STAR PREVIEW: Arsenal v Sunderland

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]underland require just a point to guarantee their Premier League survival and if it comes tonight at the Emirates it will in turn put pressure on arch rivals Newcastle – particularly if Hull pull off a Houdini act against Man U on Sunday.

As we’ve seen this week backing the bigger teams at short odds at this stage of the season can be fraught with danger….

Liverpool 1 Crystal Palace 3
and
West Brom 3 Chelsea 0

Were hardly the most likely of scorelines.

Backing Arsenal at very short odds doesn’t make much sense to me. They have already booked their Champions League spot and surely their focus must now be switching to the FA Cup Final on the 30th May against Aston Villa rather than their final two league games, both at home, against Sunderland and West Brom?

Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat is hopeful of a similar performance as when his team beat Everton away from home. He said: “We have to make it as hard as possible defensively and be sharp. Maybe we can do something sneaky like we did at Everton. We will fight from the beginning to the end. Everybody is expecting us to lose and that makes it easier for us.”

To achieve the ultimate result – all three points – Sunderland will need to do something they haven’t achieved since November 1983 and beat Arsenal on their home ground.

Wenger has his fair share of injury concerns. Defender Laurent Koscielny is subject to a late check following an illness, while Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Debuchy are not fit enough to make their comebacks. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Danny Welbeck remain out with respective hamstring and knee problems.

Sunderland’s midfielder Liam Bridcutt is out through injury together with Jordi Gomez and Wes Brown.

Arsenal v Sunderland
Premier League
7.45pm SKY

HEAD TO HEAD RECORD
(Maximum 10 matches)
Oct 2014 Premier Sunderland 0-2 Arsenal
Feb 2014 Premier Arsenal 4-1 Sunderland
Sep 2013 Premier Sunderland 1-3 Arsenal
Feb 2013 Premier Sunderland 0-1 Arsenal
Aug 2012 Premier Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland
Feb 2012 FA Cup Sunderland 2-0 Arsenal
Feb 2012 Premier Sunderland 1-2 Arsenal
Oct 2011 Premier 2-1 Sunderland
Mar 2011 Premier Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland
Sep 2010 Premier Sunderland 1-1 Arsenal

I can easily see Sunderland scrapping hard enough to earn a point here and the draw looks very tempting at around 5/1 with Star Sports.

RECOMMENDED BETS (scale of 1-50 points)

BACK DRAW for 4 points at around 5/1 with Star Sports

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