Battle at the Bridge to be a war of attrition
DROPPED points are not an option for Chelsea or Arsenal when the teams meet at Stamford Bridge tomorrow.
The four-way title race looks set to go down to the wire and, with almost nothing between the London pair and Liverpool and Manchester City, now is not the time to be losing games.
The good news for Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger is that I don’t see either of their teams suffering defeat this weekend, but the bad news is that the clash could be headed for a frustrating stalemate.
That scenario would shift the balance of power firmly to the north west: Liverpool and City have more-than-winnable fixtures at Cardiff and home to Fulham respectively.
Arsenal and Chelsea battled to a 0-0 draw in December’s corresponding game and I feel a similar outcome is on the cards.
Even if it doesn’t end goalless – or in a stalemate for that matter – I would expect a return for spread bettors who sell total goals at 2.45 with Sporting Index, who are offering a fantastic £250 free total goals spread bet for new customers.
That would be my main bet but I am still confident enough to back the draw at 5/2 with Star Sports in the outright market.
Arsenal were uncharacteristically cautious against Tottenham last weekend and, having profited from those tactics, I fancy Wenger won’t be too adventurous here either.
Given that Chelsea’s success is based on strong defensive foundations, and their approach is often a patient one, we might not be in store for a classic.
If you’re having a punt on the match, or any Premier League game this weekend, then first check advanced predictions service betegy.com, who have launched a clever Twitter offering for sports bettors.
Simply tweet the teams playing, e.g. “Chelsea-Arsenal” to @askbetegy to get a quick reply with a match forecast demonstrating the probability of a number of market outcomes.
Pointers…
Sell total goals with Sporting Index at 2.45
Back the draw at 5/2 with Star Sports