DON'T what was the worse result in midweek – Man City losing at Wigan or Arsenal being beaten at home by Ostersunds.
To be fair to City they were down to 10 men in the first half while the Gunners were complacent after winning 3-0 in Sweden.
City's defeat ended their dream of landing an impossible quad but the treble's still on. The Premier League is almost theirs, they are Champions League favourites and tomorrow should send the Carabao Cup safely in the direction of their trophy room.
There have been a couple of wobbles for Pep Guardiola's men but they lead Arsenal by 27 points in the league and clearly the better team.
City are hot favourites at 8-13 with William Hill and just 4-11 on the outrights.
For a cup final Arsenal are big at 9-2 with Unibet in 90 minutes while the draw pays 18-5.
The one meeting this season finished 3-1 to City at the Etihad and both sides have scored in the last six meetings – with City's recent success their only one.
Both to score at Wembley pays just 4-7 at Betfred while Sergio Aguero, on target in four out of five against the Gunners, is evens at betfair to score again.
A couple of hours before the Cup Final sees the biggest game of the weekend as Man United host Chelsea.
In contrast to City-Arsenal this fixture is a low scorer with the past five meetings at Old Trafford going under 2.5 goals and this season it was 1-0 Chelsea at the Bridge. Under 2.5 pays 17-20 at Black Type while under 1.5 is 12-5 with Marathonbet.
Jose Mourinho again displayed his pragmatic side with Wednesday's 0-0 Champions League draw at Sevilla and his men have conceded just five times at home this campaign.
Chelsea played their best football for ages against Barcelona in midweek but lack depth up front and are over-reliant in Eden Hazard for goals. A 1-0 United win or 0-0 draw are possible outcomes.
Today's Premier League card looks tough. Liverpool should beat West Ham at Anfield but are just 1-4 so consider the home and over 2.5 match goals at 4-6 with Ladbrokes.
Leicester have been strong at home and should beat Stoke at 3-4 with McBookie.
The other games are too tight to call and a draws perm on matches at Bournemouth, Brighton, Burnley, Watford and West Brom. A fivefold pays 390-1 at betfair but the advice would to cover trebles and fourfolds (16 bets).
In the Championship best bets are Norwich at home to Bolton and Preston against Ipswich.
For goals look no further than Fulham v Wolves and Leeds v Brentford while Middlesbrough can add Sunderland's woes by winning the derby.
Sunderland are rooted to the foot after losing at home to Brentford then at Bolton while Middlesbrough are chasing a play-off place and can be backed at 28-25 with Marathonbet at the Riverside.
Plymouth are one point off the League One play-offs after five wins in a row and should make it six at home to Bradford. Derek Adams's men were 250-1 for promotion after a poor start and are a nice price today at 6-4 with McBookie.
Wigan should follow their Man City heroics by beating Rotherham at home and are 4-9 at McBookie. If Will Grigg's still on fire take him at 15-4 with bet365 to break the deadlock.
In League Two best bets could be Mansfield at home to Coventry. Steve Evans's side are 29-20 at Marathonbet after moving up to fourth with four wins in five while the Sky Blues have suffered four defeats in a row.
Recommended Bets
- Aguero to score (Evens, betfair) Sunday
- Man United v Chelsea under 2.5 goals (17-20, Black Type) Sunday
- Liverpool & over 2.5 goals (4-6, Ladbrokes)
- Leicester (3-4, McBookie, BetVictor)
- Fulham v Wolves btts & over 2.5 goals (63-50, Marathonbet)
- Plymouth (6-4, McBookie, BetVictor)
- Mansfield (29-20, Marathonbet)
Resident football tipster at Scotland's most read newspaper, the Daily Record, for over 20 years and proud host of one the best betting communities on the web with daily betting tips.
Morning gents,
It’s a pretty broad card on Saturday and on days like these it pays to stick with what you know.
My scope has passed over the more obvious usual suspects and settled on a game from the NLN…
DARLINGTON VS. KIDDERMINSTER HARRIERS:
No secret that Darlo were my adopted darlings these last two years in the lower leagues but wholesale changes and transfers have impacted massively in 2017/2018.
Kidderminster are going quitely about their business and may just have the capacity to exploit a Darlo defence that have conceded 3-1-0-2-2-0-1-2-2-3-1-3-3-1-3-3-3 goals in their last 17 consecutive matches.
Not going to be the obvious lower league bet out there but I reckon there’s plenty of value in this one:
KIDDERMINSTER OVER 1.5 TGS…11/10
????
Best of luck ?
One to consider for any Owls out there…
ACADEMIA CANTOLAO VS. REAL GARCILASO (0100 KO):
OVER 2.5 MGS…5/4
???
?
Third goal in each would’ve been great for the more speculative options but no complaints ?
