Arsenal To Go Through Champions League Odds

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas misses trip to Ukraine

Olivier Giroud insists Arsenal will not just 'throw in the towel' against Barcelona and is confident of upsetting the odds in their Champions League last-16 tie. Arsenal scraped through the group stages after beating Olympiacos 3-0 in a must-win encounter having lost three of their opening four matches in the competition. Arsenal vs Benfica Tips and Predictions All in all, odds of 10/11 (1.91) seem generous on a tense and tight affair providing no more than two goals for Arsenal’s fourth game in five and a seventh. Prediction: Draw Best Odds: 23/10 Bookmaker: 888sport The Premier League is back in action once again this weekend with a host of entertaining fixtures, following on from a string of dramatic twists and turns in Europe during the week. Whether Arteta has the squad to achieve Champions League qualification or not is another issue. The Spaniard has tightened up the backline but it’s come at the expense of their once-famous free-flowing football. With some of Europe’s biggest bosses out of work, Arteta will surely still be looking over his shoulder.

Donbass Arena, Wednesday November 3rd: Trips to the Ukraine have not proven to be very fruitful for Arsenal in Europe, and the unhappy hunting ground has yielded just one point in four trips there. This is a tough match for Arsenal, who are looking for at least a point to guarantee qualification for the knockout stage of the Champions League, as Shakhtar are going well at the top of their domestic league and are a difficult side at home. Yes, Arsenal tore the Ukrainians apart on Match Day three, beating the visitors to the Emirates by a 5-1 score line. The return fixture is unlikely to produce quite so many goals, but Arsenal should be confident as they are in some good goal scoring form. How much will the absence of Fabregas effect them though? They have had to get through games without him this season, and if there was more importance on this match, then he probably would have traveled. There are tougher tasks ahead for Arsenal though, and that is why he doesn’t play. This isn’t the first time the two teams have met in the Champions League. They came together in the 2000/01 group stage with Arsenal taking the home tie 3-2, but then the Ukrainians overpowered them in the return fixture by a 3-0 score line. That represents the troubles that Arsenal have had on trips to the Ukraine, but now surely they are in a better position than ever to break their duck out east. Taking a look around at Shakhtar Donetsk v Arsenal betting odds, you will see that the Ukrainian team are at shorter odds than you may expect after having gotten thrashed by Arsenal just two weeks ago. It represents the threat which they can pose at home. Because this is a tricky contest to call, a good Arsenal -1 Asian Handicap fetches a very nice price of 3/1 at Bet365. A draw does look to be the most anticipated result with the online bookmakers, and a 1-1 draw Correct Score is top priced for 6/1 at 888Sport. A 1-0 Arsenal Correct Score fetches 17/2 at Bet365, while Shakhtar 1-0 is 10/1 at Unibet.

Former Arsenal striker Eduardo is the focal point of SportingBet’s deju vu Champions League promotion. As he was the last goal scorer when the two teams met two weeks ago, if he finishes the Shakhtar Donetsk v Arsenal fixture as Last Goal scorer again, then SportingBet will give refunds on all lost First Goal scorer, Anytime Goal scorer, Correct Score and Scorecast bets placed on the match. This provides a great opportunity to explore those submarkets for the match. Add to that on top a maximum £50 free bet when you open a new SportingBet account, then it all adds up to a great place to do your Champions League betting for the week.

Arsenal to win: 28/17 at Unibet
Draw: 12/5 at SkyBet
Shakhtar Donetsk to win: 2/1 at Ladbrokes

Arsenal Betting

Arsenal To Go Through Champions League Odds Wild Card

Arsenal are again facing injury problems this season, with Captain Cesc Fabregas missing out on the trip to the Ukraine because of injury. There is not a major injury threat surrounding the Spaniard, but after feeling a little bit of pain, Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is not going to take any kind of chances with him. This is a damage limitation for Fabregas, because he has had problems with his hamstring before and there is no need to risk him. Arsenal have picked up maximum points from their three Champions League matches this season, and are three points ahead of the Ukrainians in Group H. There is no danger of Arsenal not getting through to the next round of the tournament, and sealing back to back wins against Shakhtar should pretty much guarantee that they progress as group winners. A draw would see them qualify for the knockout stage, but coming out as group winners is important, as you avoid other group winners in the draw. Arsene Wenger also has to do without Andrei Arshavin, Denilson and Alex Song for the tip, so with the absence of Fabregas, the spotlight should once again turn on England’s future midfield hope of Jack Wilshere. Wilshere put pen to paper with the London club this week, securing his future there for a good few years yet. While the Gunners really are flying the Champions League this year, the trip to the Ukraine seems to pose a few problems for them. Having suffered three defeats out of four visits there, there is an air of caution needed by Wenger. In their last away match in the Champions League, Arsenal beat Partizan Belgrade 3-1 in something of a stuttering performance. But it proved that they were good enough, nonetheless, and betting on the Gunners to pick up their first victory in the Ukraine doesn’t feel like too big a risk really. You expect Arsenal to get on the score sheet at the very least. The margin of victory won’t be as big, but a victory is a strong possibility. Arsenal to win by 1 Goal is 10/3 at Bet365 and looks to be a decent punt. In the Anytime Goal scorer market for Arsenal, you are looking for Marouane Chamakh 11/5 at Coral, Nicklas Bendtner 15/8 at Bet365, Nasri 16/5 at Unibet.

