BRIGHTON host Arsenal on Saturday in the Premier League. Chris Clark (@ChrisClark1975) shares his verdict.
Brighton vs Arsenal | Saturday 2nd October 2021, 17:30 | Sky Sports
Intriguing. Very intriguing match up this.
Have Arsenal turned the corner? Is #Artetaout no longer a thing? Whilst Arsenal are on a run of 3 wins in the league on the spin, this is a step-up from those three fixtures, as Brighton have had an excellent start to the season.
Only Manchester City and Chelsea have more home clean sheets than Brighton since the turn of the year, and Brighton have only faced 16 shots on target. Only Manchester City have fared better. Meanwhile on the other hand Arsenal's only away defeats in the last 10, have been against Brentford and Manchester City this season.
Arsenal were very good for 45 minutes at home to Spurs last time out, but let's not beat around the bush, Spurs were abject. Terrible. Awful. I could go on. As a Spurs fan of over 40 years, I have seen plenty of poor performances, but that was one of the worst. Enough of my moaning, how will Saturday evening turn out.
Yes, this is going to be an exceptionally tight game, Arsenal will miss Xhaka's tenacity for the next few months, and if Bissouma returns for the home side, that may tip things into the Seagulls favour, but these are small margins. Saturday will be tight and tactical, and the draw and under 2.5 goals is 3/1 with
bet365 and I'm happy to back that.
If there is a goalscorer on Saturday, then Neal Maupay will be looking to follow up his late winner on Monday night. Maupay has scored the winner in his two previous starts against Arsenal, and you can't forget the general sh*thousery of his late winner against Arsenal when the Premier League returned from lockdown last aummer.
Maupay has scored with 44.4% of his shots this season (4 in 9, excluding blocked efforts), it's the highest rate of any player with more than five attempts in the current campaign.
Maupay is 13/2 with
Betway to be the first goalscorer on Saturday evening and that seems good value looking at his strike rate so far this season.
Best Bets
Brighton vs Arsenal – Draw and Under 2.5 Goals (3/1 Bet365)
Brighton vs Arsenal – Neal Maupay first goalscorer (13/2 Betway)
