Steve Davies fancies Arsenal to overcome London rivals Chelsea on Saturday.
Best bets
Arsenal to win 5/4
Ben White 52+ passes completed 3/4
Full-time total corners over 10.5 13/10
Chelsea fans will be feeling far more bullish about welcoming Mikel Arteta’s high-fliers following a trio of wins – two in the league – before the international break.
But Arsenal will think everything they touch is turning to gold after stunning champions Manchester City last time out.
No doubting Arsenal in capital crucible
The formbook goes out of the window on derby day, so the cliché goes, though it’s a saying that should be ignored as often as possible – and certainly this weekend.
Yes, tensions are always high when bitter rivals Chelsea and Arsenal meet but the gulf between these two is now substantial enough to make you think Arteta’s men are a really decent price to deliver.
Nine points separates these sides in the Premier League with Arsenal unbeaten and coming into the game on the back of a wonderful 1-0 win over Manchester City.
The break may have given Bukayo Saka a chance to get fit though the unbeaten Gunners have more than enough options in attack to frighten a Chelsea defence which is very much work in progress.
Indeed, everything about Chelsea is a work in progress. Wins at Fulham and Burnley were upticks for Mauricio Pochettino though the Blues ought to be beating sides like those and are still in the bottom half of the table.
Chelsea have failed to find the net in their last three home league games and the Gunners have won on their last three visits.
White can pass Blues’ test
Arsenal will see plenty of the ball at Stamford Bridge and will be looking to pass their way out from the back as is customary.
Arteta is blessed with players who are happy doing triangles with the keeper under the most intense of pressure, which means pass completion counts for the Gunners’ defenders do pile up.
Ben White, for example, is averaging almost 68 passes a game this season and with an 87 percent pass completion record, generally most of them find a team-mate.
Against Manchester City, where you would assume the Gunners would see far less of the ball, White had 58 passes so it makes sense to assume he can chalk up at least 52 successful passes at Chelsea.
Teams can combine to corner a profit
Chelsea are showing signs of being positive under Pochettino and we know Arsenal won’t take too many backwards steps under Arteta.
This ought to be a really decent affair with plenty of chances and plenty of corners – over 10.5 hopefully.
It’s 10/3 that the game produces 11 corners or more and statistically everything points to that as a minimum. Chelsea average 5.2 corners per game, Arsenal 8.6 and the Gunners’ matches produce an average of 11.8 corners every time.
