Arsenal vs Spurs betting

Arsenal Form: DDLWWL

A shaky start to the season was followed by a period of recovery but now it looks as though Arsenal are in danger of fading once again. After their thrilling 3-3 draw with Fulham, The Gunners sit in 8^th place in the league with just 16 points from their 11 games this season. Should they finish in the position they are in, the Arsenal fans will be very disappointed with Champions League qualification vital in their ambitions to get back to the top of European football. This means that the pressure is now on Arsene Wenger to climb the table and he will be looking to get the fans back onside with a win over their bitter North London rivals. Get a choice of free bets for this match.

The 3-3 draw with Fulham highlighted all that is good and bad about Arsenal. Whilst they were fantastic in attack, they looked slightly frail at the back. One man that had a game to forget was Mikel Arteta; after giving away a penalty earlier in the match, Arteta had the chance to atone for his sins only to see his own spot kick saved with the very last action of the game. He was unfortunate in the game against Fulham and is actually having a good season as a great partnership with Cazorla is taking shape.

Arsenal have continued their fantastic passing game this season but it hasn’t resulted in quite as many goals as in previous years. Averaging 1.64 goals a game in the Premier League, their main attacking outlets have been Podolski, Cazorla, Giroud and the injured Gervinho who is not expected to be fit for the weekend fixture. They have each scored three goals and Giroud in particular seems to be growing in confidence with every passing game.

Tottenham Form: LWLLWD

Tottenham have enjoyed a fairly solid start to the season under new manager Andre Villas Boas. He looks to have got the full support of the dressing room and they came close to taking a point in their recent game against league champions Man City. Despite their solid start to the season, two losses in their last two league games mean that they have fallen down to 7^th position. They will be eager to correct this and push on to get into the fourth Champions League qualifying place.

The loss of Moussa Dembele in their last two league games has seen Tottenham lack a ball carrying presence in the centre of midfield and may have contributed to their demise. Unfortunately, along with Benoit Assou-Ekotto and long term absentee Scott Parker, he will be unavailable again and Villas Boas will need to find a solution to this problem if his team are going to win the game.

Spurs games have been fairly entertaining this season with seven out of their eleven games going over the 2.5 goal mark. The majority of these goals are in the second halves of matches with nine out of the eleven games having a second 45minutes of over 1.5 goals. Tottenham are always a threat towards the end of games as their pacey wingers begin to exploit tiring teams. Gareth Bale in particular has been extremely impressive with his old manager comparing his form to that of the most expensive footballer in history, Cristiano Ronaldo. Jermaine Defoe will enjoy a rest after not being called up for international duty and having scored five league goals this season already, he will be hoping to add to his tally at the weekend.

Betting Preview

North London derbies are always fiercely contested and Saturday’s game should be no different. The last six games between the two teams have all featured at least three goals and the morale boost from winning such a game will hopefully inspire both teams to go on the offensive from the first whistle. Arsenal have managed to keep a clean sheet in 36% of their league games but Tottenham have only failed to score once this season and have scored in all their away games. With Tottenham having kept just on clean sheet in their last 32 games against Arsenal in all competitions, it seems highly likely that both teams will find the net.

Arsenal’s main threat looks likely to come in the shape of Giroud with Cazorla threading the balls through to the Frenchman. In terms of the Tottenham attack, Defoe always looks likely to score and the pace of Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon will provide a serious test to the Arsenal defence. It looks likely that both teams will get a goal but the home advantage may swing the tie in Arsenal’s favour.

Highlighted bets

Santi Cazorla, anytime assist, 13/5 with BoyleSports

Both teams to score in the second half, 7/4 with SkyBet

Olivier Giroud to score first, 13/2 with SkyBet

Bale to score at any time, 3/1 with SkyBet

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Article by Ryan Moore

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