Arsenal-Chelsea Rivalry May Decide This Season's Champion

The Chelsea-Arsenal rivalry was born in 1907 when the two first played against one other. This was the first time that two London teams had played each other in the First Division and drew a staggering capacity of 65,000.The most of it is been dominated by Arsenal, by winning 68,drewing 51 and losing 49 out of total 168 matches played between the two sides.

Arsenal’s domination over Chelsea continued through to the 2002 FA Cup Final. The match was a star-studded affair. Every player on both sides was an international. Arsenal had the likes of David Seaman, Tony Adams and Thierry Henry while Chelsea had Frank Lampard, Celestine Babayaro and Arsenal old boy, Emmanuel Petit. 0-0 at the half, Arsenal took the lead in the 70th minute courtesy of Ray Parlour and doubled the lead 10 minutes later thanks to Fredrik Ljungberg.

What took the Arsenal- Chelsea rivalry to another level were two things. The appointment of Jose Mourinho as Chelsea Manager and the transfer of Ashley Cole to Chelsea. Mourinho saw that the Chelsea-Arsenal rivalry was one way traffic. He wanted to change this up and in no time got under the skin of Arsene Wenger. Wenger and all of Arsenal didn’t like the fact that Cole wanted to go to Chelsea and after putting up a fight, finally let him go although it helped that they received William Gallas in return.

After this, Chelsea was far more competitive in the Chelsea-Arsenal rivalry. They started winning more games and more important games like they did in 2007 League Cup Final. This was the final League Cup final to be played in Cardiff as the new Wembley Stadium was now ready.

Though, the teams don't consider each other their main rivals, but  there has always been strong needle between the fans dating back to the 1930s.

Head-2-Head

                  Arsenal wins       Draw          Chelsea wins

League:     59                     44                41

FA Cup        8                       6                 5

League Cup 2                      0                  3

Other             0                      1                  2

Total               69                     51               49

As, both chelsea and Arsenal are in good form, it is ok to say that this match may decide this seasons champion.