Bournemouth v Arsenal: Gunners to shoot their way to victory

"Arsenal have fantastic stats too as six of their last eight on the road have ended with the ball in the net on at least three occasions."

Back Over 2.5 Goals @ 1.79

Bournemouth v Arsenal
Tuesday January 3, 19:45 GMT
Live on Sky Sports 1

Bournemouth

The Cherries remain in ninth place after Monday's first set of fixtures but with a five point gap to West Brom in eighth, they can't improve on that even with a win. They bounced back from a pair of defeats to Southampton and Chelsea by thrashing Swansea in Wales on New Year's Eve, and they will be hoping to build on that here.

Jack Wilshere has impressed since his loan move from Arsenal but he isn't eligible to play against his parent club and that is actually quite a blow to Bournemouth. He keeps the ball moving between defence and attack, and his range of passing will certainly be missed.

Eddie Howe won't underestimate the difficulty of this fixture and as he's the favourite to replace Arsene Wenger at the Emirates, he will be looking to impress. His team have already beaten West Brom, Everton, Hull, Liverpool and Leicester on this ground this season, but he would surely take a point if offered one now.

Arsenal

The Gunners have got back on track with a couple of home victories to nil, which were badly needed following back to back defeats at Everton and Man City. Olivier Giroud took the plaudits against Palace, but despite scoring what will surely be the goal of the season, he isn't even guaranteed to retain his place in the starting XI.

Arsene Wenger will be wary of his side's recent fragility on the road, but prior to that they were unbeaten in seven this term - winning five of them. If they can get a victory at the Vitality, it would be hard to rule them out of the title race, especially with Liverpool dropping points at Sunderland and Chelsea having to go to White Hart Lane.

Mesut Ozil missed the match on Sunday with illness but I would expect him to be back on Tuesday, and when he's on song, he really makes the Gunners tick. Alexis Sanchez has the explosive firepower, but there's something about Ozil that gets the best out of the players around him when he's on top form.

Match Odds
Bournemouth 4.90 Arsenal 1.83 The Draw 4.00

The visitors are odds-on, and with three points being almost a necessity, it's not hard to see why. Defeats at Goodison Park and the Etihad can arguably be forgiven and they've already won at Watford, Hull, Burnley, Sunderland and West Ham this year.

The hosts won't be pushovers by any means but I can't get the memory of them being dominated by Liverpool out of my mind. The Reds should have won by two or three that day, and while we all know what happened, if Arsenal play to their best, there's only one winner.

Nevertheless, I can't bring myself to tip them at a price below evens, especially as there are two other markets that contain better value.

Over/Under 2.5 Goals
Over 2.5 Goals 1.79 Under 2.5 Goals 2.26

I'm quite keen on over 2.5 goals at basically the same price as what Arsenal are to win the match. Overs would have landed in four of Bournemouth's last six in front of their own fans and one of the teams have netted three themselves in their three latest outings home and away.

Arsenal have fantastic stats too as six of their last eight on the road have ended with the ball in the net on at least three occasions. Four of those would have even seen over 3.5 backers collect, and since a 0-0 at Leicester way back in August, the North Londoners haven't failed to score on their travels, while keeping just the one clean sheet themselves.

Correct Score

As stated, I can't bring myself to tip Arsenal at the prices, but I am keen to back them in the correct score market. I definitely think there is a good chance of both teams getting on the scoresheet, and while I am tempted to put up 1-3 at 16.00, I have decided to play it safer with 1-2 at 9.60.

Even if it doesn't land, I can't see it being far off, so keep your eye on the cash out offers as you will hopefully get quite a lucrative offer at some point.

Recommended Bets

Back Over 2.5 Goals @ 1.79
Back Arsenal to win 2-1 @ 9.60

Opta Stat

Mesut Ozil has scored twice and assisted another in his three previous Premier League games against Bournemouth. He is 4.20 to score again against the Cherries.