antonio conte’s chelsea and arsene wenger’s arsenal meet at wembley stadium this saturday for the emirates fa cup final. in the regular premier league season, the blues finished a whopping 18 points ahead of the gunners in the table.
after winning the title, conte’s men head into this cup final as the clear favourites to seal a memorable double. as for the gunners, after failing to finish in the top four of the premier league for the first time in 20 years, they will be hoping their indifferent year can end on a high.
we’ll be looking at form, recent meetings between the pair and the best odds, as we preview this mouth-watering fa cup final between london rivals chelsea and arsenal.
the blues were without doubt the top dogs in england this season, winning a record 30 of their 38 pl fixtures. chelsea hit back superbly well following defeat at old trafford last month, going on to win their last six league fixtures to secure the title at a canter. despite a brave effort by arsenal’s rivals tottenham hotspur, conte’s men were well worthy of their championship success.
arsenal, meanwhile, have to settle with uefa europa league football next year, as liverpool pipped them to the post for a place in the top four by a single point. the gunners actually had a decent start to their season, but once again fell away drastically after christmas, a theme that must stop quickly if they want to be in chelsea’s shoes anytime soon.
it was in the blues’ 3-0 defeat at the emirates stadium back in september when conte changed the system and his side have never looked back since. in the reverse fixture at stamford bridge earlier in the year, marcos alonso, eden hazard and cesc fabregas got the goals in a comfortable 3-1 win.
the team from west london have no doubt had the better of previous meetings, winning three of the last four. they also came out on top the last time they met in the fa cup too, with didier drogba’s late goal sealing a 2-1 win at the semi-final stage back in 2009.
on their way to the final this year, chelsea have seen off the likes of peterborough united, brentford, wolverhampton wanderers, manchester united and tottenham. arsenal beat preston north end, southampton, sutton united, lincoln city and manchester city on their route to the last two.
victory for wenger’s men on saturday would make them the most successful club in fa cup history. at present, they are level with man utd with 12 fa cups each. the gunners have enjoyed recent success in this competition, winning it in 2014 and 2015.
chelsea have won the fa cup seven times, with four of those triumphs coming in the last decade. the blues last won it in 2012, seeing off liverpool 2-1 at wembley. in 2002, arsenal beat chelsea 2-0 in the final in cardiff, with ray parlour and freddie ljungberg getting the goals.
in terms of form heading into the showpiece final, you would have to say the champions are in better shape. after losing at old trafford last month, chelsea won their following seven, starting with a stunning 4-2 fa cup semi-final triumph over an in-form spurs.
as for arsenal, they are also in good form, having lost just one of their last nine in all competitions. after being beaten at white hart lane, the north londoners hit back with five successive premier league wins to end their campaign.
as we touched on, conte’s side head to wembley as the bookies’ favourites, with sky bet having odds of just 3/4 for chelsea to win in the 90. to lift the trophy, sporting bet are offering 9/20.
our live odds comparison shows that the best odds you can get on an arsenal victory in normal time are 19/5 with ladbrokes, whilst betvictor are offering 2/1 for the gunners to lift the trophy by any means necessary on saturday. odds of 14/5 are available at betvictor for this to go to extra time.
after being presented with the premier league trophy last sunday, chelsea will be full of confidence and will firmly believe they can seal the double. because of that, we’re backing the champions to win the cup in style at the weekend. the standout bet is the blues to win -1 in the 90, which is nicely priced at best betting odds of 2/1 with william hill.
tips and key markets
here are our predictions and the best odds for some of the key betting markets on this year’s fa cup final.
match odds.
as said, chelsea are favourites and we fancy them to win with relative ease. the draw may tempt some at best odds of 11/4 with bet365 but our betting tip here has to be the blues.
to win the fa cup.
chelsea are just 9/20 in the odds comparison to win this year’s fa cup but that’s solid value in our eyes.
over 2.5 goals.
given chelsea’s defence has hardly been brilliant towards the end of the season we fancy arsenal for a goal here. with chelsea sure to breach the gunners’ average backline, over 2.5 goals is the way to go at best odds of 4/5 with ladbrokes and coral.
both teams to score.
we predict this one will end 3-1 to chelsea and so clearly we are tipping btts. if you disagree, our live odds comparison shows both teams not to score at huge odds of 23/20. however, it just has to be both to score for us so get on btts at nice betting odds of 3/4 with bet365.