English Premier
2011-10-16 - Arsenal vs Sunderland
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Premier League
Sunday 16 October 2011 - Kickoff 1:30pm
This game is live on TV
Arsenal
The drama that has affected the start of the Arsenal season has now had former players stating that they do not believe this team is good enough to finish in the top 6, let alone challenge for a Champions League place for next season. Arsene Wenger is under pressure at the club, but he arguably faces a manager who is under even more pressure at this moment in time.
Arsenal are as low as 15th in the Premier League after suffering a 2-1 defeat in the North London Derby and they have a poor 7 point tally considering the usual high standards they set for themselves. The Gunners are 2-0-1 at the Emirates Stadium, scoring 4 goals and conceding just 2 and will look to build on that here.
The team had won 3 games in a row, all at home, before the loss to Tottenham but they had been far from convincing in their performances. Overall, they have won 4 games in a row at home in all competitions and they have kept back to back clean sheets here in the League.
Wojciech Szczesny should be fit to play even though he has a back complaint, while Laurent Koscielny should partner Per Mertesacker at centre half. Bacary Sagna, Jack Wilshire and Abou Diaby are all long term absentees, while Thomas Vermaelan is not due back until next week at the earliest.
Sunderland
As I mentioned, Arsene Wenger is under pressure, but the leader of the 'Sack Race' is Steve Bruce who has lost a big supporter in Niall Quinn from the boardroom. Bruce has been under the spotlight for much of the season as his Sunderland side have not made a good start to the season and a 0-1 home loss to Newcastle United is never going to be well received.
Sunderland actually sit one place below Arsenal in the League table, in 16th, and they have only picked up 6 points from their opening 7 games, winning just once this season as their home crowds dwindle. Sunderland are 0-2-1 away from home, scoring 2 goals and conceding 3 in those games.
The one win Sunderland picked up came against Stoke City at the Stadium of Light, but they have since lost at Norwich City and drawn with West Brom at home, although the latter of those saw the Black Cats recover from 0-2 down.
Titus Bramble remains suspended following allegations made against him, while Phil Bardsley is suspended. That means Steve Bruce's side is looking a little short for personnel at the back, while Nicolas Bendtner cannot play against his parent club and Connor Wickham is a doubt.
Head to Head
Sunderland have failed to score a goal in their last 3 visits to the Emirates Stadium, but they have only lost 1 of those games.
The team earned a credible 0-0 draw here towards the end of last season, the 2nd time they have done that in the past 3 seasons.
The last 7 games between the sides have ended with 2 goals or less being scored and only 8 goals have been scored by the teams combined.
Prediction
This time last year, I would have had no hesitation backing Arsenal at the 1.50 they are being offered at this season, but there is such a large element of doubt about their team at this moment.
However, I think there is a bigger doubt about Sunderland and I am struggling to see how they keep Arsenal from scoring using a defence that has had a hard time of late and one that is short of options.
Arsenal still have players like Robin Van Persie and Theo Walcott who will be able to score goals against Sunderland, especially with the way they defended against Norwich and West Brom in their last 2 League games.
Sunderland will be missing their attacking option in Bendtner, and I was tempted in picking Arsenal to 'win to nil' but I have deep reservations about their defence at the moment.
Instead, I will take Arsenal to cover the Asian Handicap as I feel they will be creating enough chances against this Sunderland team that may be feeling the pressure to ease some on their own embattled manager Steve Bruce.
Last season I would have been much more confident with this pick as I would be backing Arsenal to cover... This year I will be feeling the pick can come in because of the Sunderland deficiencies instead.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland
