CARABAO CUP TUESDAY: The Striker previews ARSENAL v CRYSTAL PALACE with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
ARSENAL V CRYSTAL PALACE
8pm It’s the last fixture before Christmas on Betdaq Betting Exchange as we have Carabao Cup action on Tuesday night! Arsenal host Crystal Palace in the last Quarter-Final with the sides unable to play with everyone else last week due to the commitments in Europe for Crystal Palace. Wins for Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester City mean we’re going to have an exceptionally competitive end to the Carabao Cup this season. It’s usually at the Semi-Final stage when the big sides start taking it seriously – Chelsea and City named weaker than usual starting XI’s last week.
It might be interesting to see what XI Arteta decides to go with here, but he can hardly afford to take Crystal Palace lightly. How many times has it been thrown at Arteta that he has yet to translate the Arsenal level into trophies. They lead the Premier League by two points, but obviously it would be nice to add a domestic Cup before we get to the title run-in. Obviously all the questions remain about Arsenal under pressure too with Manchester City just two points behind now. City chased down Arsenal quite comfortably a few seasons ago, and that might have left a mark given the way Arsenal crumbled.
This should be a good game though. It’s no surprise that Arsenal come into the game as the odds on favourites at 1.63 with Crystal Palace 6.4 and the draw is 4.1 at the time of writing. Arsenal have been superb this season, and they grinded out a nice 1-0 win away to Everton at the weekend – as I said in my preview of that game, Everton have been solid at home since David Moyes returned. Crystal Palace had a terrible weekend, getting hammered 4-1 by Leeds and that meant they’ve recorded back-to-back losses in the Premier League for the first time this season.
One of those games came against Manchester City, so let’s not be too harsh on Palace. They’ve slipped down the table as a result though, and perhaps you could say that maybe the cracks are starting to show given their results haven’t matched their performance levels. Palace are marginally conceding more chances than they are creating this season, and that usually puts you in mid-table. They’ve been a little too high in the table this season based on their xG figures and you might expect them to slip down as the season goes on.
I know Arsenal might opt to rest some players here, and with that in mind I’m going to reduce stakes, but the 1.63 looks far too big on Arsenal here. Not only have they been impressive going forward with an average xG created of 1.7 – the second best attacking figure in the Premier League – they have been exceptionally good at the back with an average xG conceded of only 0.85. That’s the best defensive figure in Europe; even more impressive it comes in a league as competitive as the Premier League. I’d have Arsenal sub 1.6 here – they would be Five Star NAP material if we knew the XI but as things stand, I’m happy with three points.
The Striker Says:
Three points win Arsenal to beat Crystal Palace at 1.63 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/CCArCr
