Subject Choices for Chemistry

If one is interested (one being semi me , and one of my friends who is too afraid to post) in doing chemistry at uni , and has to choose one's IB subjects , which of the following would be best for Imperial/Durham/Oxford:

HL Chem , Phys , Math
SL English A , Spanish ab initio , History/Economics

or

HL Math , Chem , English
SL Theatre, History , Spanish ab initio

Obviously the first choice is more suited , but would , say a predicted score of 41 or 42 with the second set of options be better than a lower score for the first set? Also , do Oxford/Imperial/Durham generally accept people with only Chemistry and Maths (ik it doesn't say anything more than that on their websites , but it's obviously a competitive course so I wasn't sure whether they secretly require Physics or Biology)