Previous Wenger milestones point to 1-0 Chelsea win at Bridge

A team managed by Jose Mourinho is perhaps the last that Arsene Wenger would have chosen to face if he could have hand-picked his opposition for his landmark 1000th game in charge of Arsenal.

After all, not only has Wenger failed to get the better of Mourinho in their 10 career meetings in opposing dugouts, but the Special One has also already spoiled one milestone moment.

Rewind back to August 2005 and Wenger was about to celebrate his 500th fixture as Arsenal manager with a trip to Stamford Bridge to take on a Mourinho-led Chelsea.

Didier Drogba scored the solitary goal that day in a 1-0 Chelsea win and the fact that Mourinho has never tasted Premier League defeat at the Bridge does show the enormity of the task facing Arsenal.

Chelsea’s odds are 9/10 to beat Arsenal, with the Gunners priced at 10/3 to not only end Mourinho’s lengthy unbeaten home streak, but provide Wenger with the ultimate reason to crack open the Pastis on the short coach-ride back to north London.

However, it is the Chelsea victory that has to be considered the more likely outcome and some extra profit can be made from looking at some of the lesser markets.

There has been one consistent theme that has run throughout Wenger’s previous landmark fixtures – the team playing at home has triumphed by one goal.

His 250th ended in a 1-0 victory over Ipswich, while game number 750 was a 2-1 League Cup success over Liverpool.

A Chelsea success by a one-goal margin can be backed at 14/5 to keep this trend going, while the Blues repeating their 1-0 victory of 2005 is worthy of investment at 13/2.

This is because Chelsea have kept clean sheets in each of their last six fixtures at Stamford Bridge dating back to mid-January, while Arsenal are hardly free-scoring either, with only two goals netted across their last three league outings.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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