Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January

[Aidymac]

[TABLE=class: couponTable, width: 617] [TR=class: row0, bgcolor: #F0F0F0] [TD=class: firstColumn]Southampton v Arsenal (17:30 GMT)[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]5[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]4[/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd, align: center]1.8[/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp, align: center]100.56 % [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

[Jase82]

Over 2.5 goals @ 1.72 - Marathon. I won't bore anyone with stats as they've been thrown about all over the forum and this isn't a particularly hard to fathom bet. Southampton are still an over'ish sort of side to me. We saw today what they can do when they really get going, and at the other end they are equally as weak. I don't believe anyone would expect them to get anything against Arsenal, so I can't see them playing with any fear. Arsenal are as defensively susceptible as they are offensively scintillating. So I would find it hard to argue a case for this being a dull affair.

[notoriouspunter]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st December Nice! I will take Arsenal to win and hc -1 + over 2,5 goals again. As said for the Newcastle game.. Arsenal are finding together. Only worry is Cazorla who is really hatin playing these days. They beat southampton already 6:1 earlier. Newcastle is a really strong team offensivly and I rate Southampton below them in their offensive power. Still they are able to conceede goals while they had tightened up weeks ago. Southampton hasnt many players to shuffle these days. Arsenal has here far more possibilitys to substitute and the game not played on boxing day might count even more on tuesday. While Southampton had a much harder schedule. Walcott will be high flying. The Newcastle game will give him big confidence. Arsenal is grinding these days and Wilshere is in tremendous form. He is unstoppable in midfield(now he only needs to learn to take balls in the face ;) ) Oxlade chamberlain is on a roll and his goal will give him evven more motivation to carry on. With games following so shortly he has not much time to think or celebrate too much, which is always good for aguy his age when things are going well... I think Wenger is now in a great position. He can always bring on Girourd and move Walcott to the wing. Its a killer move late in the game or when Walcott has problems going through in the middle when not leading. Im just a little unconfident cause of cazorla and would have loved to see something from Rosicky vs. Newcastle. Cazorla stated that he doesnt like playing these days at all and he was nearly non existant vs. Newcastle. with showing up Arsenal would be even stronger. Lets wait what the coaches have to say about squads..

[ruscopico]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January Struggling to agree with you on this one chaps, Southamptons last 5 homes have all gone under, while 3 of Arsenals last 4 aways were also under. Southampton's average goals per game is 2.7 at home and 3.3 overall yet, this is a little misleading. Their first 5 homes featured 19 goals while their last 5 have seen just 8. Likewise Their first 9 games overall contained 40 goals while their last 10 have seen just 23 (despite the 6 goals in their last game) Interestingly, on the 3 occasions Arsenal have scored 5 or more goals in a game this season, their next game has been unders This game could well go over but at that price, I wouldnt go anywhere near it

[Fedar]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January

Struggling to agree with you on this one chaps, Southamptons last 5 homes have all gone under, while 3 of Arsenals last 4 aways were also under. Southampton's average goals per game is 2.7 at home and 3.3 overall yet, this is a little misleading. Their first 5 homes featured 19 goals while their last 5 have seen just 8. Likewise Their first 9 games overall contained 40 goals while their last 10 have seen just 23 (despite the 6 goals in their last game) Interestingly, on the 3 occasions Arsenal have scored 5 or more goals in a game this season, their next game has been unders This game could well go over but at that price, I wouldnt go anywhere near it

You are right about the recent stat indicating Southampton as becoming an underish side, but if you dig deeper into it, you will see that most of those "unders" have been achieved against defensive and conservative teams (Sunderland, Reading Norwich), or against out-of-shape sides like Fulham. From what I have seen from Southampton this season, they do have plenty of pace and enjoy fast attacking football if they are given the right space for it. But they don't have the creativity and potency in midfield to unlock and disturb tight and packed defenses. I think that Arsenal is going to offer them quite an open game and Southampton will take this challenge. The home team has a lot to offer up-front against the slow central defenders of Arsenal, and at the same time they will surely struggle defensively against full-squad Arsenal with top players at their best form.

