Arsenal take on Manchester City in the English Premier League on Saturday and we have goals markets and goalscorer betting tips courtesy of @Olimp_SA
Arsenal vs. Manchester City, EPL Round 21, 1 January 2022 14:30
It was a Christmas to remember for Arsenal and Arteta who slotted five goals against the Canaries at Carrow Road last Sunday to pick up their fourth consecutive EPL win. The Gunners remain in fourth place with 35 points but are now four points clear of West Ham who are in fifth. Since their back-to-back losses in the first week of December it’s been a great month for the Londoners who have scored 14 goals in the four matches since then and on top of that they also put five past Sunderland to book themselves a spot in the EFL Cup semi-final.
After an incredibly slow start to the season, Arteta’s men are now the fifth highest scoring team in the league and really seem to have gotten their attack in order. Three goals have been let in by the defense in the last five matches which doesn’t sound too great, but when you consider the fact that they have kept a clean sheet in three of their last four matches it’s quite clear that the defense is doing all that they need to for the side. Right now there is a lot of momentum in the Arsenal camp and after a horrible start to the season that saw them losing their first three matches they would love nothing more to start off the new year with a fifth straight win. One of those three losses at the start of the season was a 5-0 loss to City at the Etihad and you can be sure that Arsenal will be looking to make amends for that performance on Saturday.
Things just keep going from strength to strength for the Citizens and after their 10th straight EPL win on Wednesday evening they are now eight points clear at the top of the table with 50 points. It may not have been the most convincing win against Brentford, but they managed to get the job done and pick up another three points to earn even more breathing room between themselves and Chelsea in second. A single goal in the match is something that the City fans have not been accustomed to as the Sky Blues have been on a bit of a goal-scoring rampage as of late. Prior to Wednesday they managed to put six past Leicester on Boxing Day, net four at St. James Park against Newcastle and thrash Leeds 7-0 at the Etihad. Their goal average has shot up to around 2.5 goals per match and it comes as no surprise that they have surpassed Liverpool to become the top-scoring team in the league. With the way City have been playing this month coupled with the fact that they managed to thrash Arsenal 5-0 at the previous asking you might be inclined to think that we are in for another goal-fest to bring in the new year.
However, Arsenal are a considerably different team to what they were four months ago and chances are good it’s going to be closer than what they stats suggest.
The Sky Blues have completely dominated the last five clashes between the sides and won all five. In fact, Arsenal haven’t managed to beat City in the EPL since as far back as 2015 and their only win against City since then came in an FA Cup semi-final clash at the Emirates last year. Not even home field advantage has helped Arsenal in the past when they face City in the league with the Gunners only seeing victory once in their last seven EPL clashes at the Etihad against the Citizens. The last five EPL clashes between the teams have seen only one team score, while three out of the last five EPL clashes have had over 2.5 goals.
Prediction
When looking at the past results it certainly doesn’t look good for Arsenal. Manchester City are also on a bit of a rampage at the moment which doesn’t hold well for the hosts, but I don’t think it’s going to be another massive victory like we saw at the beginning of the season. Right now Arteta’s men are playing some really good football and their defense has been holding up very well. City might have had three huge victories but they all came against teams that have some of the worst defenses in the league.
This time around I think the Arsenal defense will be able to limit the damage, but they will in all likelihood still end up conceding one or two goals. The Foxes showed on Boxing Day that the best defense in the league can be broken and with the way Arsenal is attacking at the moment I fancy them scoring at least one goal in this match. For this reason I like both teams to score and Manchester City to win which you can get at around 2.70. Not much else catches my attention so I am going to go for two goalscorer bets this time around. The first will be Bukayo Saka to score a goal in the match since he has scored three in his last two EPL matches for the Gunners, while I also like Riyad Mahrez to score in the match as he has been making a habit of finding the net with a goal in each of his last three appearances for his club.
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