WOLVES host Arsenal on Tuesday night in the Premier League. Daniel McCulloch (@DMcCulloch1984) shares his favourite fancies.
Wolves vs Arsenal | Tuesday 2nd February 2021, 18:00 | BT Sport
It’s unlikely that we will see a humdinger at Molineux on Tuesday night, with these two managing just 47 goals between them this term, in 42 combined games.
Wolves are certainly in a poor run of form, with just three points (and no victories) in their last eight league games. Across those matches, Nuno’s side have scored just eight goals and they are clearly missing their talisman, Raul Jimenez, who they have relied on for goals at this level.
Jimenez scored a third (17/51) of their goals last season and given that they also lost Diogo Jota and Matt Doherty in the summer (the two combined for 11 goals themselves) it is no surprise that Wolves have struggled to find the net in recent times.
Arsenal are in far better form than Wolves with The Gunners undefeated in their last seven league games and have managed 17 points in that time period. However, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang likely to be missing once again, Bukayo Saka not certain to start having missed the game against Man Utd at the weekend and their general inability to create chances means I don’t think the 5/4 is big enough for me to endorse the away side.
I did consider the 0-0 half time score as that is often profitable where Wolves are concerned but instead I will take the BTTS No at 9/10 with BetVictor. Such a bet has obliged in 13 of Arsenal’s 21 league games this season and 11 of Wolves. That is a combined 24 of 42 and I would always accept a probability of 57% when taking a bet on that only needs to land 52% of the time.
Elsewhere, I originally looked at Kieran Tierney in the ‘To be shown a card’ market but Scotland’s best left back is out of this game and will be replaced by Cedric Soares.
Soares averages a card every 6.5 games across his Premier League career but has one in four games for Arsenal this term and is playing out of position here. He is likely to be up against Adama Traore who is a glutton for punishment when it comes to getting opponents booked and surely Wolves will be targeting the Portuguese.
Craig Pawson is the referee for this encounter and he has produced the yellow card on 36 occasions this season in just 11 games. If the whistler cautions three or four players on Tuesday night I would expect Soares to be one of them so all things considered, the 5/1 Unibet are offering on Soares to be booked looks like value to me.
Best Bets
Wolves vs Arsenal – Both Teams To Score ‘No’ (9/10 BetVictor)
Wolves vs Arsenal – Cedric to be booked (5/1 Unibet)
