Watford vs Arsenal Betting Tips

There are very few certainties in life but one appears to be that Watford will be returning to the Coca-Cola Championship next season. Currently marooned at the foot of the table with Charlton for company, the Hornets, with just one win from 18 Premiership fixtures so far, are not demonstrating the requisite mettle to survive in the top flight. And things look set to get a bit worse when Arsenal come calling to the Hawthorns on Boxing Day. For all of Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd's optimism, his charges are going from bad to worse before his eyes. Subsequent to their victory over Boro at the beginning of November, Watford have endured a torrid seven matches in which they've scored just twice. To their credit, two of the matches in question resulted in respectable draws, but this goalscoring stat is indicative of a wider problem: they've amassed a paltry 11 goals in their 18 league games this season. Arsenal's form away from home can be somewhat hit and miss. Indeed, while they're unbeaten at home and have scored a whopping 24 times, the Gunners have been beaten four times in nine away encounters and have scored just 11 goals on rival soil in the league. However, as they proved when thumping Reading 4-0 at the Madejski Stadium in October, they are more than capable of turning on the style away from the Emirates when in the mood. And on the back of an impressive 6-2 drubbing of Blackburn at the weekend, Arsene Wenger's men should outclass the Premiership whipping boys on Tuesday afternoon. The Blackburn demolition was all the more impressive considering that the half-dozen goals they put past Brad Friedel were gained without the talismanic Thierry Henry. Dutch striker Robin van Persie weighed in with a brace against the Lancashire side, the first of which was a superbly taken strike. Meanwhile, Togo international Emmanuel Adebayor is coming of age and is quickly becoming a firm favourite amongst the Emirates faithful. The return to the fray of Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky was a major boost - the 26-year-old posted an energetic display against Blackburn which augured well for the games ahead. And, despite appearing to resent the idea of shooting, Aleksandr Hleb managed to etch his name onto the scoresheet. All in all, a glance at the Gunners' likely starting XI compared to that of Watford's makes it easy to understand why the visitors are a top-priced 1/2 in the match result market. However, there is surprisingly good value to be had in backing the Arsenal to win to nil at 11/10 with Paddy Power - Skybet's 5/6 is much nearer the mark in my opinion. This bet appeals most because you never quite know what you are going to get from Arsenal. It could just as easily be a 1-0 win as a 6-0 win. But what can be confidently predicted is that they will score at least once - and that Watford will fail to hit the back of the net once again, having failed to do so in five of their last seven league matches.