Besiktas v Arsenal: Gunners set for plenty of goals in Turkey
Published:Many are predicting a tough night at the office in Istanbul for Arsenal when they face Besiktas in the first leg of their Champions League play-off clash.
But Arsene Wenger’s men have a superb record at this stage of the competition winning 12 from 12 and seeing off the likes of Udinese, Celtic, FC Twente, Standard Liege and Fenerbahce in the process.
The Gunners are therefore the 4/6 favourites for victory, while Besiktas are 4/1 for a home win with the draw available at odds of 11/4.
While it’s difficult to look beyond an Arsenal win Oliver Yew has looked a bit further afield for three of the best bets available away from the win-draw-win market.
Arsenal have an excellent record at this stage of the competition and while we are backing them for victory we are looking further afield than just the 4-6 available with Ladbrokes on an away win.
This is by no means a gimme for the Gunners and they will have to be on their guard against an attack boasting former Chelsea striker Demba Ba.
The Senegal frontman is 5/2 to score at anytime and with the Black Eagles scoring in 13 of their last 14 matches at home it would be a surprise not to see them trouble Wojciech Szczęsny.
But Arsenal can produce a repeat of last year’s win over Turkish opposition but this year they may just concede along the way.
Arsene Wenger boasts some of the best attacking talent on the planet and while Besiktas have a superb home record they are no strangers to conceding the odd goal.
The Turkish side have conceded in each of their last five matches at the Vodafone Arena and this time they will have to deal with a far greater attacking threat than they have faced before.
The Gunners have achieved this feat in both the Community Shield and their Premier League opener and we are backing them to make it a hat-trick in Istanbul.
The Frenchman has certainly not been rushed back to action by Arsene Wenger following his exploits at the World Cup but after impressing from the bench against Crystal Palace, Olivier Giroud is set to be unleashed from the start.
The 27-year-old fired a spectacular strike against Manchester City in his side’s 3-0 Community Shield win and with a sharp supply line coming from the likes of Alexis, Sanit Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere in Istanbul the Gunners striker will have plenty of opportunities to find the net.
And in even better news from 8am on Tuesday morning right up until kick-off, Giroud will be the subject of our first goal scorer price boost.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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