West Ham - Arsenal Betting Preview: Expect Hammers to be good enough for a draw at Upton Park
Oct 5, 2012 1:05:00 PM
The Gunners's promising start to the season suffered a blow with a first defeat last weekend and Adam Bate is backing the hosts to get something in east London on Saturday
West Ham fans haven’t always been complimentary about Sam Allardyce but the experienced coach has made an impressive return to the Premier League, guiding the team to 11 points from six games.Monday’s win at QPR was their first away triumph but the Hammers have saved their best performances for Upton Park where the newly-promoted side are unbeaten in the league this season.
That record will surely come under threat when they host Arsenal at the weekend but there is every reason for them to be confident given their current form.
It’s also worth noting – as Allardyce surely has – that Arsene Wenger’s side have conceded from set-pieces in their previous two Premier League games.West Ham have the players to capitalise on that weakness and they’re 3/1 (4.00) with Bet365 to cause an upset here.
Arsenal began the season in fine form themselves but after defeat at home to Chelsea last weekend they now need to beat West Ham just to overtake their East End opponents.
A Champions League win over Olympiakos may have restored confidence and the Gunners are 10/11 (1.91) with Bet365 to pick up three points here. The draw is available at 13/5 (3.60).
In the goalscorer markets, Arsenal forward Gervinho has scored before the interval in four of his last five games for the club and looks a good price to get the opener at 15/2 (8.50).
But Kevin Nolan is an even better price at 11/1 (12.00) to net first – he’s scored in all three Premier League home games this season and been the Hammers’ first scorer every time.That’s the value pick in this one because West Ham can be expected to start strongly as they did against QPR – they’re 6/4 (2.50) to score first and 3/1 (4.00) to lead at half-time.
But Arsenal are a more resilient outfit now and showed with their comeback against Manchester City in their previous away game that they can bounce back from going a goal down.
Backing West Ham/Draw in the HT/FT market looks decent value at 14/1 (15.00) but for the pick of the bets it has to be the draw here at 13/5 (3.60) – Arsenal have finished all-square in half their league matches so far this season.
 |
BET |
OF THE |
DAY |
| BEST BET |
VALUE BET |
| Draw at 13/5 with Bet365 |
Kevin Nolan to score first at 11/1 with Bet365 |
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Adam Bate is a professional freelance journalist who specialises in football and betting. He is editor of GhostGoal which can be found here - you can also follow Adam on
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