iBet: It’s hard to see Reading beating Arsenal tonight

Reading v Arsenal, Premier League, kick-off 8pm, Sky Sports 1

Lay Reading at 4.6/1 with Betfair

Arsenal’s last performance against Reading sums up their season. Abject, seemingly disinterested and disorganised at the start of that Capital One Cup tie, they found themselves 4-0 down after just 37 minutes. But then they rallied and looked irresistible at times, snatching the equaliser in the last minutes and going on to win 7-5 after extra time.

We won’t get 12 goals tonight, but Reading are conceding nearly two per game in the league as well and although Arsenal’s away games are the joint lowest scoring in the division, you have to believe that under fire manager Arsene Wenger will have his men fired up after their disastrous effort against Bradford midweek. And it should be noted that although Wenger is fielding a lot of flak right now, his team are fifth in the Premier League eight-match form table, while only Newcastle have a worse eight-match record than Brian McDermott’s men.

Even though Arsenal lack their usual quality and are struggling for confidence, they have not lost any of their seven games against teams in the bottom half this season, and over these fixtures their goal difference is +10. It’s hard to see Reading winning.

Advices

The two games in Spain tonight look quite tough to call. Deportivo are leaking goals for fun, but Valladolid’s away fixtures are not high scoring. Real Betis’s games tend to have a few goals, but Celta Vigo Keep things tight at home. Both games to finish all square pays over 10/1.

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