Case of what could have been as Arsenal face Sunderland
Published:
Arsenal are 3/4 favourites for the Premier League clash with struggling Sunderland and should emerge victorious.
The Gunners have won four of their last five meetings with the north east club, going unbeaten, including two 3-1 wins this term.
Joel Campbell, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey all scored in a league victory, while also doing the damage a month later in the FA Cup.
This precedence can’t be ignored and it would be sensible to back Arsene Wenger’s men to pick up the win with the same scoreline, with this outcome priced at 11/1.
Furthermore, it would make sense to back any of the three that have scored against Sunderland previously to do so again, especially as Joel Campbell opened the scoring on both occasions.
Backing the Costa Rican to be the first player celebrating at the Stadium of Light is priced at 7/1.
However, the fact that they should pick up a straightforward three points in their next fixture must make it all the more frustrating for the north Londoners that they have little to no chance of winning the league.
Wenger’s side are 10 points of table-topping Leicester with four points remaining and it is highly unlikely that they will be able to overturn such a deficit, especially as Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City sit in between them and the Foxes.
Looking at where they have dropped points, it’s obvious where Arsenal could have made up the gulf between them and Leicester and, considering two of their last three matches are against Aston Villa and Norwich, could have put themselves in a real position to challenge.
They would have expected to wins when they lost to West Brom and Swansea, while the same could be said of draws with Crystal Palace and the Canaries.
Picking up victories in those outings would have put the Gunners level on points with Claudio Ranieri’s men, but instead it’s just a case of what could have been for the Gunners.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
