TOM LOVE (@TomLove_18) has perused the markets ahead of Super Sunday's mouthwatering showdown between Manchester City and Arsenal to share his best bets.
Manchester City v Arsenal | Sunday 3rd February 2019, 16:30 | Sky Sports
Manchester City fell to a surprise to defeat at St James’ Park last time out and Pep Guardiola spent a whole lot of time in the dressing room after that game, addressing his players on what went wrong. He will have hoped that his fury will have gotten through to his troops in preparation for this big clash.
City know that Liverpool play Monday night and will be aiming to keep the pressure on the league leaders by claiming victory on Sunday afternoon. They can’t afford too many more slip ups and they’ll fancy their chances against an Arsenal side who are less than convincing on the road.
What’s more, the Gunners are without key defenders Sokratis, Rob Holding and Hector Bellerin. Laurent Koscielny is back in contention after suffering a broken jaw a few weeks ago, but he won’t be fully fit you’d have thought.
We know that when City are on it they can tear teams apart, especially so against an attack-minded team like Arsenal. Sides who employ a disciplined 5-4-1 formation seem to be the hardest for the Citizens to break down; Newcastle performed it with aplomb but it’s just not in Arsenal’s nature to do so.
19/2 quotes on the away side have to tempt some in from a price perspective and I can’t argue that they look too big given the attacking quality in their squad. However, the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero must be licking their lips about coming up against this leaky defence.
If Pep has given them a rocket, I’d expect the hosts to come out all guns blazing here, and given Arsenal’s poor first-half record, I want to get an early home goal onside. We can get Over 1.5 City goals in the first half at 9/5 with Betfair and that looks a nice price.
I’m also willing to delve into the Correct Score market and back a 3-1 home win at 10/1 with Bet365. Arsenal are likely to score in my eyes – they usually do – and against a City defence that is conceding a few at the minute, I reckon they can utilise the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette to good effect.
City though have the superior attacking quality and a victory by two goals can’t be ruled out.
Best Bets
Manchester City v Arsenal – Manchester City to score Over 1.5 first-half goals (9/5 Betfair)
Manchester City v Arsenal – Manchester City 3-1 Arsenal (10/1 Bet365)
