2018-19 Europa League Final: Chelsea vs Arsenal Predictions and Betting Tips, 29 May 2019
The Match Is Over. Score:
4-1
The second-best European competition, Europa League, is set to stage an unprecedented final where two of English oppositions are meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, to liven up a Wednesday night as they attempt to bring glory to their club. Chelsea are playing Arsenal shy of 10,000km far away from London, where they're just 10km apart. Read our predictions for this glorious footballing game from which we're sure many will take pleasure.
Match status: 2018-19 Europa League Final
Kick-off: Wednesday 29 May 2019, 07:00pm GMT
Venue: Baku Olympic Stadium (Baku)
Chelsea vs Arsenal: News & Current Form
First EL/UEFA Cup final to see two English sides face off since '71/72
This Wednesday, scenes will be set in Baku, providing us with one of the most anticipated game of the season - largely dominated by English clubs - with most saying English football has finally had its rebirth. As such, we are going to watch two all-English European finals in 3 days, first of which will be between London neighbours who are travelling 9,000 km far east for a match that holds a lot for both of them.How did they get here? Routes that led to Baku.
Just as the groups were packed with four teams each, very few of Arsenal and Chelsea fans would have complained about the opponents drawn in their respective party and the performances their favourites produced during that group campaign once again showed they did have high hopes that their team would at last give it a decent try.Finishing on almost identical records, the Blues asserted early on that the top place was theirs to take after having won five games on the spin (accompanied by four clean sheets) with only the last one a draw at MOL Vidi. BATE and PAOK proved to be far beyond Chelsea's level as the other candidates of Group L. All in all, 16 points and +9 goal difference record of the Blues' marked total dominance by one of the two teams that eventually made it to the final.
The other one, remarkably, fared no less impressively as they won Group E by the exact same number of points and Portuguese side Sporting, Ukrainians Vorskla Poltava and Azerbaijani team Qarabag could not stop Emery's new force from shining bright in Europe.
Then the last 32 came and the teams began to feel the more pressure - yet overcame their opponents as Chelsea beat Malmo on both occasions to secure a last-16 spot helped by a 5-1 aggregate win over the Swedish, while the Gunners had to sweat a little after trailing 0-1 from the first leg against Chelsea's group participant BATE but could not respond better than winning 3-0 in the return game to go through.
It seemed pretty smooth for Chelsea before they reached the semi-finals, after cruising past Dynamo Kyiv and Slavia Prague, who provided little resistance to the Blues' resolve and suffered deserved defeats in each of the two meetings. In the meantime, Arsenal were experiencing a more torrid path when they came across Rennes, who got away with a first-leg 3-1 lead and were looking to get the job done in London soon enough. However, their dreams were shattered after Arsenal had replied with menace in another 3-0 home display. And a semi-final place was then claimed when Napoli fell short and lost 3-0 across two games against the Londoners, who seemed to be building momentum enough to crush anybody.
The latter stage saw the Blues go against Eintracht Frankfurt, who had looked extremely fearsome at the time, and, following a 1-1 first-leg draw in Germany, Chelsea required a penalty shootout after it was again 1-1 and no winner. Fortunately, despite momentarily appearing to have less confidence in striking spot-kicks than the Germans, it was Kepa Arrizabalaga who earned his team a final appearance with two superb late saves. Arsenal went against Valencia and were superior to the Spanish side after their tie ended in a convincing 7-3 aggregate victory for Wednesday's finalists.
There's much more at stake and even more for Gunners
The teams should be well aware it's not a league fixture and that for one of them it's not only about winning a European title. Arsenal losing the final means they miss out on Champions League football next year having finished 5th in the last Premier League season. For Chelsea though, and true for both sides, it's the ultimate chance to win silverware this season and call it somewhat successful in some regard. This game might also be saying goodbyes to a host of men including Chelsea's Hazard and manager Sarri.The Gunners have never won a European match versus another English club (D2, L4), including one loss to Chelsea, but can boast a superior H2H record versus the Blues in the last eight competitive meetings (W4, D3, L1).
Odds and likelihood of triumph:
Chelsea - 2.50 (37%)Draw - 3.40 (31%)
Arsenal - 3.07 (32%)
Our Chelsea vs Arsenal Predictions
Unbeaten in this Europa League campaign, Chelsea will be hoping to capitalize on Arsenal's poor performances away from the Emirates Stadium - of 27 trips this season, just six have seen Arsenal keep a clean sheet. At no point this final between Arsenal and Chelsea should be referred to any of their previous clashes domestically, as Emery's pedigree of guiding Sevilla to three consecutive trophies here is beyond the realm of comprehension and the exceptional European showings of Chelsea, who also warmed up in a friendly win against MLS team New England Revolution four days after the Premier League closed for mid-season.Even though there will be two teams from the same country confronting each other, it will hardly make it less interesting to watch, given the level at which this match's going to be played and neutral ground that pretty much poises their powers. From an unbiased perspective, we see Arsenal as the lesser team in this final battle but do not exclude the fact extra times, or even penalties, may be needed to determine the new EL title holders.
| Our Betting Tip: |
|---|
| Chelsea Draw No Bet @ 1.75 |
| Correct Score: |
|---|
| Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal @ 8.50 |
Predicted Score-Related Betting Tips
