Arsenal v Crystal Palace: Ismaila Sarr can hit target at 6/4 | OneFootball

EFL Cup

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta

Sky Sports' Lewis Jones thinks Arsenal are vulnerable at the prices up against a dangerous Crystal Palace side with Ismaila Sarr to the forefront of his punting plan...

Arsenal v Crystal PalaceWednesday 18 December, 20:00

Are Arsenal too short here?

Do Arsenal have a problem with knockout cup competitions? If they do, then are some huge betting opportunities to exploit in this Carabao Cup quarter-final with the Gunners trading at 1.46 for victory in 90 minutes.

Arsenal haven't won this trophy since 1993 meaning 11 teams have won this trophy since Arsenal last did, including three current Championship teams and a League One team.

Mikel Arteta has built a formidable outfit yet only has a FA Cup winners medal to show for all his hard work.

They are becoming a bit of a tea-bag team in that they're usually not in the cup for long.

In the last two years, the Gunners have failed to go beyond the fourth round of the FA Cup or the fourth round of the Carabao Cup. The fact they have reached this far this season maybe suggests a change of focus towards the cup competitions.

They'll need to be near their best to reach the semi-finals though. Since Oliver Glasner was appointed, Crystal Palace have taken 20 Premier League points against last season's top eight and were excellently organised in defence whilst carrying a huge threat in attack during their 3-1 win over rivals Brighton on Sunday.

Glasner has a history of putting lots of emphasis on cup competitions, he was a Europa League winner and German Cup runner-up at Eintracht Frankfurt. He should go strong at The Emirates.

If Arteta rotates too much, the 8.2 on offer for the away win will tempt a few in.

A shining Sarr can hit target

Palace's strong record against the top teams makes sense as Glasner's team is built to be organised without the ball and then counter quickly and directly through the middle when the play turns over.

And Palace do have the pace and power in attack to cause problems. I'll be stunned if they don't adopt the same approach as they did against Aston Villa, Manchester City and Brighton where they played very directly and got the ball forward quickly to Ismalia Sarr, who has reveled playing in this system.

He scored at in the 2-2 draw at Villa and grabbed himself a double at the Amex on Sunday meaning he's now had 13 shots on target in his last nine starts for Palace. A player with that sort of strike-rate is usually shorter in the market than the 6/4 on offer here even factoring in Arsenal's price in the outright market. I think Sarr will go in again for his on target backers.

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Ismaila Sarr to have at least one shot on target @ [6/4}