[kevshat]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January 4pts Over 3.5 goals 13/8 William Hill This is one of those games which screams goals and I don’t think it will disappoint in that regard. Southampton’s only hope here is to get on the front foot and attack with a ‘we’ll score more than you’ approach. They can’t sit back because Arsenal will pick them apart as Reading and Newcastle found out in recent weeks. We’ve seen Southampton take games to Man Utd and Man City with relative success on the goals front this season and this can be another one. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/southampton-vs-arsenal-betting-expect-plenty-of-goals-to-see-the-new-year-in-at-st-mary-s

[sambo1983]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January Strange one this, it jumped out at me as a goals galore game, but upon closer inspection I'm not so sure. Hopefully, it'll be a goalfest like the 6-1 return game in September, but then again Southampton can sit deep and defend, their last 3 home games have produced just 4 goals. I'm aware they were against defensive sides, but it shows it can be done. Over 3.5 is a bit hopeful, so i'll take a small punt on Over 2.5 with PaddyPower at a generous 4/7, depending on the line-ups (e.g. if Walcott, Ramirez and co play). Happy NY all :nana

[Jase82]

You are right about the recent stat indicating Southampton as becoming an underish side' date=' but if you dig deeper into it, you will see that most of those "unders" have been achieved against defensive and conservative teams (Sunderland, Reading Norwich), or against out-of-shape sides like Fulham. From what I have seen from Southampton this season, they do have plenty of pace and enjoy fast attacking football if they are given the right space for it. But they don't have the creativity and potency in midfield to unlock and disturb tight and packed defenses. I think that Arsenal is going to offer them quite an open game and Southampton will take this challenge. The home team has a lot to offer up-front against the slow central defenders of Arsenal, and at the same time they will surely struggle defensively against full-squad Arsenal with top players at their best form.[/quote'] Some good points. That's why I'm taking the overs. It's because both sides are pretty over'ish anyway. And several of the unders games Southampton played could easily have gone over on another day. The Newcastle game for one, and also the Liverpool game where Liverpool could have gone over two by themselves. Norwich was still 1-1, and could have gone over. Sunderland are as you say almost a defensively organised unit that make life difficult, especially if they take a lead. I feel that although the unders have happened in games involving Southampton recently the fact is they've happened already. Southampton and Arsenal both give away as many chances as they can create.

[killerkim]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January i dont think southampton will be high line like newcastle. they will surely be tight and want to win after drawing with stoke which they should habe lost anyway. giroud could maked the difference,