Shakhtar Donetsk Betting

The Ukrainians are not really that bad of an outfit, and they will have been demoralized by the 5-1 thrashing which they received a fortnight ago on their visit to London. Having gone into that match level on points with Arsenal, the Ukrainians will have been hoping for at least a point from the match. Perhaps that will be their level of expectations for this one on their home turf, knowing that they will have gotten the hard games out of the way. Even though they were completely trounced by Arsenal, a draw is not too unreasonable a proposition for this match. Arsenal are at the stage where they should feel that they have done enough to complete their qualification, and missing their influential captain, even they may be happy to play out a draw. It would suit both sides really, and you can expect more of a stern resistance than what the Ukrainians put up against Arsenal at the Emirates. The main problem will come in trying to contain the slick attacking football that Arsenal play, and which has produced fourteen goals in three Champions League matches this season. That is enough to intimidate most defences, and those five goals have actually been the only one which they have conceded this year. Expect an overall tighter game from the Ukrainians. If you wanted to bring some kind of coverage in a Shakhtar bet, then a Draw No Bet on them is decently priced for 11/10 at BetFred. A Shakhtar Donetsk -0.25 Asian Handicap is 7/5 at Paddy Power. There is of course the reunion of Shakhtar striker Eduardo against his old club and Eduardo is 12/5 at SkyBet for Anytime Scorer.

Shakhtar Donetsk v Arsenal Betting Prediction:

The Arsenal were thrilling and ruthless a fortnight ago against opposition which really are no pushovers. It’s a long trip out east and a draw seems the more sedate option to go with. Nonetheless, still would edge it with Arsenal.

Preview and odds for Europa League clash

Arsenal will hope to book their spot in the Europa League knockout stage when they take on Sporting CP tonight.

Unai Emery’s Gunners have won all three games in Group E so far. A win tonight would see them guarantee themselves top spot.

Arsenal are unbeaten since August, and will be confident of extending that run tonight against a Sporting side who have already gone through two managers this season.

Tiago Fernandes is currently caretaker manager, with former Ajax boss Marcel Keizer reportedly close to agreeing a deal.

It’s all live on BT Sport tonight, with an 8:00pm kick-off.

Head-to-head

Arsenal To Go Through Champions League Odds Against

This is the fourth meeting between the teams. They met twice in the Fairs Cup in 1969, before last month’s clash in Lisbon.

Arsenal have never conceded a goal to Sporting, and head into this game on a 14-game unbeaten run.

Sporting have lost three of their last six games, and have failed to win their last six European games on British soil.

Likely XIs

Emery is likely to start Danny Welbeck up front again. The Englishman netted the only goal in the reverse tie, and seems to be enjoying his infrequent chances to impress.

The Arsenal manager must then choose between Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alex Iwobi or Emile Smith-Rowe to fill in the other spots in attack.

Nacho Monreal is back in training, but is unlikely to play tonight, with Sead Kolasinac continuing at left-back. Matteo Guendouzi, Aaron Ramsey and Mohamed Elneny will jostle for the midfield spots alongside Granit Xhaka.

Fernandes is unlikely to change things too much from the XI which beat Santa Clara 2-1 at the weekend.

That means starting roles up front for powerhouse forward Bas Dost and Marcos Acuna but they will be without Rodrigo Battaglia after the Argentine ruptured his cruciate on Sunday.

Key battles

Arsenal had 67% possession in Lisbon, and they’re likely to dominate the ball and the match again tonight.

Welbeck’s energy and movement is key. He can keep defenders busy and free up space for Aubameyang, Iwobi, Smith-Rowe and Ramsey.

Sporting can’t allow Xhaka time on the ball. The Switzerland midfield’s left-boot can pick out passes from anywhere on the pitch.

The visitors will have to bide their time, and hope Dost and Acuna can pounce on the counter.

Match odds

Arsenal are 2/7 favourites for a win which would confirm them as winners of Group E with two games to spare.

There’s 9/2 about a draw while Sporting are deemed unlikely victors at 11/1.

It’s 21/20 for Arsenal to win to nil, while they’re 4/5on the -1 handicap.

Alexandre Lacazette is 3/1 favourite to score first tonight, but the Frenchman has barely featured in the competition, so attention should turn to Aubameyang at 16/5 or Welbeck at 7/2.

Dost is 9/1 favourite in Sporting’s first goalscorer market, ahead of former Manchester United winger Nani at 12s.

Arsenal To Go Through Champions League Odds

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