English Premier
2017-08-11 - Arsenal vs Leicester City
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Friday 11th August 2017 - Kick Off 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
Arsenal
Last season was a rough one for Arsene Wenger, Arsenal Football Club and the supporters who all seemed to be on a different page. In recent years it has looked like Arsenal would be missing out on a top four place in the Premier League only for the side to turn things around, but they couldn’t do the same in the 2016/17 season and now The Gunners have to settle for a place in the Europa League.
Some of the blame has been taken on by Wenger himself who felt his contract situation clouded things for too long. Surprisingly the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez are still at the club despite contract issues of their own and Arsenal will be hoping for a strong start at home. Last season they finished with the 3rd best home record in the Premier League.
A strong end to the season saw Arsenal win their final 6 games in all competitions which included the FA Cup Final over Chelsea. However that wouldn’t have been enough to satisfy the fans with the failure to finish in a Champions League spot, while the Community Shield success last weekend may only be papering over the cracks in the relationship between manager and supporters.
Per Mertesacker, Shkodran Mustafi and Alexis Sanchez are all doubtful for this fixture. The likes of Ozil and Aaron Ramsey will be hoping to be passed fit.
Leicester City
No one really expected Leicester City to mount another bid for the title after their surprising Championship in 2015/16, but last season was perhaps a little more up and down than anyone would have wanted. The poor form through the first half of the season cost Claudio Ranieri his job as manager, but The Foxes also reached the Champions League Quarter Final.
Failing to finish in the top half of the table, Leicester City decided to give Craig Shakespeare the full time managerial position after he led an upturn in form. Unlike last summer, Leicester City have managed to keep the squad together despite interest in Riyad Mahrez, and added some quality to it in the form of Harry Maguire and Vicente Iborra.
One of the major problems for Leicester City which dragged them into a relegation battle was the poor away form last season. The side ended with the 17th worst away record in the Premier League, although their 2 sole away wins came in their final 6 away Premier League games.
Robert Huth has been ruled out until September, but Kasper Schmeichel should be passed fit.
Head to Head
Arsenal have narrowly gotten the better of Leicester City in each of the last 3 seasons with all of those wins coming by a single goal margin at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners took four points from Leicester City last season and have won 4 of the last 5 Premier League games overall.
Prediction
After what has felt like an eternity, the Premier League is back in action this weekend with the start of the opening weekend coming on Friday night from North London. For most clubs that might feel like a positive, but there are still some real question marks about this Arsenal team and a section of their support might be itching to make their feelings clear to Arsene Wenger at the Emirates Stadium on Friday evening.
This is actually the sixth season in a row that Arsenal will be opening up the Premier League at home, but they have unbelievably only won 1 of those previous 5 games. In fact Arsenal have lost 3 of their last 4 including opening weekend losses to West Ham United and Liverpool in the last couple of years.
It actually means Arsenal have won 1 of their last 7 opening Premier League games at the Emirates Stadium and that is not going to be music to the ears of Arsene Wenger. Another poor showing is going to bring the boo birds out again and it is not the kind of way any team wants to begin a new campaign which usually comes with plenty of optimism.
You can’t really judge a team on the way they have played last season, but Leicester City did struggle away from home against the top clubs. The Foxes lost 8 of 9 away games against the top nine in the Premier League last season and 5 of those losses did come by at least two goals.
However they do look a more settled side under Craig Shakespeare and the 3 away games at the top 9 clubs under his guidance saw Leicester City lose narrowly twice.
The squad also hasn’t had the upheaval of losing someone of the importance of N’Golo Kante (at least not at the time of writing) and Leicester City have added a couple of quality additions in Harry Maguire and Vicente Iborra.
With Arsenal potentially missing the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, I can see why the layers are not giving much away with Leicester City on the handicaps. Add in Arsenal’s opening weekend woes in recent years and this feels like it could be another tight match between two clubs who have had touch encounters in recent years.
The Gunners have managed to get the better of Leicester City with some fortune in those games and I feel they may just earn the narrow edge again. This is a fixture where you want to keep stakes to a minimum, but backing Arsenal to win by a single goal margin might be the best way to approach it.
Leicester City may be a little better all around than last season, but recent years have seen them have their difficulties away from home at the top clubs. They’ve lost 3 times in a row at the Emirates Stadium by a single goal margin, while Arsenal had a 13-1-1 record at home against teams who finished below them last season.
Only 5 of Arsenal’s 14 home Premier League wins came by a single goal margin in the 2016/17 season, but add in their issues on the opening weekend and the absence of Alexis Sanchez and that feels as good as it gets for the most likely winners on the day.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Arsenal 1-0 Leicester City
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back Arsenal to Win by One Goal @ 3.75 Bet365
