Arsenal will be desperate to put their Champions League disappointment behind them when they travel to face Wolves in the Premier League for a Saturday evening kick-off.
It has been a week to forget for Mikel Arteta’s charges as they slumped to a surprise 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa last Sunday which was a blow to their title ambitions before they came up short against Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
However, there is little time to lick their wounds and feel sorry for themselves as the games keep coming thick and fast during the run-in.
As far as Wolves is concerned, they have made progress under Gary O’Neil, but they will be looking to arrest a four-game winless streak.
On the injury front, Nelson Semedo is a doubt after he was taken off against Nottingham Forest with a hamstring complaint, while Rayan Ait-Nouri may not play any part.
A victory for Wolves will see them climb into the top half of the table, but will they impress under the floodlights at Molineux?
I have scurried over to the betting markets and plucked out a couple of tips for your perusal.
Arsenal to pull themselves together
Of course, being eliminated at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League will have been hugely dispiriting given Arsenal’s lack of involvement in the competitions during recent seasons.
But unlike in Europe, the Gunners have enjoyed the better of things in the Premier League this term, and they are still firmly in the title race.
Yes, the performance was rather flat against Villa last weekend, but other than that, Arsenal have looked fluid.
It was the first league game they suffered defeat in 2024, and they will be desperate to avoid back-to-back losses, something they last experienced at the back end of last year against West Ham and Fulham.
More encouragingly, the Gunners have kept five clean sheets in each of their past five league away games, marking their joint-longest run in the club’s history dating back to 1997. The last team to clock up six clean sheets on the trot was Liverpool which they achieved between December and March during the 2014/15 campaign.
Wolves, on the other hand, are in a bit of a rut without a win in any of their past four league games, and they haven’t scored in their last two meetings at home with Arsenal.
Though there may be some mental wounds that have surfaced over the past week, I think the Gunners will shake it off, pull themselves together, and get the victory required to take them back to the top of the table.
I’m drawn to the Arsenal to win to nil line which has been priced at a short-looking 13/10 with Paddy Power.
Bukayo Saka to profit on the road again
Bukayo Saka has once again been instrumental to the Arsenal cause again this term, and he is the club’s top scorer, weighing in with 14 goals in the Premier League.
His stats make for impressive reading, and the 22-year-old has had eight goal involvements in his last seven league games on the road (seven goals, one assist).
This is underlined by the fact his 13 away goal involvements (eight goals, five assists) is the most by an Arsenal player in the league since Alexis Sanchez’s 20 during the 2016/17 season.
Saka, who has netted in his side’s past two league clashes with Wolves, could end up on the scoresheet again.
To round things up, I’m going with Saka to convert inside the six-yard box for the sake of value, and William Hill has obliged with a tempting price of 9/1.
Bet £10, Get £50 in Bonuses
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