CHELSEA v ARSENAL
Europa League
Wednesday 29th May 2019
Kickoff: 2000hrs
Pick: Under 2.75 goals
Bookmaker: Comeon
Odds: 1.76 (odds taken at 06:30 GMT, 26 May 2019)
For the first time ever, both the Champions League and Europa League finals will feature all four teams from England and the Premier League, and we start things off by looking ahead to the Europa League final in Baku on Wednesday night. The trophy will reside in London somewhere, but which club will emerge victorious….?
Chelsea Prediction – Can Maurizio Sarri bring a major trophy to Stamford Bridge?
Chelsea ended the domestic Premier League season in a creditable 3rd place but finished some way behind the top two clubs, title winners Manchester City and runners-up Liverpool as the Stamford Bridge outfit now find themselves down the pecking order in terms of top flight dominance.
Having finished in 3rd place, Chelsea’s place in next season’s Champions League is already assured, but Chelsea manager, Maurizio Sarri is under increasing pressure to bring major silverware to the Chelsea trophy cabinet, as well as facing the reality that his star player, Eden Hazard looks set to join Real Madrid next season.
Chelsea make their way to Baku having suffered just 1 defeat out of their last 13 matches overall in all competitions which was a 2-0 loss at Liverpool, but includes wins against Slavia Prague in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, winning 5-3 on aggregate as well as going through to the final by virtue of a penalty shoot-out against German club, Eintracht Frankfurt as The Blues held their nerve to progress to the final after the scores were level at 2-2 on aggregate.
4 of the last 7 meetings between Chelsea and Arsenal have resulted in under 2.5 goals as well as also ending up draws too.
Arsenal Prediction – Can Unai Emery work his magic for The Gunners?
For Arsenal, the equation is a very simple one – win this Europa League final and there’ll be Champions League football at the Emirates Stadium next season. Arsenal finished the domestic Premier League season in a disappointing 5th place which qualifies them for the Europa League again next season unless they win this final against Chelsea.
Not much, it seems, has changed at Arsenal despite the changing of the guard as Arsene Wenger stepped down with Unai Emery taking over the reigns at the start of this season, and although Arsenal subsequently recovered from early back-to-back defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea by putting together an impressive 11-match winning streak within an unbeaten run of 22 matches overall, inconsistent results and displays let them down again.
However, while Arsenal’s challenge for a top four finish continued to ebb and flow, the North London club were quietly getting the job done in Europe with impressive displays in recent times against Napoli to win 3-0 on aggregate in the quarter-finals which was followed by a 7-3 thrashing of Spanish outfit Valencia in the semi-finals.
4 of Arsenal’s last 6 away matches against Chelsea have resulted in under 2.5 goals.
Key-Facts – Chelsea v Arsenal
- 4 of the last 7 meetings between Chelsea and Arsenal have resulted in under 2.5 goals
- 4 of the last 7 meetings between Chelsea and Arsenal have resulted in draws
- 4 of Arsenal’s last 6 away matches against Chelsea have resulted in under 2.5 goals
Betting Tips Verdict
Despite the free-scoring exploits of both clubs in their progress to this Europa League final, I’m expecting a tighter encounter here with a low-scoring clash as a result of both of these teams cancelling each other out. This could be Eden Hazard’s final match for Chelsea, while Arsenal arguably need the win more to seal their place in next season’s Champions League.
