Football Tips: Norwich v Arsenal

Norwich City have already travelled to Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford and Anfield this season and given all the big guns a real run for their money on their own grounds. Saturday lunch time will be the first time that a glamour side visits Carrow Road, and there’s every indication that the Canaries will be ready for Arsenal.

Ninth in the table despite those challenging early fixtures, Paul Lambert’s side have played well enough to have quite a few more points on the board. They were a match for Man Utd and Chelsea till right at the end, and could have easily taken all three points, instead of a commendable draw against Liverpool. The Norfolk side went on a run of one defeat in six that included wins over Bolton, Sunderland and Swansea. That sequence was only just ended by an unfortunate 3-2 defeat at Villa Park that could easily have gone the other way.

I can’t pretend that Arsenal haven’t been on scintillating form the past two months, but the old vulnerabilities haven’t gone away. The fixture list has been kind to the Gunners, with a disproportionate number of home games having come up - 8 of the last 11 have been at the Emirates. On their travels, Wenger’s side have still only emerged victorious once all season in the Premier League.

With this in mind, I feel confident tipping the underdogs for this one with a ‘draw no bet’ contingency. Norwich are best odds of 11/4 (Boylesports) to win in this market, with a return on our money if the match ends level. Great odds when the risk is so substantially reduced.