2007 Carling Cup Final: Arsenal v Chelsea
Arsenal stuttered to a 1-0 defeat against PSV, failing to penetrate the Dutch defence amidst all the gloom. What chances they’ll trouble the Chelsea defence with Terry back to his best? Sporting Index reckons they’ll manage to score 0.9 to 1.1 goals in Cardiff. That could be one market to attract the sellers given the Gunners miserable record of breaching the Chelsea defence - they’ve only scored two goals in their last five encounters. Expecting a high number of goals could be wishful thinking with an edgy contest always on show. Sporting Index predicts 2.2 to 2.4 total goals in the match. With only eight goals in their previous five games, it could take a brave decision to go high on that spread. It might not need such a courageous individual to go high on Baptista’s goal minutes. He’s netted six times in the Carling Cup and his goal minutes spread is 12-15 minutes. You’d have to go back eight matches to see the last time Arsenal emerged victorious over Chelsea and it’s no wonder Sporting Index have the Blues to shade this by a 0.2 to 0.4 goal margin. Drogba scored twice last time they met in Cardiff in a 2-1 Community Shield win and is always a handful for Toure and co. His goal minutes spread is 17-20 minutes.