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Despite having lost the England captaincy, John Terry will still have the armband when he steps out at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, in the weekend’s big Premier League match. By the time the match comes around, Chelsea would well have been knocked off the top of the league again by Manchester United, who are just two points behind them. Chelsea’s poor showing in failing to beat second from bottom Hull during midweek, means that once again they have failed to capitalise on the opportunities which Manchester United have handed them throughout the season. With Manchester United, uncharacteristically showing a lot of faults this season, Chelsea, if they had been on top of their game, should have been well clear at the top by now.

That has not happened, and now this London derby takes on extra importance, as Chelsea need to defeat one of their closest challengers. For Arsenal, they need to win to keep in touch. There is increasing pressure at the top of the Premier League now, with momentum seeming to have shifted in the favour of Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils. If Chelsea could play all of their remaining games at Stamford Bridge, then they would probably be OK, as they have only dropped two points there all season. It is on their travels they have experienced all of their problems, so boss Carlo Ancelotti will be happy to be back in the relative safety of home turf, and have his squad relatively injury free.

Ashley Cole will return to the side after a problem which kept him out of the starting line up against Hull, and the Blues are only really missing the work of Michael Essien. The other question is whether Didier Drogba hampers the game of Nicolas Anelka, who seems to go into shell playing second fiddle to Chelsea’s main man. Some good news for Chelsea, is that they have had their potential transfer ban wiped out after the issues about poaching Gael Kakuta, so they will be free to add to their squad. Back in November, Chelsea played Arsenal of the Emirates park, where they ran out comfortable 3-0 winners. Since then, Chelsea has slipped and stumbled their way along the path to their title challenge, looking out of sorts on the road. Their main problem, as highlighted by Hull, is defending set pieces. That would naturally be one area which the opposition would attack, but Arsenal are lacking something aerially, and certainly are missing a powerful forward in the mould of a Didier Drogba.

The Gunners do not have a great record against Chelsea, and Arsene Wenger’s men need to look for points. The heavy loss to Manchester United on their last outing, meant that they lost ground on second place. Another defeat could potentially open up a seven point gap. With Liverpool to come next, this has been a testing run of Arsenal’s nerve. You can usually rely on Arsenal for goals, but they have hit the back of the net only once in their last two games. They have had their striker problems, missing Robin van Persie, Nicholas Bendtner and Eduardo (who will again be missing on the weekend). They have class in the form of Andrey Arshavin and Cesc Fabregas, but as highlighted in the first meeting between the two clubs in November, that was nowhere near enough to compete with Chelsea. It wasn’t enough to live with Manchester United last weekend.

BETTING STATS (League only)

Last 5 Head to Head
Arsenal 0, Chelsea 3
Arsenal 1, Chelsea 4
Chelsea 1, Arsenal 2
Chelsea 2, Arsenal 1
Arsenal 1, Chelsea 0

Last 5 Match Goals
Chelsea: 15 For, 5 Against
Arsenal: 9 For, 7 Against

Last 10 Form
Chelsea: W5, D4, L1
Arsenal: W6, D3, L1

Win Percentage:
Chelsea have a 91.7 win percentage at home
Arsenal have a 50.0 win percentage away from home

Match Prices
Chelsea to win: 5/6 at BetFred
Draw: 13/5 at Bet365
Arsenal to win: 4/1 at Blue Square

Betting Advice: If Chelsea are on top of their passing game, then they should win this fixture, which will guarantee they remain in top spot. They are not going to get many more chances to capitalise on mistakes by Manchester United, and so they will need to iron out at issues at the back immediately. Fortunately, the way Arsenal play, it is right into the hands of the Blues. Arsenal like playing the pretty stuff, which Chelsea can more than match them at, as well as having the physical power of Drogba to mix it up. Another defeat for Arsenal would seriously put them back, but betting is leaning towards a home victory.
Chelsea to win with a clean sheet: 7/4 at Boylesports

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