Arsenal must go all out to avoid a Greek tragedy

It’s never simple for Arsenal, and this year’s Champions League is proving true to form for the north London side, who will tonight discover their fate once they’ve faced Olympiakos.

An opening Group F Loss in Zagreb was followed by a disastrous 3-2 home defeat to the Greek side, but thanks to a belated revival – including a memorable win over Bayern Munich – Arsenal still have a shot of reaching the knockout stages.

Arsene Wenger’s men have reached the knockout round in each of the last 12 campaigns and haven’t fallen at the first hurdle since the 1998-99 season.

The Gunners are evens with Ladbrokes to win in Greece tonight, while the hosts – who have a perfect record after 13 games in their domestic league – are outsiders at 12/5, and the draw 13/5.

Arsenal have been to the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium three times before and lost each time, though it must be noted on each occasion they had already qualified for the next round.

Merely winning may not be enough for the Londoners however, so here are the scores that matter:

A 2-0 Arsenal win is 9/1 with Ladbrokes, while a 3-1 success is 12/1.

Should Wenger’s men reach three goals, then a one-goal margin of victory would suffice, making a 3-2 victory at 20/1 somewhat appealing.

If you don’t quite know how it will end up but foresee Arsenal getting the job done, then the Gunners can be backed at 9/2 to win by two goals this evening.

Indeed Ladbrokes fancy another goal-fest between these teams and are boosting Arsenal to win and both teams to score from 11/4 to 7/2.

Goals are a near certainty. Following the five-goal thriller at the Emirates, Olympiakos have seen at least two goals in 12 of their 13 subsequent matches, and the Greek Super League side were victors in a 4-3 thriller at the weekend.

Arsenal meanwhile have seen both teams score in five of their last six games, and this all points to excellent value with Ladbrokes’ Double Odds offer.

Back a player to score first and if that man nets the opener within the first 25 minutes of the game, Ladbrokes will pay you double the odds.

Joel Campbell – facing the club he spent a year on loan with in 2013 – broke the deadlock in Saturday’s win over Sunderland, and with the Costa Rican in fine form, the 7/1 on Campbell to score first tonight would see you rewarded at 14/1 should that goal arrive in the first 25 minutes.

For full Double Odds T&Cs click here.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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