Football Tips: Arsenal back with a bang v Crystal Palace in our 30/1 Bet Builder

Our tipster Andrew Beasley fancies The Gunners to overpower The Eagles.

By / Football Tips / 11 months ago

Arsenal v Crystal Palace Bet Builder Tips

Arsenal to Win
Over 2.5 Goals
Both teams to Score
Bukayo Saka to Score Anytime
Under 9.5 Corners
Under 3.5 Cards

All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

Saturday 12.30pm: Arsenal v Crystal Palace
Premier League match at The Emirates
TV: TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate

Arsenal to Win

There are must win games and must win games, and for Arsenal this is definitely a must win game. The Gunners are third favourites in the Premier League when as recently as December 23rd they were as short as 23/10.

All is far from lost when they are only five points off the top and host leaders Liverpool in their next home game after this one. But with the Reds currently tracking for 85 points, the Gunners can only afford to drop eight more points to finish with 86. Told you this was a must win game.

Fortunately for Arsenal, they can be confident of taking three points here, even if Crystal Palace were unbeaten in four visits to the Emirates prior to a 4-1 loss last March.

Assuming he’s not making excuses and lowering expectations as he so often does, Roy Hodgson might point out that his side have lost just one of their four away matches against the current top seven. The Eagles won at Old Trafford and brought a point back from the Etihad, two results of very differing impressiveness.

But that was Manchester and this is the capital, Roy. On a points-per-game basis, Palace have the worst record in London derbies since the summer of 2021, with just five wins from 29 matches.

That doesn’t mean they can’t get something here, of course, but prior to beating an injury ravaged Brentford in their last league game (for a rare London triumph), the Eagles had gone eight without a win.

And while Arsenal are wobbling at the moment, they have won 18 and drawn three of their 21 home games against teams outside the top six since the start of last season, dropping points in only one such game so far in 2023/24. The Gunners should be able to down the Eagles on Saturday lunchtime.

Both teams to Score

It should be an entertaining match too. While this fixture ended goalless in early 2021, Palace’s five other visits to Arsenal in their last six all saw at least four goals and both teams finding the net. That has also been the theme at the Emirates since the start of 2022/23.

      Over 2.5 Goals

      Only one of those 21 matches against non top six sides saw fewer than three goals, and that occurred almost a year ago. Even then – a 1-1 draw for Brentford – the sides mustered 32 shots and 3.6 expected goals between them so it could easily have been a higher-scoring game.

      With Palace bottom of the league for matches featuring more than two goals, there’s always the possibility they make this a grind. But Arsenal’s home record is too well-established to ignore, so take Over 2.5 Goals.

      Bukayo Saka to Score Anytime

      For there to be a few goals and an Arsenal win, someone is actually going to have to score for the Gunners and that has proven very difficult in recent weeks. When making a goal scorer selection, it’s often worth looking for someone who has recently taken a lot of shots without finding the net, as such runs can’t last forever.

      Where do you start with Mikel Arteta’s squad though? Bukayo Saka has one goal from his last 29 attempts, while Martin Odegaard has none from 17 and Gabriel Martinell one from 14 in the same period. This trio are the Gunners’ top three players for taking shots in the 2023/24 Premier League and they collectively have two goals from 60 efforts in the last month or so.

      Saka looks the best bet though, as he has been having big chances and plenty of shots from within the penalty box. Having bagged a brace in this fixture last season, back Bukayo to Score Anytime here too.

      Under 9.5 Corners

      Arsenal and Palace don’t see many corners when they play. None of the last four league meetings hit double figures, the last eight saw just 8.3 per match.

      They’re both in the bottom four of the league for total corners per game this season too. Palace’s previous two away matches saw exactly seven and they were broadly similar fixtures (at City and Chelsea), so Under 9.5 Corners looks a likely outcome here.

      Under 3.5 Cards

      Takehiro Tomiyasu was sent off for two bookable offences when these teams met in August but cards are normally thin on the ground in this particular London derby – the last six meetings have seen 15 yellow cards, the last six at the Emirates just 12.

      Paul Tierney is the ref here, and only booked two players the last time he officiated a match between Arsenal and Palace. As he averages 3.4 cards per game in the Premier League, take the Under 3.5 Cards option.

      Arsenal v Crystal Palace Betting Tips

      Arsenal to Win
      Over 2.5 Goals
      Both teams to Score
      Bukayo Saka to Score Anytime
      Under 9.5 Corners
      Under 3.5 Cards

      All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

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