After a disappointing week, the north London club could do with a positive result and Al Hain-Cole expects them to get that against the Premier League’s worst defence
After being unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Cup by lower league opposition and then receiving a painful lesson in Champions League football, Arsenal will be desperate to end a rotten week with a win when Aston Villa come to visit on Saturday afternoon.
The doom and gloom that descended on the Emirates in the wake of those results is slightly unfortunate, as he Gunners were starting to put together a tidy run of results in the Premier League.
Four games without defeat, including solid 1-0 wins against tough Stoke and Sunderland sides, have kept Arsene Wenger’s men in the mix for a top four spot, and his team are clear 4/11 (1.36) favourites with Coral to return to winning ways on Saturday.
Norwich boss Paul Lambert is no stranger to being under pressure himself this season, but after encouraging performances in the draw at Everton and win over West Ham, he may be slightly more confident of causing the hosts yet more misery by springing a surprise win, at long odds of 8/1 (9.00).
The visitors played out a respectable 0-0 stalemate against this opposition at Villa Park back in November, and would be delighted if they could secure their fourth consecutive Premier League draw in this game, at odds of 7/2 (4.50).
Wenger will be hoping for a reaction from his players in this match, while a convincing victory would go some way to appeasing the home fans, who have already seen their team rack up 6-1, 5-2, 7-3 and 5-1 wins in the league this season.
A similar score-line is certainly not out of the question against the Villans, who have conceded a record 31 goals away from home in 13 league games this campaign.
A bet on over 3.5 goals would have paid out in the visitors’ last five consecutive Premier League away games, as well as three of the hosts’ last five, so 6/5 (2.20) looks like a great price for that market coming in this weekend.
Considering Christian Benteke has scored six goals in his last five appearances for Villa, it is slightly surprising to see him on offer for generous 11/4 (3.75) odds to hit the back of the net in this match, and this is definitely too good to pass up for those in search of a bigger price.
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Al Hain-Cole is an experienced tipster and avid follower of European football. He specialises in accumulators and if you would like to read more from Al you can follow him on Twitter here.