Arsenal vs Chelsea: Too important to lose?
The game of the day sees first travel to fourth - and with Manchester United winning neither will want to cede ground here. These two teams are the most free scoring teams in the division, Arsenal have 36 from 12 games and Chelsea 33 from 13 - which if maintained would see Arsenal finish the season with an astonishing 114 goals and Chelsea a more than respectable 90.
Arsenal will be keenly aware that Tottenham edged into third place yesterday and although Arsenal have two games in hand there will be no little pressure from the home fans to make sure that Spurs do not start the working week ahead of Arsenal. The loss of Robin van Persie was evident at Sunderland last week when Arsenal were toothless and this could be a similar game against another physical and quick side but surely Arsenal will have learned from that failure.
Arsenal last 5 league games WXWWL
Birmingham (h) 3-1
West Ham (a) 2-2
Tottenham (h) 3-0
Wolves (a) 4-1
Sunderland (a) 0-1
Chelsea are in a rich vein of form brushing aside any number of rivals and unbeaten in all competitions in eight games - bagging four or more goals in five of those games. Chelsea are not the grinders that many people quite lazily assume. True, Chelsea like to dictate the tempo of games - but with Malouda's gradual improvement and Joe Cole's return to fitness there is a vitality about the team. Beatable on an off day - physically difficult to best at all other times, worthy title favourites.
Chelsea last 5 league games LWWWW
Aston Villa (a) 1-2
Blackburn (h) 5-0
Bolton (a) 4-0
Man Utd (h) 1-0
Wolves (h) 4-0
Arsenal vs Chelsea; Kick Off 4:00pm 29 Nov 2009
Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).
Dave Blackburn : 1 - 0
Chris Cox : 1 - 3
Graham Enwright : 1 - 2
Sue Gardener : 3 - 2
Chris Goodwin : 1 - 1
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 2 - 1
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : 0 - 1
Peter Lee : 2 - 1
Don McMahon : 2 - 2
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 1 - 1
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : TBC
Dave Nash : 0 - 1
Stephen Orford (sqf) : TBC
Tony Ratton : 1 - 1
Peter Rendle : 1 - 1
Dan Taylor : 2 - 2
Andy Wakeman : 2 - 0
Isaac Williams : 2 - 2
Mark Williams : 2 - 1
Panel Verdict
The panel is expecting a 1-1 draw.
Home: 6; Draw: 7; Away: 4; TBC: 3.
* Do we have it right, or do you know better? Please don't bother with derisory comments on the predictions after the match - unless you also pulled us up before it!
