Arsenal – Stoke City

Arsenal will host Stoke City at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon, with the visitors desperate to get something out of this game as they fight against relegation.

Arsenal has been in pretty good shape recently, getting back on track after a dreadful period in late February – early March. As it is usually the case with Wenger, he managed to turn things around just when he seemed to be a dead man walking. Arsenal has now won three games in a row, including an excellent qualification over AC Milan in the Europa League, and will hope to continue on the same note after the recent International break.

Stoke is second to last in the standings, but they are only three points away from safety, also having this game in hand. The visitors will hope to get something out of this match, but their record at Emirates is not encouraging, and their recent form has been very poor as well. Stoke hasn`t won in 8 games, and lost the previous two. They also haven`t won on the road in the Premier League since October (which was actually their only away win of the season).

Bet on Arsenal vs. Stoke and get a 100% (100 Eur) welcome bonus at Ohmbet now!

Team news & lineups:

Ramsey, Lacazette, Maitland-Niles, Ozil, Wilshere and Kolasinac are doubtful for Arsenal, while Cazorla continues to be out. Stoke City will be without Ireland, Grant, Affellay, Adam and Choupo-Moting, while Wimmer, Diouf and Cameron are questionable.

Arsenal: Cech – Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal – Xhaka, Elneny – Iwobi, Ozil, Mkhitaryan – Aubameyang

Stoke City: Butland – Johnson, Shawcross, Zouma, Stafylidis – Ndiaye, Fletcher – Shaqiri, Allen, Sobhi – Crouch

Arsenal seems to have regained form and there`s no reason to expect a downfall after this short international break. The Gunners have been great at home all season, winning 11 out of 15 Premier League matches. At the same time, Stoke has been a disaster on the road, posting a stat line of 1 win, 5 draws and 9 losses.

Stoke has also traditionally been a non factor away from home against Arsenal. If we want to go back in time we can say that Stoke last claimed a point away at Arsenal in 1984 (meaning 15 losses in a row, but some may have been on neutral ground). However, recent meetings are more relevant. Arsenal won each of the last 4 H2H games at Emirates easily: 3-1, 3-0, 2-0 and 3-1.

The reason for which odds on Arsenal are around 1.30 as opposed of being 1.20 or so is the fact that the Gunners have no real motivation in the Premier League anymore, while the visitors are fighting for their life. But motivation is not always enough to claim a result. Also Arsenal has a more important game against CSKA Moscow coming up – but that`s on Thursday and it`s at home, so there will be plenty of time to recover for the Gunners.

All Premier League games are important and Arsenal should be at full strength and at full steam here, trying to extend the winning run and build confidence. They should be able to take care rather easily of an inferior, out of form and road-shy opponent like Stoke.

My tip here will be Arsenal to cover the -1 asian handicap. Some might say odds are low, but the bet seems pretty safe and I see no reason to get greedy. Prediction: Arsenal – Stoke City 2-0.

Pick: Arsenal (-1 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 1.44 @ 1xBet
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 3.96
Event date: 1 April