Arsenal vs Chelsea
Football games between these two heavyweights in the capital need no introduction.
Not as far as modern history and Premier League betting is concerned.
Sports betting students may also tell you that such meetings are often cyclical.
There was a spell when Chelsea simply could not beat Arsenal in the top flight.
Such was the psychological hold; they failed to beat the Gunners in a single league game from late 1995 until 2005.
That turned around completely as the powerful Roman Abramovich-Jose Mourinho axis cemented itself and wrote a new chapter in English football.
To prove that point, from 2005 onwards, Arsenal only won two of their next 11 top-flight meetings with Chelsea.
Now as they prepare to meet in their first match of 2018, the stakes remain high.
Neither club is in championship contention, but both are in the race for a top-four berth which the money men at top clubs so crave.
In truth, Arsenal have got under Chelsea’s skin of late.
They were denied a league and cup double by the Gunners in the FA Cup Final last May. Then Wembley beckoned again in the Community Shield in August when Arsenal fought back and triumphed on spot-kicks to lift more silverware.
And then there was the league stalemate at Stamford Bridge in September, a goalless draw which secured Arsenal’s first point in West London for six years.
So here we are, a new year and the next installment of a battle which has provided so many talking points and needle, particularly since the Abramovich era began.
What awaits these two rivals and their followers in 2018?
We are about to witness the first part of the story unfold.
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