Chelsea are away from home facing a team well safe from the relegation zone, which means they should have no problem cruising to victory.
Chelsea have done well this season against nominally good teams, on the road and in London derbies against teams from north London. Everything’s coming up Blue, then, as Frank Lampard looks to purge the memories of Southampton (and Bournemouth, and West Ham). Oh, and something something David Luiz.
Kevin Peacock: Arsenal 1 – 1 Chelsea. This game has 1-1 written all over it. The Southampton loss was as bad as the Spurs win was good. With their away form better than that at Stamford Bridge, Frank Lampard’s boys may be good for the win.
However, there’s a high degree of uncertainty in predicting results right now. A safe bet seems to be the draw. Neither manager will want to end the decade on a low, and Tambraham will get his side’s only goal.
Scott Brant: 2 – 3. I can’t justify this. Every week Chelsea throw me a curve and the exact opposite happens. But I fully expect to Lampard to have his Blues in line for this match, but the one after will be the one they mess up.
Hugo Amaya: 0 – 2. Chelsea have not been good, but Arnesal have been horrible. With David Luiz, the best and most loyal defender in the world, in Arsenal’s back line, Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic will have lots of chances.
Chelsea won’t have much of the possession and Frank Lampard will be okay with that. He knows it only takes a few chances to put Arsenal to sleep. The team will be pragmatic and strong, winning three points before the new year.
Olaoluwa Nwobodo: 1 – 2. Chelsea’s home advantage is warped this season – instead, they have an away advantage. Mikel Arteta is still trying to understand his Arsenal squad and has never managed a team until just a few minutes ago. Lampard understands his team and his task better.
Chelsea will definitely want to get back to winning ways. Frank Lampard should copy and paste his line-up and tactics from the Spurs game. The Blues should be seeing off this Arsenal side. Should.
Varun Dani: 1 – 3. These days, nobody can predict which Chelsea is going to turn up for a match. The team can go from a Rolls Royce to a moped without tires in a space of week, making these predictions almost impossible.
However, it’s Arsenal. This the game that used to come as a morale booster some time ago, but with recent results and Mikel Arteta’s temporary feel-good energy, this will be a difficult derby. Here’s to hoping Abraham channels his inner Drogba to become Arsenal’s worst nightmare.
Vansh Ambashta: 1 – 2. It is practically impossible to predict this one. Chelsea will win, though, and London will remain blue. Mason Mount and Mateo Kovacic to score.
Oh yeah, David Luiz to be sent off in the second half.
Tan Yi Hao: 3 – 0. You know what, imma just gonna predict an Arsenal win, cuz that’s the only way Chelsea gonna get them three points.
Nate Hofmann: 2 – 2. I dunno. You might as well just get blackout drunk and throw darts at a grid of numbers to predict the score of a Chelsea game at this point. You could tell me that Chelsea will win 4-0 or Arsenal will win 4-0, and I’d be equally inclined to believe either one.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the biggest threat for either team, but Chelsea’s ability to dull the impact of Heung-Min Son for Spurs could serve as a blueprint for dealing with the Gunners’ star man. Will it pan out that way? Who even knows anymore. Chelsea couldn’t even keep Nathan Redmond quiet on Boxing Day.
It’s not exactly professional analysis, but all I can really offer is a shoulder shrug and guess that we’ll see an exciting draw.
Barrett Rouen: 1 – 2. Honestly, I have no idea, but I don’t see a lot of creativity out of the Blues. Arsenal, though could new manager bounce their way to a win.
Abhishek Pancholi: 1 – 2. This will be the game where David Luiz will be pumped up so much that he’ll turn into prime Paolo Maldini in the first half. But as usual, he’ll think “Job done” in the second half, producing one of the worst defensive displays in recent history. That will allow Chelsea to score two quickfire goals thanks to Sideshow Bob stepping on a rake every time he steps up to intercept a pass in midfield.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will get one back but it won’t stop Chelsea from running down the clock and taking all three points.