on Mikel Arteta, more so after the Man City piled more misery on them, dumping them out of the EFL Cup on Wednesday following an easy 4-1 win at the Emirates.
After starting the season with terrible defensive performances, Frank Lampard has turned things around and Chelsea now boasts of one of the best defensive records in the league, putting up a great run that has taken them up to fifth on the log, within a touching distance of all the teams above them.
They were not particularly impressive against West Ham, last time out, but the fact that they still ran out 3-0 winners tells you all you need to know Frank Lampard’s troops – they know how to win and have what it takes to do that. Tammy Abraham grabbed a brace in the match to continue his impressive start to the season.
That win over West Ham was a welcome relief for Lampard who had lost away at Wolves and Everton is the previous two matches. He will be looking to build on that win to revive their hopes of challenging for the title.
This London derby has all the ingredients of a potential thriller. Arsenal are trying to get out of a rut while Chelsea are looking to get back into Champions League places and apply pressure on the teams above them. We certainly can see both teams taking the game to the other which should give us quite a spectacle for a boxing-day game. Arsenal have been struggling to score but with Aubameyang expected to play, they will pose a significant goal-scoring threat. Chelsea strikers are also starting to get find their boots, Tammy Abraham leading them with five goals. The last 4 straight encounters between these familiar rivals had both teams scoring and we are backing the same to occur here @ 1.75 with Interwetten as our first betting tip.
Given the propensity of both teams to attack, the corner market is of great interest. We certainly expect to get a bunch. 9 of the last 10 encounters across all competitions between these two sides yielded 10+ Corners. Interwetten bookie review have the Over 9.5 corners option priced at 1.55 and we feel there is great value in backing it as our final tip for this clash.
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