FA Community Shield Betting – Arsenal vs Chelsea

Arsenal (+190) vs Chelsea (+150), Draw (+260)

At this point it’s common knowledge that Arsenal and Chelsea, and mostly their coaches Arsene Wegner and Jose Mourinho, are not fans of each other. So tomorrow, when they meet for the first trophy of the season in English soccer it becomes a must-watch event. The Gunners and Blues will take the field at Wembley Stadium, Sunday in what should be a fantastic matchup (10:00 AM Eastern).

Arsenal is the current holder of the shield after beating Manchester City 3-0 last season, but for the Gunners the bigger prize would be to take down their London rivals. Wegner and his team don’t have a shot at the EPL title and taking any tournament will help them save the season, including this one.

“It’s our next game and the first trophy at stake,”explained Wegner according to the International Business Times in the UK. “We will want to win the game of course. If you have the choice, when you prepare a team you want a good pre-season. It doesn’t give you a guarantee that you start strong in the competition, but it’s still better for the confidence and the belief of the group.”

Wegner confirmed that he won’t have strikers Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez available: Welbeck is dealing with a knee issue, and Alexis is on vacation after participating with Chile in the Copa America last month.

Chelsea, on the other hand, is coming off a trip to the United States where they faced other Europeans clubs in the International Champions Cup. The Blues haven’t won the FA Community Shield trophy since 2009, losing their last two appearances.

The Blues will also miss defender Gary Cahill and striker Diego Costa, both dealing with injuries.

Mourinho explained he doesn’t buy the underdog label Arsenal wants to have, entering this game.

“It’s a fantastic squad with good players, a fantastic goalkeeper,” Mourinho said of his Sunday’s opponents. “They are more than ready to be a title, contender.”

Last season Chelsea won 2-0 at home while drawing the road leg in their two meetings against Arsenal.  Since the return of Mourinho to Chelsea in 2013, Arsenal hasn’t scored a goal against the Blues.

Pick: Chelsea (+150).

(Photo Credit: @cfcunofficial (Chelsea Debs) London (Chelsea 2 Spurs 0 Capital One Cup winners 2015) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)