Back in the days of George Graham “1-0 to the Arsenal” was sung proudly by the fans in the stands as once they saw their team go a goal up, they had so much confidence in their defense that they just couldn’t see the opposition scoring. That’s not a chant you hear so much nowadays. Arsenal have only had two wins with that scoreline and that was away against Burnley on Matchday 7 and West Brom last weekend. Of course, Arsenal are a much more expansive side nowadays and defense isn’t their first priority.
Crystal Palace have just given up on attaining a similar goal. Under Alan Pardew, they set out to build a more creative side that was easier in the eye. It’s fair to say that didn’t work and with former England manager Sam Allardyce now in charge, it’s very much back to basics. Palace managed to become more attacking, they’ve scored in all but 4 league games this season, but they also became extremely leaky at the other end, conceding 33 goals in 18 games and keeping just one clean sheet all season. Sam Allardyce will be keen to get to work on that defense as he knows his side can score, with Benteke, Townsend and Zaha in place they have a dangerous side to their game. If they can start to keep some clean sheets then they will start to work their way back up the table.
To be fair to Alan Pardew, his side hasn\’t done a lot worse than they did last season and he got them to an FA Cup final last time out. Based on matches against the same (or similar sides) Crystal Palace are just 3 points down on their tally from last season. That should leave them some winnable matches to come in the second half of the season.
Arsenal are up on their results from last season and look on course to once again qualify for a Champions League position. That’s not really enough for a growing number of Arsenal fans and the feeling is that Arsenal will be looking for a new manager in the summer. A club in the Champions League with a sizeable amount of money to spend will be an attractive prospect for many managers though the change doesn’t always work out for the best.
In regards to this game, I think it’s easy to say that we’re looking for an Arsenal win. Green Listed Bookmaker Pinnacle are offering the best odds on a home win and even they don’t go above 1.34 right now. There may be perceived “value” on the draw odds and two-thirds of recent games have finished in a draw between these two sides but I’m not prepared to risk my money on that.
With a new, more defensive, manager in place, I’m also not prepared to say that Arsenal can build up a dominant win so that rules out some of the Asian Handicap markets for me too.
Instead, I’m looking at the Both Teams To Score market. Arsenal aren’t as strong defensively as they once were and Palace have the tools to notch a goal so opting for the “Yes” side of this bet seems sensible at 1.91 with Bet365.
That’s about the best value I can see in these markets and is a decent bet on what should be a decent game.
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