FC Barcelona v Arsenal Champions League
Arsenal faces a major task tonight when they take on Barcelona at Nou Camp in the second of their quarter-final. We have analyzed the two teams before tonight’s match and betting tips on Barcelona v Arsenal can be fund further down. After the 2-2 draw last week, Arsenal is looking for a win or a high score draw, if they are to progress to the semi-final for the second year in a row, while the reigning Champions League winners Barcelona can be content with a small draw to keep their dream of back to back trophies alive.
Weak chances for Arsenal
If Arsenal was not already facing a difficult task, their chances have been dramatically weakened by a highly injured squad. With key star players like captain Cesc Fabregas, Andrey Arshavin, William Gallas and Robin van Persie already ruled out, they have to depend on other less experienced players, and on top of this Alex Song have now been ruled out as well, while both Sol Campbell and Tomas Rosicky is estimated 50/50 for the match. The Arsenal team is surely stripped down to the bare bones and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger must be very worried before tonight’s match, especially considering last weeks game, where Arsenal was witness to a Barcelona show the first 70 minutes before securing a somewhat lucky draw in the end. With 8 key players missing Arsenal have to depend on the two young guns Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner to score the necessary goals to go through and hope Diaby, Denilson and Nasri is up for the big task in the midfield.
On the other hand Barcelona is not without problems themselves with both their first choice centre backs banned for the match after bookings in last weeks game. Gabriel Milito and Rafael Marquez are expected to fill-in and although both players have great international experience, it does leave some question marks in the back. At the same time last weeks double goal score, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is out after being injured during warm-up against Athletic Bilbao, while Andres Iniesta is still dubious after also missing last weeks game against Arsenal. The young talent Bojan Krkic is expected to fill-in for Ibrahimovic in the starting line-up and with former Arsenal legend Thierry Henry on the Bench, their attack still seems very liable.
Fresh victory for both
Both teams come in to match with a fresh victory from their home league. Barcelona won a very convincing victory at Nou Camp against Athletic Bilbao, winning 4-1 by goals from Messi, Jeffren and two from Bojan, while Arsenal won 1-0 at home against Wolverhampton by a late goal from Bendtner.
Barcelona will certainly be the major favorites tonight and if possible they will dominate the game even more than last week. Arsenal’s injuries in midfield will likely be a deciding factor in the game as Barcelona will be able to control the game against the inexperienced Arsenal midfield. In the first leg Barcelona had the ball 70 per cent of time and could had scored a lot more goals than they did. The same thing is likely to happen tonight, where Arsenal will be forced back in most of the game and will be put to test by the fantastic Barcelona offence, while Arsenal will have to rely on the counter attacks from Walcott and Eboue. The big questions are whether Arsenal can hold back Barcelona once again and whether the very offensive Barcelona backs can cope with the fast counter attacks from Arsenal. In any case we will get a very entertaining match.
Sport betters looking to bet on the match can currently get odds 1.36 for a Barcelona win, 5.00 for a draw and 8.00 for a Arsenal win at 888sport. The odds for Barcelona to win are quite low and players looking for high value should properly consider other betting opportunities for the match. Currently you can get odds 1.50 for over 2.5 goals and 2.25 for over 3.5 goals, which are both likely to be good bets. Arsenal must score to progress to the semi-final and they will likely need to score more than once. At the same time both teams have new players in back, which might cause problems for both. We predict a high scoring match with more than 3.5 goals, which is more than playable at odds 2.25 at 888sport.