Football tips: Paddy Power’s top trader serves up his 4 best Arsenal v Palace punts

Arsenal tackle Crystal Palace at the Emirates in Thursday's sole Premier League fixture.

Alexandre Lacazette Arsenal Wilfried Zaha Crystal Palace

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widget, while in-copy odds are accurate at time of publication but subject to change

Arsenal continue their Premier League campaign at home to Crystal Palace on Thursday night, looking to continue their three-match unbeaten run and claw their way back into the top half of the table. Paddy Power Football Trader Jason Murphy has picked out a couple of tempting bets that could keep things very interesting for those watching along at home, although value is hard to come by.

Both Teams To Score: Yes

Arsenal v Crystal Palace is a standalone game on Thursday night and there’s not much value to be had. I think the market prices are pretty much bang on giving Arsenal’s upturn in form recently and given Palace are coming off the back of some reasonable results.

I’m still not fully convinced about Palace over the course of a season, but if Roy Hodgson keeps them up again he’d be happy with that. So in terms of a bet for this game. I’m going to go for Both Teams To Score. You can always put Arsenal down for goal, and since Arteta came in, if you look at Kieran Tierney’s goal against West Brom they had 20+ passes before that goal. Since Arteta took over, that’s the third time they’ve had a goal with more than 20 passes – the most of any team.

Thursday, 8.00pm: Arsenal v Crystal Palace
Sky Sports Main Event/Sky Sports Premier League

That’s a little insight into what Arteta is trying to do with Arsenal in terms of building from the back, inviting teams onto them and breaking in behind. They’ve got the pace in behind to hurt teams, so we put Arsenal down for a goal.

Palace are missing a few centre-backs, so they’ll still go with Cheikhou Kouyate there – he’s normally midfielder but has been ever-present at centre-back. James Tomkins is probably going to partner him. In terms of the Palace goal, Palace have scored 12 first-half goals already this season – that’s two more than they scored in the whole of last season and they’re more of an attacking threat. Wilfried Zaha is back on it and he’s got as many goals this season as he got in the whole of the last. They’ve brought in Eberechi Eze as well from QPR, who is a threat going forward, and Christian Benteke has found some of the form he had at Aston Villa. ‘Both Teams To Score: Yes’ is the same price as ‘No’ and I’d rather be backing yes at 17/20 for this game.

 

Wilfried Zaha

Eberechi Eze to score (each-way)

Luka Milivojevic didn’t get into the starting XI for the first five or six games of the season, but he’s back in the team now and I think it’s possible that they haven’t had a penalty since he came in. They had two penalties earlier in the season, and Zaha took both and scored them. But I imagine Milivojevic will take the penalties if they get one here. He had been scoring all those penalties that Zaha was winning in the last couple of seasons so he’s always worth a look but a lot of markets, including ourselves, have caught on that angle with him.

A lot of market prices look pretty bang on so for entertainment purposes – we want to cheer on goals – if you’re looking for a goalscorer bet back something at a bigger price with a bit of each-way value on it. I’d have a look at Eze for Palace. He came in from QPR for £20million and his goal against Sheffield United was brilliant. He picked it up over the halfway line, brought to the edge of the box and then pulled off a cool finish from 18-yards out into the bottom corner. I saw it described on Twitter as like a goal you would have seen in the 1970s.

EXPLAINED: How Paddy Power each-way goalscorer bets work

Paddy Power offer each-way goalscorer bets. If your player doesn’t score the first but does score 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th goal then you will be paid at the each-way odds. Remember, own goals do not count so it is the first five goals that are scored disregarding any own goals.

Emile Smith Rowe to score (each-way)

If you’re going the Arsenal route, I would look at the bigger prices to get the each-way value and I would have a look at Emile Smith Rowe. Since he’s come into the team he’s looked exceptional. He’s playing in the three behind a striker and the link-up between him and the likes of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli has been phenomenal to watch. I can just see him getting a chance, and he took a goal against West Brom.

I’m not saying there’s great value in these bets, but these are good, interesting, entertainment bets. With the each-way goalscorer angle and the Both Teams To Score angle, you should get 90 minutes of value from your bet here.

 

Mikel Arteta

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Correct Score: 2-2

It’s one of Graham’s favourite bets, and I wouldn’t put you off a 2-2 draw here. If you look at the recent meetings between these sides, in the last six games we’ve seen 25 goals – that’s an average of just over four a game. And if you look at the last four meetings between the teams, three of these have been draws – including seeing the 2-2 – so I wouldn’t rule it out. I wouldn’t mind seeing a few goals and that’s probably where to look.

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widget, while in-copy odds are accurate at time of publication but subject to change

Arsenal v Crystal Palace top tips

Both Teams To Score: Yes
Eberechi Eze to score (each-way)
Emile Smith Rowe to score (each-way)
Correct Score: 2-2

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