Football Betting: Newcastle v Arsenal

Sam Allardyce readies his Newcastle troops for the visit of Arsenal with rumours circulating that former England striker Alan Shearer could take over should his side slump to their fifth defeat in nine games. Big Sam is 5/2 with Ladbrokes to be the first Premier League manager to leave his post, and as Arsenal are a best-priced 4/6 with Stan James to win on Tyneside, some may want to take the better odds and go with the gaffer to leave instead. Newcastle have been pretty poor of late and the 3-1 defeat to Blackburn seems to have set things up for a make-or-break performance. The Magpies sit 11th in the table at the moment with just as many wins as losses and with three draws. Things could surely be worse at St James's Park and the draw price looks decent at Paddy Power's 5/2, although the more fanciful among you may want to take Bet365's 5/1 about a home win. Newcastle have quite a decent record against the big teams such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool, and if you look at their record against these sides, the stalemate is the most often occuring result in the last 12 months. Arsenal are in a hot-streak at the moment and their 2-1 win over an in-form Aston Villa at the weekend is the reason they are so short. As we recommended at the weekend, goals in Newcastle's games rocket and we all know that Arsenal are hardly goal shy. In their last eight games they have scored 19 goals and this fixture has the hallmarks of a classic high-scoring encounter. Coral are shortest about over 2.5 goals at 8/11 but Paddy Power are a best-priced 5/6. Verdict: 1pt draw @ 5/2 (Paddy Power