18th Oct 2011 | Football
Marseilles v Arsenal
The French side have shown they can defend, and tend to save their best form for the Champions League.
Arsenal meet a side on Wednesday who are in many ways the mirror image of themselves. The Gunners may have edged up to mid-table with an unconvincing win over Sunderland at the weekend, but Marseilles are still down in 15th in France’s Ligue 1. However, much like Arsenal, the 2010 French champions are taking solace from their European adventures. Didier Deschamps’ side beat Olympiakos 1-0 in Greece before comfortably dispatching much-fancied Borussia Dortmund 3-0 at Stade Velodrome.
The 1992-93 Champions League winners have now kept an impressive seven clean sheets in their last eight Champions League matches. In contrast, Arsenal have only shut out their opponents once in their last seven games in all competitions, and rarely look like doing so. Newcastle have been the only side to host the Gunners and not find the net all season - the 0-0 draw on the opening day of the season seems a long time ago now anyway.
Arsene Wenger hasn’t seen his side win a Premier League away match since April at Blackpool; he must be dreading the trip across the Channel. With Marseilles looking miserly at the back, and Arsenal looking anything but, it’s hard not to get lured in by odds of 10/3 (Bet365) on the home side winning by a one goal margin. Arsenal have lost by this margin in their last two league matches away from the Emirates - 2-1 to Spurs and 4-3 to Blackburn. There have to be significant concerns over any team who concedes four times at Ewood Park.
To make matters worse for Gooners fans Marseilles should have most of their chief attacking threats on the pitch. Creative midfielder Mathieu Valbuena missed the 0-0 draw with Toulouse at the weekend but is set to return on Wednesday. Strikers Loic Remy and Andre Ayew scored three times between them against Dortmund and are well capable of providing the Londoners with more headaches.
Arsenal have enough quality to create chances of their own, but everything points to a narrow home victory. Take the best market odds (10/3 Bet365) on Marseilles to win by one goal.
Odds correct at time of publishing: 15:08 18th Oct, 2011 but subject to change