[notoriouspunter]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January What makes me confident in an Arsenal win is that southampton has problems defending a lead. They rarely win after a lead. Arsenal will have no problem in their mind hitting back. Arsenal has now the confidence after the last results to come back trailing. I say it again: Arsenal is starting to fit together in their midfield. Im just awaiting a little more influence from Cazorla ..he is giving wilshere too much room. He should demand more ball. Im guessing that this will work out better and better with every game. Wilshere is absolutely a force. He is a joy to watch and he creats much for his team. The day him and cazorla are working together more effictivly they will crush the opponent. Everything comes together for them. After the win vs. A strong Wigan where they fought like I never saw this team fighting they knew what they are capable. They never gave up vs. Newcastle going for more and more goals. Now Podolski scored again and assisted the opener. He works hard every game. He is working good with Gibbs and this will get also better with every match. Walcott had traoning and talks with henry and was said to be a fast learner. He did so and played like Henry with a Walcott touch. Great stuff and his confidence must be sky high. I think he might been feared by the opposition already. He will produce also space for the other guys. Oxlade chamberlain is in a fantastic form. If his souroundingskeep him away from any festivities and he cocnentrates solely on the match I then expect him to show up with another strong performance. I also like how he started to go for goal..wodner if henry at some talks with him too.. Then you have girourd who came into the game scoring two goals. He will be hot to score more goals. If he comes in Walcott goes to the right side and terrorizes defense from there. Lookign to assist girourd. This is a tremendous option available for Arsenal. The weak link in arsenal defence is gibbs who isnt positioned at his best many times. A big factor is fatigue in this game. Arsenal had the advantage of not playing boxing day and it showed vs. Newcastle in the last 20 minutes. I expect that thsi adavantage will be even greater at the end of these 3 game period as the 3 days were enough to recover after not playing for a week beforehand. Its anormal rest time. The other teams not only need rest from the previous game but carry on fatigue from the boxing day game. Given that southhampton doesnt defend a lead well and the fitness issues I will go heavy on arsenal if they trail early in the game. Southampton defence: Shaw played every game for 90 minutes the last weeks yoshida played every game for 90 minutes the last weeks Fonte played every game for 90 minutes the last weeks clyne sat out the last game but will probably play. Hoiveld last game 90 minutes. Fox after an injury just 8 minutes last game and will proably not feature for 90 minutes. So in defence they have only Hoiveld to come in. With arsenal stretching the game, having one game less, they will have problems to keep pace with arsenals forwards. Best players vs. Top team(whoscored stats!): @pool yoshida/lallana vs tott lallana yoshida @ everton lallana , ward prowse @arsenal lallana fox vs. man u lambert, schneiderlin puncheon @city lallana, fonte Lallana is instrumental in relation to his fellows vs these top teams. Last game between these two: 6:1 Player ratings: Per Mertesacker Did not give Lambert a sniff all afternoon after dominating the burly centre-forward in aerial combat. Kieran Gibbs Fantastic marauding performance down the left. Forced Hooiveld's own goal in the opening 10 minutes, as well as Clyne's later on in the first half. Key figure in his side's attacking endeavours. -> Expect him to do the same again. Gervinho Top of the Match Dominated the first half with an interesting display as a false number nine that pulled the Southampton back four all over the shop. Took his first goal well and showed good instinct to finish his second. -> Now Walcott is playing that role and I expect him to do even more damage to Southampton. Nathaniel Clyne Unfortunate to see Gibbs' cross deflect off him into his own net but was given a torrid time by Podolski's desire to drift in off the line and Gibbs' willingness to hit the bye-line. -> I expect the same to happen again. Jose Rocha Fonte Could not deal with Gervinho's constant dropping off deep in an afternoon he will hope to mentally repress. -> Expect Walcott to do the same with him. Jason Puncheon Found it desperately hard to influence the game with most of his work concerned with attempting, unsuccessfully, to shackle Gibbs down the left. -> Connect that with clynes problems and you will see that Arsenal left side will have a good go at them While southampton has seemingly improved espacially defensivly I can not see how they will cope with the problems they had in the previous h2h. They did good vs. Many teams who dont have the creative wings arsenal has. Southampton did have some good games lately but you have to look at the opposition: -They drew @. Stoke after leading 3:1 with 11 men to 10. Stoke was unorganized at the back missing two important starters. they drew @ sfulham 1:1 vs. A bad form fulham. loss vs. Sudnerland. 1:0win vs. a bad reading that gets hamemred by other teams.

• Loss vs. Liverpool giving away many chances.
• 1:1 vs. Norwich who isnt very good on the travels tough had some good results.
• Won vs. Newcastle which had one of the most horrible months the last years in november.
• Win @ QPR who was about to sack Hughes.
• 1:1 vs. A strong swansea team in form.

Lost 2:0 to brom hitting form. Lost vs. Tottenham. Lost big @ west ham. Loss at everton. Lost vs city man u and arsenal. Scored 2 vs. Man u but who doesnt? 2 @ city who were awfull start of the season. So Southampton almost everytime they got a result had the luck to face a team with problems/bad form. They try to hold disciplined lines in defense but struggle once teams start to combine and going into 1vs1. This statment by Southampton boss: QUOTE" "We have improved and grown in maturity all the way through," Adkins said. "Obviously we had a baptism of fire coming into the Barclays Premier League when you look at the fixtures we had at the start of the campaign. "We have only lost two of the last nine games, which is important and both of them were narrow 1-0 defeats. "I think we have got a group of players that have become more accustomed to the level that we are at.\\\ ..means more like: We got accustomed to the level of the Prem league 2nd half table. When they met strong teams in form they got battered almost every time. They have big problems coping with international tricky class players and almost always conceede some goals. Their midfield isnt that defensivly strong to hold the big guns away from goal. Stoke gave them defensivly many problems and you could see them losing some power as opposed to stoke. Southampton has played their first eleven for the last games without much rotation. Southamptons bench isnt strong enough to substitute/rotate in similar quality players. Southampton rarely using all their substitutes shows how narrow the quality is. With important captain Adam Lallana missing again for already some weeks it looks even more narrow squad wise for them. Every rotation will drop the quality. Their game at stoke beeing very taxing(97 minutes), investing big time to come back @ fulham and chasing Sunderlands lead they might be not fully fit to face Arsenal going at them for 90 minutes. If they have some concentration problems then they will surely get punished vs. an Arsenal team who has scorers throughout its team. On the other side we have Arsenal who had one game less, having not played on boxing day. They looked fresh vs. Newcastle until the end. Still Wenger might rotate some players. Gervinho or Rosicky could come in. Also possible Girourd starting and Walcott on the wing. I guess he will play rosicky for cazorla. As I remember Rosicky is rather ok when he comes from injury. If he changes two players in mdifield like resting 2 of Arteta/wilshere and Cazorla it will be much harder for arsenal and I would lay my bets before kick off(!). Whatever scenario we will see Arsenal will have more rested players and their form should fill them with confidence. Cant see Southampton stoping them. Arsenal will throw them off balance and might run away in this game if they keep it a bit tighter at the back. I dont see them conceeding as tehy did vs newcastle as southampton is much weaker.

