Carling Cup betting – Arsenal vs Wigan

Arsenal vs Wigan betting preview

Arsenal ended a week from hell with their 4-2 defeat of Aston Villa at the weekend. The defeats at home to Tottenham the week before and the loss to Sporting Braga midweek looked as if Arsenal were in free-fall, however the convincing away win silenced all doughts. The loss of Cesc Fabregas midweek of course was a big blow to the Gunners but the central midfield triangle of Alex Song anchoring with Jack Wilshere and the outstanding Samir Nasri  seems to working out well in his absence.

As we have seen this season Arsenal can get goals from all over the pitch, and against weaker defending sides like Wigan they aren’t afraid to go forward with all they have got. Players like Andrey Arshavin and Samir Nasri who both scored at the weekend can always be counted upon to chip in with a goal or two. Both are priced at 5/1 to open the scoring on Coral and BoyleSports respectively.

Wenger has never been one to treat the Carling Cup which much interest however with it being 5 years no silverware he may just fancy the Carling Cup this year.  However it makes it difficult to predict his starting line-up, Theo Walcott should be gifted a start after his double salvo in the last cup fixture against Newcastle. But it’s a toss-up between Maruane Chamakh and Niklas Bentdner in regards who will lead the line up front.

Wigan

Wigan’s season has been as expected quite a poor one, however it can be bet on that Roberto Martinez will stick out a strong line-up in a bid to get one over one of the ‘Big-Four’ and book a date at Wembley. Talisman Charles N’Zogbia is a key figure for the Lactics and should be expected to give the goals for them in the big matches, especially with Colombian hitman Hugo Rodellega serving the second game of a three game ban. New acquisition Franco Di Santo will probably be handed a starting place in place of the Colombian, and is priced at a handsome 9/2 to score anytime on BoyleSports and StanJames.

Wigan’s defensive record has gotten better this season; much of this is down to Bolton loanee Ali Al Habsi who has kept Wigan’s results less shameful then earlier in the season. The quality of Arsenal though will most probably be too much for Wigan’s fragile back four, a high scoring fixture looks likely, unless Wigan decide to park the bus in the hope of a home revival. 4-1 Arsenal looks like an interesting bet and is priced at a handsome 18/1 on SkyBet however a more realistic 2-0 Arsenal win is 13/2 on William Hill

Highlighted Bets

First Goalscorer Andrey Arshavin 5/1 Coral
First Goalscorer Samir Nasri 5/1 Bet 365
Anytime Goalscorer Franco Di Santo 9/2 StanJames
Correct Score Arsenal 4-1 18/1 Sky Bet
Correct Score Arsenal 2-0 13/2 William Hill

By John Fernandez

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