Upcoming Match-ups

EPL Odds: Arsenal Heavy Favorites vs Watford

Don Aguero

by Don Aguero in News

Updated Jan 17, 2018 · 9:39 AM PST

Arsenal (-400) vs Watford (+1500), Draw (+600)

Once again, Arsenal (14-5-3, 47 points) find themselves in second place in the Premier League. In order to hold their spot, they will have to fend off 14th-place Watford (8-2-12, 26 points) at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, January 31.

That shouldn’t be a difficult for task for the Gunners, but they have been known to drop points against teams they’re expected to beat. So this season, they have lost to 11th-place Southampton (in the EFL Cup) and drawn with 12th-place Bournemouth.

They narrowly scraped by with a win (2-1) in their most recent league game against 13th-place Burnley. Alexis Sanchez saved the day by converting a penalty in the final minute of added time. If the Gunners had drawn the game, they would now be sitting in third place below their rival Tottenham.

All things considered, though, their season has been quite good so far. Their three defeats have come from top-tier teams — Manchester City, Liverpool, and Everton — and they have already beaten league-leading Chelsea.

As it stands, Arsenal are eight points back of the Blues after 22 league games. They will have a chance to move closer next week when they visit Stamford Bridge (Feb. 4). But winning at Chelsea won’t mean much if they don’t take a full three points against Watford.

Watford are currently winless in their last seven league games, and have only managed to win two of their away games so far this season. They have, at times, showed they can hang with the big dogs, though. Their last win was an impressive 3-2 victory over Everton, when they shocked the league by coming back from a goal down. Earlier in the season, they upset Manchester United with a 3-1 victory.

For a small team, Watford play a very aggressive game and, when it comes together, they are able to hold their own against the top teams. Putting Watford at +1500 may be underestimating what the Hornets are capable of, and at those odds, I think they’re worth a taste.

Pick: Watford (+1500)


Photo credit: “Watford v Coventry-277”, by Franziska CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Flickr.

Author Image