Arsenal v Qarabag: Gunners to excel in tame tussle

THE EUROPA LEAGUE group-stage concludes on Thursday night as Arsenal host Qarabag at The Emirates. Tom Love (@TomLove_18) shares his betting thoughts.

Arsenal v Qarabag | Thursday 13th December 2018, 20:00 | BT Sport

There’s not much on this game but I still think there’s a few angles of interest.

Arsenal boast a W4-D1-L0 record in this competition which means they’ve already qualified for the knockout stages. If the Gunners manage to at least draw here it will guarantee top spot. Unai Emery is likely to rotate and play some of the youngsters again but they’ve proved themselves more than capable in the last few games in this competition.

Emile-Smith Rowe has starred for the Gunners when he’s had the chance – he’s likely to start again at The Emirates on Thursday night. Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Eddie Nketiah are in line to join him and it’s a chance for them to give something for Emery to consider in the league.

Qarabag, on the other hand, are bottom of the pool on three points and cannot go through. They will come and play with professional pride and want to show themselves on the big stage. They were comfortably dispatched against Arsenal in the reverse fixture and a similar routine defeat for the Horsemen is expected in North London.

With the Gunners going off around 1/4 we have to find a value angle to get with them. Firstly, I’m going to utilise Bet365’s Bet Builder feature and back Arsenal to win and Under 4 Cards in the game, which is available at even-money.

With nothing really to play for here I’m not expecting it to be a feisty affair; the pair are the most disciplined two in this group on the card statistics. It could have a friendly feel to it, especially at an Emirates Stadium, which will probably only be half-full – it’s hardly going to be a raucous atmosphere.

At a bigger price I’m happy to take a punt in the Correct Score market and plump for a 3-0 home win at a a standout 15/2 with BetVictor. The Gunners have kept a clean sheet in their last four Europa League fixtures and won by this scoreline in Azerbaijan, as well as running out 3-0 victors last time out against Vorskla Poltava.