EPL Odds: Arsenal In Tough Against Chelsea

Chelsea (+105) vs. Arsenal (+300), Draw (+268)

After a terrible week, Arsenal (14-5-4, 47 points) travels to Stamford Bridge to face leaders Chelsea (18-2-3, 56 points) on Sunday, February 5th for the 24th round of the Premier League.

Arsenal are reeling after a humiliating 2-1 loss to 13th-place Watford on Tuesday. The Gunners were in second place but in terms of points, they were a fair way from first-place Chelsea. The plan was to snap up an easy win against Watford and then take on Chelsea, where a victory would see them within reaching distance of the top.

But it wasn’t meant to be. Arsenal conceded two early goals against Watford, the first from a free kick by Tom Cleverley in the tenth minute, and the second coming three minutes later. Alex Iwobi scored in the second half for Arsenal, but that was all the Gunners could muster.

Meanwhile, Chelsea came out with a 1-1 draw after a tough game against Liverpool. David Luiz opened the scoring in the 25th minute after a cheeky free kick caught Liverpool off guard. Georginio Wijnaldum came back with a goal for Liverpool in the second half and the game remained level until the end.

As it stands, Chelsea are nine points ahead of both Arsenal and Tottenham, who are drawn on points. Arsenal have struggled with consistency throughout the season. They’ve made a habit of turning easy games into difficult affairs, scraping by with narrow wins and draws against teams they should be comfortably beating.

Chelsea, on the other hand, have been remarkably consistent. Even in their recent loss to Tottenham, the Blues played a decent game and remained composed despite being outplayed.

While Arsenal have faltered against lower-ranked teams, they have generally done pretty well against the top clubs this season. But with their weaknesses on defense and their fluctuating form, it’s hard to be confident about their chances against Chelsea. They beat the Blues 3-0 earlier in the season when the two teams last faced, but a lot has changed since then.

Pick: Chelsea (+105)

Photo credit: “Arsenal vs Liverpool” by JoshJDSS, CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Flickr.