Tomorrow night’s Europa League tie between Benfica and Arsenal is sure to be a pivotal 90 minutes for each side’s season. With Mikel Arteta’s side in mixed form, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back in The Gunners’ squad, who’ll get the win and where is the betting value?
We’ve got three bets which come in at 5/1 or better for Thursday night’s game at the Stadio Olimpico, with the game kicking off at 8.00pm GMT.
If you’re not a paddypower customer already, then you can sign up here to take advantage of these prices and claim your £20 risk-free bet, an offer that is exclusive to the popular sportsbetting site.
Let’s ‘Take 5’ and find the value in what should be an entertaining game.
Arsenal to score 2+ goals, Arsenal 5+ corners and Benfica 2+ cards (11/2)
Arsenal have a strong away record historically in Europe and are showing signs that they can pose a side like Benfica problems. The Portuguese side are slower than Premier League teams at the back and can be exposed by pace, which Arteta’s new-look Arsenal side have in abundance.
Any Arsenal dominance should lead to chances and therefore corners, with Benfica averaging nine corners in each home game so far this season, with 5.15 corners per game for themselves. Given how Arsenal are likely to be attacking more, we can see the North London outift pressing the issue.
Despite languishing in mid-table, The Gunners are the second most fouled team in the English Premier League behind Aston Villa. If The Villains didn’t have Jack Grealish in their side, a man whom the words ‘maximum use’ on hair products is merely a suggestion, Mikel Arteta’s side would have drawn more free-kicks than anyone and they can put that to good use in Portugal.
Gabriel to score at any time (9/1)
Of all of Arsenal’s players this season, centre-back Gabriel has really impressed. Despite having to slot into a different league, play with a variety of partners and defend against some of the most potent attacking footballers in the world, the Brazilian has been excellent and even chipped in with a couple of goals.
We can see that trend continuing in Portugal, at free-kicks and corners, due to the fact that Gabriel is often the man who is allowed to go forward while others stay back. That is happening more often in recent games and a goal is coming, making us believe that paddy’s odds of 9/1 are too large.
Nicolas Pepe to Score; 4+ Corners for Each Team & Jan Vertonghen to be Carded (25/1)
With Nicolas Pépé having been rested in a few games recently, the €72 million wing forward is going to be keen to impress in Portugal. While the Ivorian has had a quiet season when compared to Aubameyang (11 goals) and Lacazette (10 goals), with seven goals and three assists, the tricky dribbler can get on the scoresheet.
We’ve already written about the chances of there being an average of nine corners in the game, so four each isn’t a stretch and the former Tottenham Hotspur defender Jan Vertonghen is going to be desperate to stop his old enemies, possibly at the cost of another yellow card in this competition to add to the one he got in the group stage.
You can make all these bets before kick-off at the Stadio Olimpico, which is at 8.00pm GMT on Thursday by heading to the Paddy Power website right here for a £20 risk-free bet.
May all your bets be live until the final whistle!
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