Goals the focus for the Night Owl…
LIBERTAD VS. CERRO PORTEÑO (2300):
Libertad have scored a brace or more in their opening 3 fixtures – something they have done in both of their last home H2Hs but Cerro are hardly goal-shy.
BTTS…4/6
????
***WON***
****************************
COLO-COLO VS. O’HIGGINS (2300):
Two of the Chilean big-hitters here and could be fiery. Colo have scored 7 goals in their 3 opening fixtures and have score 2+ in each of the last 3 home H2Hs but I reckon O Higgins will play a part.
BTTS…4/6
????
***WON***
****************************
BTTS DOUBLE…1.77/1
???
***WON***
??
17:30 Man City vs Arsenal – Prediction 4.2
Current Form
* Arsenal have won only 4 of their last 12 matches in all competitions, losing 5 and drawing 3
* Man City have won 6 of their last 8 matches but suffered a shock 1.0 loss at Wigan in their most recent fixture in the FA Cup
* Arsenal have seen BTTS in 11 of their last 13 matches in all competitions
* 10 of those 11 matches also saw over 2.5 goals scored
* Man City have seen BTTS in 8 of their last 12 matches in all competitions
* 7 of those 8 matches also saw over 2.5 goals scored
* Arsenal have conceded 15 goals in their last 10 matches, keeping only 2 clean sheets in the process
Past Meetings
* 8 of the last 9 meetings saw BTTTS
* 7 of those 8 matches also saw over 2.5 goals scored
* 35 goals have been scored in the last 10 meetings between these two sides
* Arsenal have won 5 (1 AET), drawn 3 and lost only 2 of their last 10 meetings against Man City
* Arsenal have scored at least 1 goal in their last 13 matches against Man City
League Cup Final History
* 6 of the last 8 finals have seen BTTS
* Man City have won 2 of the last 4 League Cups
* Arsenal have not won the League Cup since 1993
* An average of 3.4 goals have been scored in the final since 2005
Final Verdict
The first trophy of the season is up for grabs this Sunday tea-time and we should be in for a thrilling occasion as Man City and Arsenal go head to head in front of 90000 supporters at Wembley Stadium in the final of a competition that has produced plenty of drama in recent years.
City come into this final as pretty clear favourites @8/13 odds on but Arsenal do have a really good record against the Citizens in the past few seasons and for that reason, I expect a really competitive match with plenty of goals at both ends and a lot of attacking football from two teams that love to go forward in numbers.
In fact, Arsenal have only lost 2 of their last 10 matches against Man City and while they are huge underdogs here, priced @9/2 to win in normal time, the Gunners can take heart from that record and I fully expect Arsene Wenger’s side to deliver a competitive performance against the runaway Premier League leaders.
For Wenger, you would have to say that this could easily be his last final as an Arsenal manager and you certainly wouldn’t begrudge the English game’s longest-serving gaffer a final piece of silverware in what really should be his last year at the helm.
Having never won this competition, perhaps a victory here would give the great Frenchman every reason to think about calling time on what has been a wonderful career as Gunners boss. Still, with another year on his contract, a Wenger departure would be considered a surprise, even if this Arsenal side continues to slide further and further from the glory achieved in the early part of the century.
Arsenal will certainly require their big game players to produce when it matters on Sunday and you would expect the likes of Ozil, Aubameyang and Wilshere to have a big influence on the outcome of this football match. If those players and the other 8 starters can give Arsenal a 9 out of 10 performance, then they could very well claim the scalp of City, having managed 5 wins over the Manchester side in their last 10 meetings but it is a lot to ask for a team that is not in great form, losing 5 of their last 12 matches in all competitions.
In contrast, their opponents here have had a truly outstanding season so far having won 35 of their last 40 matches (in all competitions, including AET) while Pep Guardiola will certainly be confident of another trophy having won six of the seven major finals he has been involved in as a manager in his career thus far and having won them by an aggregate score of 14-3, this is a man that knows how to win when it comes to the big occasion or indeed, most occasions.
Ultimately, you have to expect that City will have too much in the tank for an Arsenal side that really has struggled to find their best form this season but there are no guarantees in this type of game, and especially not in a final, so I expect a close and exciting contest with BTTS @8/15 very likely in an event that has all the makings of a potential classic.
With so many talented players likely to start in the attacking positions for both sides, we should see plenty of drama with goals at both ends surely inevitable so a high-scoring, City win, but not necessarily in 90 minutes, is the predicted outcome here with BTTS and over 2.5 goals short @4/5 but that’s understandable given past meetings between these two sides and the likely attacking nature of this contest.
Best Bets
BTTS @8/15 – 4 stars
BTTS and over 2.5 goals @4/5 – 3 stars
Over 3.5 match goals @6/5 – 2 stars