Arsenal vs Brentford betting tips, BuildABet, best bets and preview
- Michael Beardmore is +22pts in profit for the 2023/24 football season
Football betting tips: Premier League
1pt Sergio Reguilon to be shown a card at 11/4 (General)
1pt Jakub Kiwior to score or assist at 19/4 (Betway)
Arsenal have been a juggernaut in recent weeks, handing out hammerings left, right and centre, winning their past seven Premier League matches by a jaw-dropping aggregate of 31-3.
It's possible Mikel Arteta's side are revelling in the role of hunters rather than hunted - they certainly seem much more at ease recently than on occasions, this season and last, when they have been topping the pile and looking over their shoulders.
Brentford arrive at the Emirates in almost polar opposite form, a run of 12 defeats in their past 16 games raising fears they could be dragged into a relegation scrap, although they do have the comfort of knowing two sides are virtually cast adrift.
Prior to the weekend, they sat just three places and six points clear of safety - and those numbers could narrow further if, as the bookies firmly expect, judging by general prices of 1/5 on the hosts, the Bees come away with nothing here.
What are the best bets?
There's no value around the home win - even with add-ons. Arsenal HT and FT is 3/4, while the 'win to nil' at 11/10 and 'win and BTTS' at 7/4 are tough to pick between - the Gunners are keeping clean sheets but Brentford tend to score even in defeat.
Adding goals to the equation is risky too - yep, Arsenal have been banging them in and the Bees have been leaky, but they did hold Manchester City to one goal at the Etihad. And if Arsenal go a couple up, Arteta may have an eye on Porto in midweek.
Instead, it's worth a look at the opposition, particularly in the card markets, with Brentford racking up 35 yellows in 12 away trips this season.
A few players catch the eye in Bees colours and SERGIO REGUILON is one of the standouts - he's really been getting stuck in since joining on loan in January, registering a whopping 3.4 tackles per game, plus seven fouls in his past five matches.
He's received six bookings in 19 games for Brentford and Manchester United this season but several of those appearances have been as a substitute - he's averaging 0.58 cards per 90 minutes.
This makes the 11/4 on offer for the Spaniard to BE SHOWN A CARD look appealing even before you factor in there's every chance the left-sided wing-back will be up against one of the players who draws the most fouls in the league, Bukayo Saka.
One Arsenal player I do want on board here is JAKUB KIWIOR, the Polish left-back who has really been given licence to roam forward since coming in for the injured Oleksandr Zinchenko a month or so back.
As the graphic below attests, he's spent almost as much time in the opposition half than his own in the past five games, racking up four key passes, four shots, three assists and a goal.
If he continues in that fashion against Brentford - who are shipping an average of more than two goals per game over the past three months, then the 19/4 on Kiwior, who is also a big set-piece threat, TO SCORE OR ASSIST looks huge value.
BuildABet @ 47/1
- Sergio Reguilon to be shown a card
- Jakub Kiwior to score or assist
- Yoane Wissa 1+ offsides
- Yoane Wissa 1+ shots on target
CLICK HERE to back with Sky Bet
Yoane Wissa is a livewire for Brentford, averaging a shot on target every 97 minutes this season but his enthusiasm often gets the better of him - he's been caught offside eight times in his past seven appearances.
Team news
Aaron Ramsdale will start in goal for the Gunners, with David Raya ineligible to face his parent club.
Arsenal full-backs Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu are both doubtful with calf injuries but Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli should be fit despite coming off with illness and a gashed leg respectively at Sheffield United on Monday.
Brentford, meanwhile, remain without a string of players due to injury. Bryan Mbeumo (ankle), Ethan Pinnock (ankle), Rico Henry (knee), Josh Dasilva (knee), Aaron Hickey (hamstring) and Ben Mee (ankle) are all out for varying timescales.
Predicted line-ups
Arsenal: Ramsdale; Kiwior, Gabriel, Saliba, White; Rice, Jorginho, Odegaard; Martinelli, Saka, Havertz.
Brentford: Flekken; Zanka, Collins, Ajer; Roerslev, Janelt, Jensen, Norgaard, Reguilon; Wissa, Toney
Match facts
- Arsenal have only lost one of their last 10 meetings with Brentford in all competitions (W7 D2), a 0-2 defeat in the Bees’ first ever Premier League game in August 2021.
- Brentford have won just once in nine visits to Arsenal in all competitions (D4 L4), a 2-0 league win in April 1938.
- Arsenal’s two Premier League London derbies so far in 2024 have seen them beat Crystal Palace 5-0 and West Ham 6-0. Only the Gunners themselves in 1934-35 have ever scored 5+ goals in three consecutive London league derbies.
- Arsenal have won all seven of their Premier League matches in 2024, scoring 31 times and conceding just three. They are the first side in English top-flight history to have scored 30+ goals in their first seven games in a year.
- Brentford have dropped a league-high 28 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season; it’s the most since Southampton in 2021-22 (29).
- Brentford had earned 16 points from their first 11 Premier League games this season, at an average of 1.5 per game (W4 D4 L3). Since then, they’ve taken just 10 points from 16 Premier League games, an average of 0.6 per game (W3 D1 L12).
- Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale has kept a clean sheet in both of his meetings with Brentford this season, 1-0 wins away from home in both the Premier League and EFL Cup.
- Only three players have been directly involved in more Premier League goals this season than Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka (21 - 13 goals, 8 assists), with Saka the only player this season to have had 200+ touches in the opposition’s box (202).
- Arsenal forward Kai Havertz has three goals and two assists in his last three Premier League appearances, as many goals and assists as he had in his previous 32 league games combined (4 goals, 1 assist).
- Havertz has both scored and assisted in his last two matches (vs Newcastle and Sheffield United), with Cesc Fàbregas the last Gunners player to do three in a row back in September 2007.
- Brentford’s Yoane Wissa is looking to score in three consecutive Premier League games for the first time.
Odds correct at 1315 GMT (08/03/24)
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