Chelsea vs Arsenal 22/01/20

22 January 2020

Chelsea and Arsenal will face off in a massive all-London Premier League (PL) showdown at Stamford Bridge over the midweek, with both teams looking to bounce back after their respective weekend’s failures.

A 94th-minute winner from Isaac Hayden saw Newcastle put an end to Chelsea’s three-game unbeaten PL run (W2, D1), with the Blues now failing to keep a clean sheet in four of their previous five league matches. Also, Franck Lampard’s men have endured mixed fortunes in their last six PL home outings (W3, L3), with five of those results (win/loss) witnessing the winners on the day keep a blank sheet. Also, a lack of goals on home turf has been one of Chelsea’s biggest problems in this campaign. Indeed, just 14 of their total 39 PL goals scored have come at Stamford Bridge (35.9%). An encouragement for the home fans could be that the Pensioners have won six of their last seven top-flight H2Hs with Arsenal at this venue (D1), shutting the Gunners out on four of those occasions.

The visitors also dropped points late last weekend, with the 83rd-minute equalizer from John Fleck rescuing a point for Sheffield United at the Emirates. As a consequence, the Gunners have now won only one of their past seven PL fixtures (W1, D4, L2), with five of those matches featuring under 2.5 goals. Additionally, all four of their previous competitive road trips have ended in a draw, with three of them seeing Arsenal ship the opening goal. By extension, only the abovementioned Sheffield (7) have played out more away draws than Arsenal (6) so far this season, with Mikel Arteta’s side winning just two of their other five PL road games (W2, L3). The Emirates outfit have scored an average of 1.09 goals per PL away match, netting 2+ away goals in only two of their 11 PL travels.