Premier League: Chelsea the Next Test for Leaders Arsenal

Arsenal vs Chelsea

We’re heading towards the business end of the 2025/26 Premier League season and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal lead the way, five points clear of Manchester City having played a game more.  

With ten games left to play there will be twists and turns to come, and plenty of stiff challenges to face for the hopeful Gunners, and this week Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea stand in the league leaders’ way. Arsenal won the North London derby is some style last week while Chelsea stumbled to a 1-1 draw with struggling Burnley, but that was a rare blip for the Blues since Rosenior stepped in. His team sits fifth, three points behind Manchester United in fourth, and is fighting on three fronts, while Arsenal are fighting on four.    

Both clubs are through to the FA Cup fifth round, each winning their fourth round ties 4-0, and finished first and sixth in the Champions League phase to qualify automatically for the Round of 16; and the Gunners have made the Carabao Cup final after beating the Blues in the semi-final.   

This is a clash of two Premier League titans and one which will reverberate across the top of the table.     

 

Talking Points

Arsenal’s cool heads can see them through   

In my SBOTOP preview of Arsenal’s clash with Spurs I said the Tottenham Hotpsur Stadium was about the last place Arteta would like to have gone right now, and at half time it seemed I had a point as the two teams went in at 1-1 after Randal Kolo Muani had equalised Eberechi Eze’s opener. But in a blistering second half the Gunners simply blew their neighbours away as Eze completed a brace as did centre forward Viktor Gyokores. 

The Premier League 2026 betting odds say this is now a straight shootout between Arsenal and Manchester City with the Gunners marginal favourites and, after this performance, the momentum switching towards Manchester has certainly slowed. Arsenal will need to keep their heads in the run-in and cast off their rather unfair reputation as chokers. And their senior players can be relied on to deliver as the tension rises. Club captain Martin Odegaard has been troubled by injury this term but he has recently pledged his future to the Gunners in search of trophies. And the Norway star showed just how good he is against Spurs when he climbed off the bench to make a superb assist for Gyokeres’ second. 

And alongside Odegaard the Gunners’ box-to-box midfielder and dead-ball specialist Declan Rice is in the form of his life, creating havoc with his deliveries which the powerful centre back pairing of Gabriel and William Saliba so often profit from. If these two players reach their highest standards over the next ten games then Arsenal have a great chance of winning a first league title since 2004.        

 

Chelsea’s young guns need to calm down    

The Blues’ Premier League 2026 results have been a little inconsistent at times, as their young squad tries to get it right, but they have all too often shot themselves in the foot due to a lack of discipline. With Chelsea relatively comfortable at 1-0 against Burnley, defender Wesley Fofana, already on a yellow card, put a nasty challenge in on James Ward-Prowse and saw red. It was the eighth time Chelsea have gone down to ten men this season and it has often cost them points. And so it did again as Ward-Prowse crossed for Burnley’s Zian Fleming to score with a well-placed header.  

24-year-old Moises Caicedo, player of the season last term, has been suspended already this season, banned for three games after he copped a red card for violent conduct when Chelsea met Arsenal in November. And, on eight yellow cards for the campaign Caicedo is two bookings away from another suspension. He’s a crucial player for the Blues.   

Arsenal will not be slow to wind up the Chelsea youngsters so the visitors need to use their brains.      

 

History 

Arsenal are ahead in their meetings with Chelsea, with 31 wins to 26 and 24 draws from the last 81 games; while at the Emirates or Highbury the tally stands at 19 Arsenal wins, 12 for Chelsea and ten draws. 

Last season this fixture finished 1-0 to the Gunners and Arteta’s men saw off the Blues in the EFL Cup semi-final 4-2 on aggregate with a 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge and another 1-0 to the Arsenal at home. 

And Arsenal’s recent form is stronger with four wins and two draws from their last six outings in all competitions, while Chelsea have won three, drawn two and lost one on that time.  

 

Betting Tip

Arsenal are at odds of 1.63 to win this clash with the draw at 3.95, Chelsea at 4.77 and the Double Chance: Chelsea or Draw at 2.20.    

For a correct score-line, a 2-1 home win is priced at 7.35 and a 1-1 draw is at 7.00. I think we’ll see a competitive clash which the Gunners really need to edge, to keep the Sky Blues at bay.

   

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