[greekboyuk]

Difficult call, personally I can see under 2.5 on this game and I wouldn't underestimate Southampton either.

[yousafafzal]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January As is usually the case when Arsenal play, backing both teams to score is likely to pay dividends as the Gunners backline is generally generous. But with the attacking options at their disposal and their ability to gel – especially against the so-called lesser sides – we can’t see anything other than a handsome win for the visitors from this one.

[blackcrow]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January Under 2.5 @ 2.31 sportsbet Southampton were somewhat unlucky not to pick up more than just a point against Stoke, and they will look once again to pick up points, as they sit just above the bottom three. Their defence has improved of late, as they have allowed one goal or none at all in 8 of their last 9 EPL games, and have gone under in their last 5 home games. Arsenal have won their last 4 EPL games, and though they have been scoring, they have also had 2 clean sheets in their games. On the road, they have gone under in 5 of their last 8 away games in the EPL, and have not scored in games at Aston Villa and Norwich, while they only scored once at Wigan, Everton, Man Utd and Man City. Adkins knows that he cannot play as open as he would like when they first played Arsenal, where they lost 6-1, and expect them to be much tighter here to pick up at least a point

[wisey10]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January Arsenal @ 1.80 Bet365 (5 Points) I think Arsenal will out score Southampton and sometimes football is that simple. Nigel Adkins seems to have this chip on his shoulder about playing 'football' and not changing his belief on how it should be played. And I think this is where his downfall will be today. If Southampton try and take Arsenal on at football they will lose and it will play into Wengers hands perfectly. Sometimes you need a plan b and mix it up. The Saints should aim to stop arsenal today and make it a dogged, tight scrappy game. Of course I could be wrong but I don't think that's the way Adkins will approach it though. You've got to fancy goals in the game and if it does open up, I only see there being one winner.

[sambo1983]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January Teams - Southampton XI: Boruc, Cork, Fonte ©, Yoshida, Shaw, Puncheon, Schneiderlin, S. Davis, Guly, Ramírez, Lambert. Arsenal XI: Arsenal team: Szczesny, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Podolski, Walcott.

[RIO2014]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January The majority on here, think that Saints will roll over and have their bellys rubbed here.. Arsenal will find this extremely difficult, They wont get the attcking freedom here that they got the other day, against what is a very very poor defence, and team on the day that still managed to score 3 and lets not forget Arsenal struggeld to get on top for almost 3/4 of the game. I dont see a saints team giving this up with a chance to rise to 15th....Whoda thought that 3 months ago. Arsenal are a good side, but no city or united or spurs for that matter... 4/1 for the home side in the EPL is huge, i dont care whothe opposition is. 3/1 the draw is just as good. 10 points on both, at 3/1 and 4/1, the draw and saints. 8/13 Arsenal away, are the bricks that the bookies build their houses on....Mug bet if i ever seen 1. GL all

[RIO2014]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January

Your not getting picked on, you just seem to think you know evrything when you dont. Yes we have been poor and i couldnt see a goal coming but we got it and lets see what happens from here, if we finally wake up well win if not then anything can happen

Im not saying you did not deserve to win the other day..Fine but you still let in 3 goals against a poor side..And you should be winning your home games with zest, if you reckon your a top side But the two games away before this i have been watching were wigan...desperate decision by the ref for your win,,,i.e penalty And Bradford OUt of the cup Who are what on gods holy earth said Arsenal should be 8/13 away to such a battling outfit as the saints at home..united n spurs both scraped thru by the skin of their teeth... Bookies will lay the 8/13 till the cows come home,,against such a hit n miss side like arsenal away from home still 1-1 as i write..4/5 the draw,,9/4 arsenal...5/1 saints

[JdsGooner90]

Gervinho is the most shocking player ive ever seen, awful performance was lucky with a point

[Kizo321]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January man, when i see that gervinho on the pitch, i just want to throw the tv out...

