Premiership Portsmouth vs Arsenal
Posted on | April 12, 2006 | No Comments
We have one of the giants of Premiership, the Gunners, against relegation battlers, Portsmouth. Most will straight away put a big punton Arsenal to win hands down, but mind you the season is coming to an end and anything can happen when it involves teams playing to save their skin in the top flight. Portsmouth form for the last 4 games have been pretty good, winning 3 against Manchester City, West Ham and Fulham while managing a draw against UEFA Champions League hopeful Blackburn. A win tonight will put them on 4th last in standing and a better chance of avoiding the drop. Unfortunately they have never beaten Arsenal, managing 2 draws and 4 losses in six head to head meetings.
Arsenal’s weekend lost to Manchester United dealt a big blow to their Champions League ambition, now they are 5 points behind 4th placed Tottenham for the last Champions League seat. A win tonight will put them above Blackburn and 2 points behind Tottenham, knowing Spurs will have to meet Manchester United later on this season, this is a game where anything less than a 3 points victory is a failure. Gunners manager Arsene Wenger will probably give his prized striker Thierry Henry a start after controversially resting him against Manchester United, without Henry the Gunners seems lost most of the time as most of the creativity and flow of play depends on him.
I’m quite sceptical with Arsenal’s Premiership form, although their european form has been excellent, they never managed to bring that form back in the Premiership, especially when playing away from home. This season has seen the worst of Arsenal, their away form stands at 4 wins, 3 draws and a stagerring 9 losses. Not much can be said when it comes to Portsmouth’s home form as well, they stands at 3 wins, 6 draws and 6 losses playing infront of their fans. Betting conclusion? A wee punt on Arsenal at -3/4 2.00 on Asianhandicap, where’s the joy of Champions League if Arsenal is not in it next season?
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