Bournemouth v Arsenal: Take a chance on Wilson in an entertaining affair

Arsenal visit Bournemouth in the final FA Cup fixture of the weekend on Monday night and Mike Norman believes goals are on the cards at the Vitality Stadium...

Arsenal v Bournemouth
Monday, 20:00
Live on BT Sport

Cherries record confidence-boosting win

Following a horrid run of 10 defeats in 12 league games Bournemouth found themselves in the relegation zone prior to Tuesday night's home match against Brighton, but Eddie Howe's men produced one of their best performances of the season to record a 3-1 win and secure a vital three points.
The Cherries remain in the drop zone but they can take confidence from that victory as well as having the knowledge that of the two games they didn't lose in that 12-game poor run one of them was against Monday's opponents Arsenal.
Howe's men thrashed Championship outfit Luton in round three of this competition meaning they've lost just one of their last four at the Vitality Stadium, that coming against bang-in-form Watford.
Star striker Callum Wilson ended a long goalless streak in the victory over the Hatters and the 27-year-old scored his first Premier League goal for sometime when scoring against the Seagulls in midweek. You sense that he will be pivotal in any cup run Bournemouth have, and more importantly, in helping the Cherries avoid relegation.
Eddie Howe 1280.jpg

Draw specialists becoming tougher to beat

Arsenal recorded an excellent draw at Chelsea in midweek, twice coming from a goal behind despite being down to 10 men for much of the game after the dismissal of David Luiz in the first half.
That result means the Gunners have lost just once under new boss Mikel Arteta, that defeat coming at the hands of Chelsea courtesy of two late goals conceded. But while Arsenal have become harder to beat under Arteta the fact remains they've won just two of the seven games he's been in charge (W2, D4, L1).
Coincidentally, Arteta started his managerial career with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Boxing Day and he remains unbeaten away from home with three draws from three games played. Arsenal themselves are unbeaten in their last seven away games though they've won just once in that time, drawing the other six.
Gabriel Martinelli has undoubtedly been Arsenal's huge positive this season with the Brazilian teenager scoring 10 goals, including in each of his team' last two Premier League games. The 18-year-old looks ready to become a permanent fixture in the first team and he might just end up being one of the FA Cup's star players this season if the Gunners enjoy a good run.

Little confidence in odds-on Arseanl

I wouldn't go as far as saying Arsenal won't win this game - as the Match Odds suggests they are by far the most likely winners - but without knowing how each team will line-up on Monday night it's very difficult to find positives in their 1.92 price.
True, the Gunners are unbeaten in seven on the road but they've won just one of those games, drawing six in the process. In fact when you draw six out of seven games, and one of those draws was in this very same fixture just a few weeks back, then it makes sense to have a serious look at the stalemate again at 3.80.
Bournemouth can be backed at [4.5] but as I say, without knowing the line-ups it's hard to have any confidence at the prices about either team winning. What I will say is that Arsenal don't play again until Sunday and could easily target this competition while the Cherries are in a huge relegation scrap so avoiding the drop is undoubtedly there main priority.

Goals look likely on current form

Arsenal's last seven away games have witnessed exactly 20 goals, that's an average of just under three per match, and by pure coincidence that's the exact same number for Bournemouth's last seven home games; 20 goals scored.
Of those combined 14 games (Bournemouth's last seven at home, Arsenal's last seven away) nine of them finished with Over 2.5 Goals paying out so you can make a small argument that witnessing at least three goals in this game is an attractive price at 1.92.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (pictured above) is still suspended however, so that might be a small reason why the price isn't a little shorter. You can back Under 2.5 Goals at 2.10

Wilson can get on the scoresheet again

Assuming they play, the two players I've mentioned already, Martinelli and Wilson, are likely to be popular in goalscorer markets with the pair available to back at 7/2 and 5/1 respectively to score the first goal of the game.
Wilson is the one I like however given that he's scored three in six appearance against the Gunners and has hopefully rediscovered his confidence again having scored in the previous round and in the midweek win over Brighton.
I prefer the insurance of having the whole game for him to find the back of the net however, so backing him at 15/8 to score at any time is the call.

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