[RIO2014]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January Arsenal 4 shots 1 on target..... Now they have played 20 games, 34 points. Next games 3 home 1 away, add another at home, to west ham, if they get knocked out the fa cup against swansea(away) Man city M City Lpool Stoke Chelsea Away Next 4 IMO Arsenal will be on no more than 40 points,,after 24 games played..Arsenal will then need a min of 30 points out of 42 remaining to even be in the mix to qualify for the CL this season, On that performance, i dont think so.. So i do think im right when your not up to the standard of Spurs this season....BTW i dont support spurs.

[The Saint]

Gervinho is the most shocking player ive ever seen' date=' awful performance was lucky with a point[/quote'] U obviously haven't seen Julie Do Ponco play much!!! Bit gutted we took our goal threats off towards the end. Lallana would have made the difference imho. Top call Rio btw. Saints 1-1 Ex-Saints

[blackcrow]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January

Under 2.5 @ 2.31 :D

61-120 (-29.60)

[The Saint]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January

Your doing it again' date=' thinking your right all the time. Your not right until the end of the season, what will be will be, spurs could well finish above us but everyone thought that was going to be the case last season and look what happened.[/quote'] To be fair, if you don't think you are right when you are betting then you probably shouldn't be betting!! ;) What are the odds? Can't be done with betting on Football - too much emotion involved for me!! I've still to forgiven Imagooner for his, 'Southampton are going to be relegated - it's obvious' comment!!!! Best of luck to you both. Stay out when your own team is playing is my advice!

[RIO2014]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January I look at this game in black n white, the team is either consistantly good enough to be in the prem or their not. Southampton, have had too many games were the game was shall we say "stolen from them", they deserve to be on another 6 points, they wont be relegated, i cant see it for the life of me, A team that play for each other, is better than a team that does not in the long run. I predict 43 points, which should be enough, however up until May 1st Saints supporters will still be having nightmares, but im convinced they will get at least 43 points. Arsenal AWAY...Last 7 EPL 9 points from 21 points....out of those 7,,,5 teams were in the relegation zone, of which Arsenal were odds on in all of these 5, out of the 7... Won 2 Drawn 3 lost 2... Arsenal on the road, the bookies love them in the EPL

[Aidymac]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January Rio, your a lost cause mate. You would fight with your toenails. :wall Thread cleaned up.

[Kizo321]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January lol yeah, nice reasoning rio, but would like to see it earlier not 20 mins before kick off... although, i see this draw today as more of arsenal's failure than soton's success... they simply made too many mistakes, passing was way off, not much to do with the soton played imo...

[Jase82]

I look at this game in black n white, the team is either consistantly good enough to be in the prem or their not. Southampton, have had too many games were the game was shall we say "stolen from them", they deserve to be on another 6 points, they wont be relegated, i cant see it for the life of me, A team that play for each other, is better than a team that does not in the long run. I predict 43 points, which should be enough, however up until May 1st Saints supporters will still be having nightmares, but im convinced they will get at least 43 points. Arsenal AWAY...Last 7 EPL 9 points from 21 points....out of those 7,,,5 teams were in the relegation zone, of which Arsenal were odds on in all of these 5, out of the 7... Won 2 Drawn 3 lost 2... Arsenal on the road, the bookies love them in the EPL

You're right it was pretty obvious :ok so I don't see why you're banging on about it as though you've just discovered the cure for cancer :lol

[RIO2014]

Re: Southampton v Arsenal > Tue 1st January Im not banging on about it, like ive cured cancer, im sorry if thats perceived.. And putting things up 20 mins before the off is taking all things into account, we dont know the teams for one thing, what about if there was an injury in the warm up? Also I loved Monty Python Films. All I would say is Arsenal are more reputation than substance in the Prem Gl to all