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2011-10-25 - Arsenal vs Bolton Wanderers
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Carling Cup 4th Round
Tuesday 25 October 2011 - Kickoff 7:45pm
Arsenal
There are two ways of looking at everything at life: either the glass if half full, or the glass is half empty and that is how Arsenal fans must be looking at their team right now. The form seems to have picked up of late, although there is a huge test on the horizon for a team with fragile confidence as they take on Chelsea at the Bridge on Saturday.
The Gunners have not usually taken this competition too seriously, but there has to be something to be said that the team have reached the Quarter Finals or better in each of the last 9 seasons. Arsene Wenger has used the Carling Cup as a way of giving his youngsters a chance to impress and we have to think the same will happen on Tuesday.
Robin Van Persie came off the bench to score 2 goals to help Arsenal beat Stoke City and complete their 6th consecutive win at home in all competitions since losing 0-2 to Liverpool. They have scored at least 2 goals in each of their last 5 home games, although the lack of clean sheets has to be a concern in the long term.
Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny will be rested with the game against Chelsea in mind, and I would expect Van Persie to also miss this game. Thomas Vermaelan is not quite ready to return to the side and I do expect a number of changes to be made to the starting line up.
Bolton Wanderers
Owen Coyle must have felt his side had turned a corner after securing a 1-3 win at Wigan last week, but Bolton Wanderers played poorly on Saturday and were beaten 0-2 by Sunderland to once again leave them in a tough position in the League table.
Bolton beat Aston Villa 0-2 in the last Round, but the Carling Cup has to be considered as an unwanted distraction for a side that is trying to make sure their Premier League status is maintained. They have been in a ridiculously poor run of form, losing games while struggling to stop conceding goals.
The loss against Sunderland means the team have now lost 12 of their last 16 games in all competitions and they have conceded at least 2 goals in 6 of their last 8 games. Bolton have won 3 of their last 5 away games in all competitions this season.
Dedryck Boyata is ineligible for this game, but Owen Coyle is expected to make huge changes for this game. Adam Bogdan, Zat Knight, Fabrice Muamba, Mark Davies and Ivan Klasnic are all likely to start for the team as they push for regular places in Premier League games.
Head to Head
Arsenal have won their last 6 home games against Bolton, including a 3-0 win in the League at the end of September.
The Gunners have scored at least 2 goals in 5 of the last 6 times they have hosted Bolton.
Prediction
These games can be hard to predict solely because of the team changes and the determination of the managers to win the games- even though they rarely say it, it is clear that the Carling Cup is pain to deal with for some teams and an exit is not unwanted.
The players should be up for playing because they can at least give their managers food for thought with good performances and perhaps push their names forward for Premier League games that will be coming thick and fast before Christmas.
Arsenal do have a very good record in the Carling Cup, even with their youngsters playing the majority of games, and I expect that may continue here as they reach a Quarter Final again.
I am going to keep stakes to an absolute minimum again with this being a Carling Cup tie, but I do like Arsenal to get the better of Bolton, although it may take some time to break the deadlock as it did when they met each other in the League.
With that in mind, I will have an interest in this game seeing the first goal after 22 minutes played, which we can get for 1.92 at Paddy Power.
The Pick :
Arsenal 2-0 Bolton Wanderers
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll pick Time of First Goal after 22 minutes @ 1.92 (Paddy Power)
