Arsenal – Chelsea. The day before – football.ua

Arsenal – Chelsea, Getty Images
December 26, 2020, 08:00

The long-awaited Boxing Day begins, which is why we traditionally announce the next most interesting fights of the English championship. So, in the central match of round 15 of the Premier League, Arsenal will host another team from London – Chelsea.

Arsenal – Chelsea

Saturday, December 26, 7:30 p.m. Emirates Stadium in London. Chief Referee – Michael Oliver. Live broadcast on the Setanta Sports television channel.

Last season, Arsenal, frankly, were lucky in many ways, thanks to which they managed to win that same FA Cup in the final against Chelsea. The current campaign has given the North London team the opposite effect, but even bad luck in certain situations fades in the context of other existing problems. Creation of dangerous chances, combined play, implementation, failures in defensive actions – all this is what Arsenal today must work on and, what is more, in the transfer market.

It would seem that 15th place in the standings is a more than understandable reason to fire Mikel Arteta and appoint a more experienced specialist, but the problems for the “Gunners” are much greater. They started even before Arteta arrived, which explains why the Spanish manager is still Arsenal manager. However, already seven games in the Premier League winless, of which five losses … “Gunners” urgently need to win, otherwise the morale in the dressing room will not be at zero, but will generally enter negative territory.

Chelsea has been seen as one of the gold medal contenders after their incredible transfer campaign over the summer. Regarding their names, the “retirees” are far superior to their future rival, but the level of teamwork and interaction of these “names” on the football field leaves much to be desired. More serious rivals in the person of Wolverhampton and Everton have shown that Chelsea’s September troubles are still present, and Havertz’s role on the field remains a mystery.

Yes, after 14 rounds, Frank Lampard’s sentries occupy the fifth row, and in the last match they got a landslide victory over West Ham with a score of 3: 0. But if you analyze the game itself, Werner needs to do something with its implementation, and the absence of the injured Hakim Ziyeh negatively influenced the development of the “blue” attacks on the flanks. Add to this the fact that in the next match two top full-backs in the person of Chilwell and James are at risk of not playing, then Arsenal have an even better chance of success. Even the probable absence of an unstable Aubameyang can only play a plus for the “gunners”.

According to the bookmakers, Chelsea is the favorite of the next match. For Frank Lampard’s team, odds of 2.01 are offered, while Arsenal’s potential success is estimated at 3.85. The probability of a tie is represented by probabilities of 3.60.

Did not play: Party – Ziyeh.

Questionable: Aubameyang, Gabriel – Hudson-Odoi, James, Chilwell.

1: 1 forecast

Nikita Evtushenko, Football.ua