Chelsea is fresh off winning the English Premier League while Arsenal and their manager have had another up and down season. But who will take out the FA Cup Final?
FA Cup Final Preview
Arsenal has shown signs of improvement in the back half of the EPL season, some have argued this is a result of Wenger’s switch to a back three.
Conte did something similar when he moved over to his current defensive system after the Blues were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Arsenal way back in September.
Wenger has won six FA Cup Final games as Arsenal manager but his team will go into Saturday night’s fixture without defenders Gabriel and Laurent Koscielny.
Chelsea, on the other hand, are pretty close to full strength and their key matchwinner Eden Hazard will be licking his lips at the prospect of getting amongst an unstable Arsenal back half.
Image credit, Oddschecker.com.au
It’s just the second time in 136 FA Cups that the London rivals will face off in the final.
The Gunners triumphed in the 2002 FA Cup Final in Cardiff 2-0, with goals from Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljungberg.
Chelsea has faced Arsenal 19 times in FA Cup fixtures with the Blues on five wins while the Gunners have won eight.
Chelsea haven’t actually lost any of their last four FA Cup Finals, all of which have been contested at Wembley (2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012) you have to go back to the loss in 2002 in Cardiff against Arsenal for their last Cup Final loss.
Team news: Mustafi, Chamberlain and Alexis are all expected to be fit for the FA Cup Final against Chelsea on Saturday! pic.twitter.com/5yG8OoJnJa
— Arsenal Pics (@Arsepics) May 25, 2017
Chelsea cruised past the minnows before defeating United and Tottenham in their last two FA Cup games while Arsenals only true scalp was Man City in the semi-final.
The Blues played out the season like a team that was deadly focused on finishing things off despite sewing up the Premiership a few weeks early.
Have they resisted the temptation to celebrate the league ending? An FA Cup Win would certainly round out a fabulous year for Conte and his troops.
Arsenal has won eight of their last nine fixtures and are playing with some freedom – they scored 13 goals in their final five EPL fixtures!
We see this game playing out a little differently though, Chelsea only conceded 33 goals all season in the EPL and will be hell bent on making the fickle Gunners defend under the pressure of a 0-0 scoreline deep into this game.
Our FA Cup Final Verdict
Chelsea clearly deserve to be favourites, they’ve been so steady all season and in 28 Premier League games only had three draws and five losses.
They are short enough, though.
Arsenal should be able to play with some freedom and a win will certainly ease some of the tension Wenger is copping from the press.
We’ve priced the game in the following way (to a 100% market)
Chelsea $2.20
Draw $3.35
Arsenal $4
Please remember the above market is for the end of regulation time only.
Given the current market prices, we’re happy enough to suggest a small bet on Arsenal while our main play will be in the total goals market.
While we won’t be betting if you’re after a selection for first goal scorer then try Gary Cahill who will be busy in all the set pieces for Chelsea.
Arsenal is without two key starting defenders including their star centre-half and we can see Cahill bobbing up with a headed goal from a dead ball.
Why the clash between Rob Holding and Diego Costa is the key battle in the FA Cup final: https://t.co/XYbZbwETvE pic.twitter.com/ezgyvj0t75
— Sky Football ⚽️ (@SkyFootball) May 25, 2017
FA Cup Final Best Bets
1 x unit on the UNDER 2.5 goals @ $2.05 Bet365
0.25 x units on Arsenal H2H @ $5 Betfair
The game will kick-off at 2:30am AEST so if you stay up late (or wake up early) good luck to you and we hope it’s a profitable final!
Good punting!