Should Chelsea be taken seriously as title challengers or will Arsenal bring them back down to earth?
Chelsea are on a high after beating Barcelona, but Arsenal will be a different test.
Chelsea were superb against Barcelona with a 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night, and some people will rightly be wondering if they’re now the ones to watch as the main rivals to Arsenal in the Premier League title race.
The Blues moved up to second in the table after their win at Burnley, while Manchester City fell to a surprise defeat away to Newcastle, dropping to third place.
It’s all very delicately poised and unpredictable, but there are very strong tips for today games out there that could be useful to look at if you’re trying to work out how to get the most out of your sports betting and predictions.
But one that simply looks too close to call right now is Chelsea vs Arsenal this weekend, with Enzo Maresca’s side already being warned that this will be a far tougher test than Barca were on Tuesday night.
Chelsea’s win over Barcelona not that surprising, according to ex-Blue
Speaking on ESPN, former Chelsea player-turned-pundit Craig Burley warned that the test coming up against Arsenal could be far more challenging than a Barcelona side who have conceded high numbers of chances to inferior teams in La Liga all season.
“Believe it or not but a much better version of Chelsea will need to turn up. They will have to up their game from what we saw tonight to face Arsenal.
“Arsenal are not going to play like Barcelona did tonight. In some sense that’s the acid test for Chelsea rather than the Barcelona game.
“We’ve seen enough of Barca this season – it’s been there week in week out to see, the poorest teams in La Liga have all had chances against them.
“So Chelsea beating them is not a surprise – it’s a great win but it’s not a surprise if you watch La Liga regularly.
“If they do something similar to Arsenal then that’s a huge statement because Arsenal are clear favourites to go on and win this Premier League.
“The statement for Chelsea has to be the weekend because Arsenal are a different ball game.”
Arsenal’s defence face Estevao test
As much as Arsenal’s rock-solid defence will be a new test for Chelsea, so too will the threat of the in-form Estevao Willian be a new kind of problem for the Gunners’ back four to deal with.
The Brazilian winger, still only 18, has started brilliantly since joining Chelsea from Palmeiras in the summer, and scored a stunning solo goal against Barcelona last night.
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has been very impressed, and sounded a warning of his own to his old club ahead of this weekend.
“You wouldn’t like to play against him,’ legendary ex-Arsenal and France striker Henry said.
“I’m not saying that you wouldn’t be able to stop him but he’s coming at you all the time.
“He’s reminding me of… I know it’s early doors… but that’s why I think Ryan Giggs was one of the best because he was coming at you all game.
“Whether he’s having a good game or not a good game, he’s trying to test you all the time and see if you’re going to stop him or not. That’s how it is as a winger.”
Arsenal kept Harry Kane quiet, so what hope do Joao Pedro and Liam Delap have?
One scary stat for anyone preparing to face Arsenal right now will be this one, which scarcely sounds believable - Harry Kane failed to muster a single shot at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.
Yes, you read that right, that’s the same Kane who’s one of the best strikers in world football right now, with 14 goals in 11 Bundesliga games and five goals from the previous four Champions League games he’d played before the one in north London this week.
Henry may have been right to highlight the threat of Estevao, but apart from that, when you look at strikers like Joao Pedro and Liam Delap, with just five goals between them in all competitions so far this season, it’s hard to imagine them producing much against this Arsenal defence that had Kane so thoroughly shackled.