A real battle of the titans is on offer in the Premier League on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta have formation concerns. EPA/AOP
The most interesting game of the day
In the Premier League, it’s time for the biggest championship candidates of the season to meet on Sunday, when Arsenal hosts Manchester City in London. Arsenal have started the Premier League unbeaten; its balance after seven played matches is 5-2-0 goals 15-6. Manchester City suffered a 1-2 shock defeat away to Wolverhampton a week ago, despite winning the match 23-3. However, in terms of goal expectations, the match was much more even than the goal position statistics, City’s expected win was only 0.8-0.4. Before this, Manchester City had won all their first six league games of the season with a goal difference of 16-3.
The anemic attacking play against Wolves was contributed to by the power trio in the midfield Rodri–Kevin De Bruyne–Bernardo Silva intervention. Against Arsenal, Silva makes his comeback, but the suspended Rodri and De Bruyne, who is suffering from a thigh injury, are still missing. Even though City’s material is wide, the absence of the duo still has to make a deduction to the team’s playing power. From the defense John Stones does not have time to recover to playing condition.
Both teams played the Champions League away this week, so the pressures are basically equal. Arsenal lost their own match against Lens (1-2), while City managed to beat Leipzig (3-1) with last-minute goals. With regard to the overall performance, it is worth noting that in addition to the loss to Wolves in the Premier League, the team was eliminated from the league cup a week ago with a 0-1 away loss against Newcastle. City is no longer at its best at the moment.
Arsenal’s worst problems lie with the vital players in terms of attacking play. The biggest question mark at the moment is the star pier Bukayo Sakan game condition. Saka has already had to be replaced from the field in three consecutive matches due to hamstring problems. There is no certainty about Saka’s playing condition, who has already scored four goals and assisted two in the Premier League this season. The game condition will probably be decided before the game starts. In a full blow, the pier is not in any case. Also by Gabriel Martinelli playing is uncertain. If both players are missing, it is part of Arsenal’s attacking power to make a big reduction. As a long-term patient, a defender is missing Jurrien Timber.
In the Premier League, Arsenal last beat Manchester City in 2015. The 15 matches after that have been played with a confusing 13-2-0 goals with a 40-10 balance for City. Arsenal have lost their last six Premier League meetings at home.
In terms of power relations, quite a lot will be resolved with the final playing conditions of Saka and Martinelli. If both were in full 90-minute condition, then Arsenal could even be considered the favorite here. This is not the case now and City should be at least a marginal early favorite in the match. Even now, I would still prefer to look at the bets on the winner from the side of Arsenal’s handicaps. The best offer in that sector is Arsenal +0.25 on offer at 1.73. The best search for the entire match is still over 2.5 goals with the promised 1.80 multiplier. Arsenal – Manchester City starts at 18:30.
The best betting tip of the day
Sunday’s tastiest bet can be found in the Premier League West Midlands derby Wolverhampton – Aston Villa. Here, generosity is of interest. This season, Aston Villa is downright specialized in high-goal matches. At home, there have not been less than four goals in any of Villa’s matches, and the goal average per match has been 3.5 goals per game, even away. Even measured by expected goals, Aston Villa’s matches have been on average well over three goals.
Wolverhampton has traditionally been a low-scoring team in recent seasons, both because of their style of play and their player material. This season, however, there have been signs of scoring plenty of goals in Wolves’ play. A total of 12 goals have already been scored in its three matches at home. Although there are a few more goals than expected, Wolves should no longer be classified as particularly low-scoring. For this match, Wolves will have a midfielder for their lineup Jean-Ricner Bellegarde except with his best possible crew. Aston Villa may be missing something important in terms of attacking play Moussa Diaby. Otherwise, Villa’s shortcomings mainly affect the team’s defensive play.
Due to the local nature of the match, I count a small plus to the number of goals. The 1.73 offered for over 2.5 goals is a meager odds with estimates of 58%. Wolves – Aston Villa starts at 16:00.
Games of the day:-
Total balance of the day’s games for the year: 99/173/98%
Every day Iltalehti chooses the most interesting game of the day and the best game destination of the day. You can always find them in the Betting and Ravit section.