Despite a spirited fight-back from Bolton on Wednesday in a typical FA Cup tie Arsenal finally proved too strong in extra time and in doing so set up a perfect looking home draw against Blackburn.
Arsene Wenger could have defiantly done without the added time, especially with the Champions League starting back next week, but they are after all still in every competition that they started out in at the beginning of the season.
Arsenal looked tired towards the end of that midweek game, but Wenger wisely rested some big key players like Henry and Fabregas and with a few days to get the others back on song at around 1/2 in the betting I think they should have too much fire-power for Blackburn.
Mark Hughes’ side were also in action in the week after going down 3-2 over in Germany in the UEFA Cup to Leverkusen, so being an early Saturday kick-off and having to travel all the way down to London I expect Hughes’ players to feel the strain more than Arsenal.
Blackburn got this far by beating Luton 4-0, but at around 7/1 in the match odds will do well to make it into the last eight.
David Bentley with six goals and summer signing Benny McCarthy on 15 for the season look their most dangerous players and will be popular in the scoring markets at around 4/1 and 11/4 respectively to find the net.
Arsenal are still in my opinion holding the title as the ‘most exciting team to watch’ at the moment as they look by far the best team in their games but tend either not to finish teams off or give teams a goal start. You have to go back now eight games to find the Gunners last clean sheet, but ironically that was against Blackburn back in the middle of January.
A few weeks before that Arsenal thumped six by Blackburn at the Emirates in the league after winning 6-3 in another classic Gunners performance. I don’t expect a similar cricket score, but with Arsenal still not tasting defeat at their new stadium I can’t see anything but a victory for the Londoners, and actually think that, although short, the 1/2 on offer is a decent price.
The pair have met only four times in this competition with each team boasting two wins a piece, with three of those four games ending 3-0. However, Blackburn’s wins were way back in 1928 and 1966 while Arsenal’s most recent wins were in 2001 and 2005 both at home and both 3-0. A repeat scoreline can be backed at around 9/1 and is also worth a small interest.
Of the other markets that were of interest were Henry will be raring to go after missing the midweek game and again although not the most imaginative of choice at 10/3 to score first he should give you a run for your money, while Rosicky, who’s got two of his four Arsenal goals in the FA Cup, looks worthy of support at around 4/1 just to score.
Recommended Bets
5pts - Arsenal to win
2pts – Henry to score first
1pt – Rosicky to score at anytime
* All prices correct at time of writing.
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