A Look At Arsenal’s Upcoming Games And The Betting Odds Around Claiming Silverware

A Look At Arsenal’s Upcoming Games And The Betting Odds Around Claiming Silverware

Arsenal transfer rumours continue to abound through until the very last hour of January, but in all likelihood the Gunners won’t sign anyone. Despite a few injuries to some key players like Santi Cazorla they have a large squad and Arsene Wenger is unlikely to dip into the transfer market when his own future is yet to be decided.

Wenger has been at the club for more than two decades and throughout a career that has also seen him manage in France and Japan he has never failed to see out a contract. But his current contract ends this season, he is getting a little long in the tooth and some vocal sections of the supporter base calling for him to go may have convinced him to finally walk away from the club he loves so much.


A lot will depend on Arsenal’s results in the run in to the season. He signed the last three-year deal, back in 2014, after finally ending a nine-year trophy drought by winning the FA Cup. Another trophy could be the key to him deciding to stay. The board clearly want him to commit to more years in charge. For the money men, what’s not to love: he keeps Arsenal qualifying for the lucrative Champions League every year without spending as much as some of his rivals, so Arsenal is a cash cow for American owner Stan Kroenke, who is fond of buying huge ranches Stateside.

But Wenger will not stay if he doesn’t feel wanted by fans. And to convince them, he really has to win something this season. The last-gasp and controversial 2-1 win at home to Burnley made it six wins from seven games and Arsenal have climbed up to second in the table. Thanks to the wobbly form of their rivals – notably Liverpool and Man City – Arsenal look set to once more make the top four and qualify for the Champions League, something Wenger, to his immense credit, has never failed to achieve, despite huge financial constraints when they were building the Emirates. Odds at betdsi sportsbook and other bookmakers show that Arsenal are heavy favourites to win their next game at home to Watford, while Chelsea – who are eight points clear of the Gunners at the top of the league, are underdogs in their trip to Liverpool. If Jurgen Klopp’s men beat Chelsea – something they achieved earlier this season at Stamford Bridge – and Arsenal beat Watford, the gap is cut to five points. The following game sees Arsenal travel to Chelsea, and that would become a huge six pointer. Arsenal beat Chelsea 3-0 earlier this season and a repeat of that would cut the gap to two points with 14 games left to play and it really would be game on.

It is a very tall order as Chelsea are a completely different team now. After that 3-0 defeat they switched to three at the back and have won 15 of their 16 ensuing league games to soar clear at the top. But they did lose to Tottenham and have a dodgy record against the top sides over the last couple of seasons, so it is not beyond the realms of possibility. Arsenal have gone from 16/1 to 9/1 to win the league and that is looking pretty intriguing.

But a better chance of silverware might be the FA Cup. Arsenal always seem to go out in the last 16 of the Champions League and have once again been drawn against the mighty Bayern Munich, who are second favourites to win it this year. Even if Arsenal pull off a miracle and make it to the quarter finals, they are unlikely to beat a team like Barcelona or Real Madrid, so the FA Cup represents a far better chance of a trophy.

That is why it was so imperative Wenger put out a strong team in their fourth round tie away at Southampton on the weekend which paid off handsomely as the Gunners thumped Claude Puel’s Southampton side 5-0 on the back of a cracking hat-trick from former Saint Theo Walcott plus an equally fine brace of goals from Danny Welbeck who looked like he had never been away yet alone injured for over half the season before he left to a standing ovation just after the hour mark. The Saints already knocked Arsenal out of the EFL Cup this season when Wenger fielded a weakened side, so he knew he could not afford to make the same mistake again. Arsenal were ruthless going up 2-0 on 22 minutes after 2 great goals from Welbeck and then Walcott added the 3rd before the interval pretty much putting the game to bed before the second half began.

Walcott of course completed his well-earned and well-taken hat-trick in the 84th minute putting the icing on the cake on what was one of Arsenal’s best performances this season against a team who have had their number in recent games. So having beaten the Saints in the 4th round, they are among the favourites to win the cup, and if they can do it again it might just buy Wenger the goodwill he needs to justify signing another contract.