ARSENAL VS STANDARD LIEGE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TIPS

While it’s virtually impossible for Arsenal not to go through to the next phase of the 2009/10 Champions League, their opponents today do have an outside chance of pulling off a route to the next phase and I fully expect them to battle the entire 90 minutes. It’s going to be a bit of an all-or-nothing sort of match by Standard and I think Arsenal will have been analyzing their lack of attacking prowess at the weekend when they lost to Sunderland. I think Standard will have a tough time here and, should they go forward with too much gusto, things could go from bad to worse pretty quickly.
Deprived of their best attacking player in Robin Van Persie, Arsenal need to figure out where the goals are going to come from. If the odds are anything to go by, it looks like Andrei Arshavin and Eduardo are going to have to step up here as they’re priced at 2.24 and 2.4, respectively. Carlos Vela trades at 2.86 with Betfair while Cesc Fabregas can be backed at a 2.94 price. Thomas Vermaelen could be the difference here and he is 6.8 to get on the scoresheet.
Dieudonne Mbokani is expected to get the job done for Standard at a 5.6 price with Gohi Bi Cyriac at 7.4. Milan Jovanovic can be backed at 6.0 currently.
Arsenal are well-priced to win both halves at 2.62- I think that’s a real plausibility and I actually do fancy them to score early in the match. Standard don’t have a particularly solid defence and I think that the type of style Arsenal will likely deploy early on in the match could prove too much. Frankly, Arsenal can lose this match, so pushing forward early on and conceding a goal isn’t really a disaster.
If you fancy a draw at half-time and Arsenal to win you’re looking at a 4.5 price.
Personally, you’re an idiot if you don’t think this is Arsenal’s match to win. Stranger things have happened, but I seriously think the gulf in class will be more than visible and Arsenal will likely record a 3-0 or 3-1 victory with goals from Arshavin, Vermaelen and Fabregas.