Dan Fitch’s selections for Sunday’s Premier League derby between Arsenal and Chelsea include a narrow home win for the Gunners.
The biggest game of this Premier League weekend is this London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea, with both teams aiming to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
While a dream of a title is seemingly over for another season for the Gunners, they look likely to hold on to second spot and can take a step closer to that aim with a home victory on Sunday.
Chelsea’s position is more precarious, with the West Londoners in fourth place and facing a number of challengers for their spot.
With neither club in convincing form of late, we should be treated to a fascinating encounter with far more on the line than local pride.
Here are three football betting selections for Sunday’s high-profile clash.
Arsenal v Chelsea tips
Arsenal to win and under 3.5 goals 6/4
Over 10.5 corners 5/4
Chelsea over 3.5 cards 8/5
Arsenal will sneak narrow derby win
Arsenal may have beaten PSV Eindhoven 9-3 on aggregate over the two legs of their Champions League Round of 16 tie, but they have been struggling for goals in the Premier League.
Declan Rice’s equaliser away at Manchester United last weekend was the Gunners’ first strike in three league games, having been shut out by both West Ham and Nottingham Forest.
Mikel Arteta is badly missing the injured Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz, despite the latter being far from an unqualified success since making the move from Chelsea in 2023.
The Blues are having similar problems, with the likes of Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson currently missing with fitness issues.
They have won each of their last four games, but against very weak opposition and this represents a massive step up for a team that have only been able to beat Leicester City and FC Copenhagen by a 1-0 scoreline, in their two most recent outings.
Chelsea have been beaten just about every time they have faced a serious opponent in 2025, with Manchester City, Brighton (twice) and Aston Villa all inflicting defeats.
Even their talisman Cole Palmer seems to have lost his natural self-confidence, with the England international having not scored in 10 games, after missing a penalty against Leicester last weekend.
Arsenal have not won in three Premier League matches, but they will be fresh for this one having been able to rest players for the second-leg of their Champions League tie with PSV.
The Gunners are unbeaten in six games against Chelsea, winning four and drawing twice, claiming victories in both of the encounters at the Emirates during this sequence.
Arsenal should claim another win, but with both teams struggling for goals, it is likely to be a low scoring affair.
Wing wizards will serve up corners
One thing that neither Arsenal or Chelsea are short of are tricky wingers.
Even with some options like Saka and Madueke injured, both managers have a number of quality wide men capable of putting in dangerous crosses.
Unsurprisingly, both teams rank highly when it comes to the numbers of corners in Premier League matches this season, with Arsenal fourth and Chelsea seventh.
Arsenal have taken 184 corners in the top flight this season, at an average of 6.5-per-game.
Chelsea are not far behind with 169, which is an average of 6-a-match.
The attacking problems of Arteta’s side seems to be resulting in them being more reliant on crosses, putting in 27 away at Manchester United last weekend and winning nine corners.
With this in mind, a total of over 10.5 seems reasonable in a game that both teams are motivated to win.
Chelsea are close to being card kings
A statistic Chelsea are ranked towards the bottom is the Premier League’s Fair Play table.
With a total of 78 disciplinary points, the Blues find themselves in 19th position, with only the doomed Southampton below them.
In total they have picked up 76 yellow cards, which works out at an average of 2.7-per-game.
Of course, we can expect that figure to be higher in competitive matches against local rivals and this derby very much falls into this category.
The reverse fixture saw Chelsea see yellow on four occasions, while Arsenal picked up two.
In a game in which Arsenal are likely to be on the front foot and in which Enzo Maresca’s team will be doing a lot of defending, it seems a fair bet that they will receive a similar number of cards.