Chelsea vs Arsenal Prediction & Carabao Cup Betting Tips

New boss Liam Rosenior will get his first taste of Stamford Bridge on Wednesday when Chelsea take on Arsenal in the League Cup semi-final first leg (kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports).

The former Hull and Strasbourg boss was in the dugout on Saturday as his new side beat Charlton 5-1 in the FA Cup at the Valley, but he will be expecting a very different challenge this time around.

The Gunners sit seven places, and 18 points clear of Chelsea, who have slipped to eighth in the Premier League table after just one win in their last nine, which resulted in the departure of head coach Enzo Maresca.

Arsenal have won this trophy twice before, but the last time was way back in 1992/93 when they beat Sheffield Wednesday in the final at Wembley. The celebrations are remembered as the time captain Tony Adams dropped Steve Morrow, and the latter was rushed to hospital with a badly broken arm!

Chelsea are more recent winners, securing the title for the fifth time in 2015 when they beat Tottenham 2-0 in the final thanks to goals from John Terry and Diego Costa.

Football betting sites have Arsenal behind Manchester City, who are favourites to lift the trophy in March, while you can get a bigger price on Carabao Cup odds on the Blues winning their first domestic trophy since May 2018 when they beat Manchester United 1-0 in the FA Cup final.

They did, of course, win the Europa Conference League in May and the Fifa World Club Cup in July, and Rosenior would love the chance to win his first trophy at the first opportunity.

These two sides have already met in the league this season, at Stamford Bridge, and the game ended 1-1 despite the home side playing an hour with 10 men after Moises Caicedo was sent off.

That was the third successive draw in the league at Stamford Bridge, but the Gunners do have the most recent win, when Gabriel scored the only goal of the game in November 2022 to earn his side a 1-0 win.

Chelsea’s last home win against their London rivals came way back in August 2018 when Pedro, Alvaro Morata and Marcos Alonso were all on target in a 3-2 win.

It’s easy to see why the Gunners are the favourites for this one at odds of 5/4 with the betting sites, and the last time they met in this competition, at the same stage back in 2017, the match at Stamford Bridge was a goalless draw before Arsenal ran out 2-1 winners in the second leg.

With a new manager at the helm and so many games having played in recent weeks, we think this could be a cagey affair ahead of the second leg in three weeks' time.

Chelsea vs Arsenal prediction 1: A draw - 5/2 BetVictor

Mikel Merino has scored two goals in his last two matches against Chelsea, including back in November when he cancelled out Trevoh Chalobah’s opener.

He already has 11 for the season so far, although six of those have come for Spain, so he would love to add to his Gunners tally.

He has played in all four of Arsenal’s domestic cup games so far this season, and he’s likely to feature again on Wednesday as he finds league starts hard to come by when everyone is fit.

Chelsea vs Arsenal prediction 2: Mikel Merino to score -17/4 Ladbrokes

Chelsea: Moises Caicedo will be missing for Chelsea due to suspension after picking up his second booking of the tournament against Cardiff, but Marc Cucurella is available again, after he missed the FA Cup match due to suspension. Mykhaylo Mudryk (doping suspension), Romeo Lavia (thigh) and Levi Colwill (knee) will also miss out.

Arsenal: Piero Hincapie (thigh), Riccardo Calafiori (muscle), Cristhian Mosquera (ankle) and Max Dowman (ankle) are all likely to miss out again, but striker Kai Havertz did make his long-awaited return from injury on Sunday, coming on as a second-half substitute at Fratton Park after a knee injury.

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