After an entertaining opening matchday weekend, the English Premier League season trucks along again this weekend with another set of fixtures to enjoy. Including a meeting of two clubs headed in different directions as Arsenal host Leicester in the Gunners home opener at the Emirates Stadium. Here, we give our top soccer betting pick for Arsenal vs Leicester City.
Arsenal Flying High
Arsenal enter Saturday’s match with Leicester abuzz with unbridled optimism that this will be the year they break back into the Top 4 and return back to the Champions League after a lengthy absence. The Gunners supporters have a right to feel confident, as new additions and an encouraging performance in their 2-0 win away to Crystal Palace last Friday have things looking lovely for the red side of North London.
Arsenal easily handled Palace in their season opener, riding a first half goal from Gabriel Martenelli on a well constructed set piece and a sturdy defensive performance to a stress free win that was sealed with a late goal in the 85’ minute.
Manager Mikel Arteta has to feel good about the way Arsenal opened the season and now the challenge will be to carry that momentum over into their own stadium where they have a chance to make it six points in two matches.
Leicester’s Golden Era Peeling Paint
While Arsenal are flying high and filled with positivity, the opposite vibes exist in the Leicester camp as it appears the Foxes’ time as darling overachievers is quickly coming to an end. Not only that, it appears the club’s biggest hero is winding down his time with the club he helped lift to title winning glory.
After falling out of European football, Leicester face many question marks this season. The biggest one being if their star striker Jamie Vardy will be around for the full season or if he will depart from the club in the transfer market and say goodbye to his storybook time spent with the Foxes.
Vardy featured in Leicester’s 2-2 draw against Brentford. However, he failed to score on the day and you have to wonder if the questions surrounding his future were a factor.
According to the Daily Mail, Leicester are close to a new deal to keep Vardy around for at least one more season. Still – even with Vardy around at 35 years of age – it looks like the best days are behind Leicester and a mid-table fate is imminent for manager Brendan Rodgers and his squad.
Drawing 2-2 to Brentford at home is a bad omen when considering their chances to take points off Arsenal as the Gunners possess more attacking quality and a sturdy backline to boot. Especially when you consider that Leicester blew a 2-0 lead and threw the game away in the second half, all signs point to their struggles continuing in their trip to the Emirates.
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The Best Bet for Arsenal vs Leicester City
Given the opposite directions of the two clubs and the juxtaposition of their Matchday 1 results, backing an Arsenal win is the safe play in this matchup. The question is if a bettor wants to choose the chalk moneyline wager at -188 odds or if they want to back Arsenal at -1 on the Asian Handicap at a -105 price.
With Arsenal looking tidy in defense and potent in attack, I feel comfortable taking them to win by a goal or more in this matchup. An early goal and another strong performance from defenders William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko should see the Gunners easily handle a Leicester team that appear to be decidedly average in these very early stages of this 2022/23 campaign.
