My Thoughts
A notable clash in playing styles is set to take place on Saturday: Arsenal's array of continental short-arse stars will arrive at the Britannia intent on weaving their way through Stoke with endless precise, quick passing, with besuited Economics graduate Arsene Wenger masterminding it all from the touchline. Stoke, meanwhile, will look to outmuscle Arsenal, with a side packed full of 6 foot-odd homegrown musclemen (plus the brilliant Turkish international Tuncay), generally getting stuck in, going for the long-ball and shouting BULLY!. Leading them from the touchline will be the tracksuited, baseball-cap-wearing Tony Pulis. He's from Wales.
The Verdict
One of these teams is unbeaten in 2010, and saw off Manchester City in the FA Cup Sponsored By Enron in midweek, as well as their opponents in this one 3-1 the last time they met. Yep, Stoke. 11 unbeaten, they gave an admittedly under-strength Arsenal side one hell of a bloody nose in their FA Cup meeting last month. They are extremely strong at home (6-4-3) for a side in mid-table and with only Manchester United having won with any sort of conviction at the Britannia this season (in fact, ever), Wenger's side will know that they're in for quite an evening. Arsenal's previous 2 trips to the Britannia have both ended not only in defeat, but a convincing outmuscling from Tony Pulis's men, and given Stoke's current form (plus Arsenal's less-than-convincing current form), it would be no surprise if Stoke got at least 1, if not 3, points from this one.
The Bet
On Wednesday evening, this writer placed a considerable sum of money on Stoke to win at a price of 4/1 with William Hill. After their victory over Manchester City, there's no way you''l get 4/1 on Saturday morning (continuing my experiment of pricing games myself, I actually had Stoke at 17/10, with Arsenal 13/8), so if you're looking to get on Stoke outright, get on it quickly. A safer bet would be Stoke 1X, which considering Stoke's home record of 6-3-4 exactly matches Arsenal's away record, should be seriously considered. The best bet to be on, though, is probably Half Time Draw, a bet that would have come in for Stoke on Wednesday night, and also in Arsenal's Champions Leage tie away at Porto last week.
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