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Arsenal vs Watford – betting preview as Gunners look to end season on a high

By on July 22, 2020

nicolas pepe arsenal

Arsenal will end a hugely disappointing Premier League season when we welcome Watford to the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.

It’s been our worst league campaign of this century as we’ll finish outside of the top six for the first time in 25 years following Tuesday night’s frustrating 1-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Aston Villa.

We produced a woeful performance at Villa Park and the lack of creativity was a real issue as Arsenal failed to even register a single shot on target against a side that have conceded 66 goals this season.

The result has left us sitting 10th in the table and the highest we can possibly end up is eighth so it means not only will we finish behind Tottenham again, but we can no longer qualify for Europe via the league.

Instead, Arsenal will now have to beat Chelsea in the FA Cup final to secure qualification to the group stages of the Europa League so our entire season is hinging on that game at Wembley on August 1.

The situation is great news for Watford as they will now take on an Arsenal side with nothing left to play for on Sunday. The Hornets will arrive at the Emirates desperately needing a positive result as they look to avoid relegation to the Championship.

Watford are currently 18th – level on points and goal difference with Villa – but the Villains have scored more goals so Watford have to better their result to survive the drop.

Betting

Despite our shocking away form, Arsenal still have a good record at home and according to the Olybet website, we’re the 9/10 favourites to win the game on Sunday. The draw is available at odds of 11/4 while you can back Watford to pull off a shock at 27/10.

We have very little left to play for but Mikel Arteta insists his players won’t be distracted by the FA Cup final and will be fully focused on beating Watford. I don’t think we’ll see a vintage Arsenal performance but we should still have enough to beat Watford on home soil.

A 2-1 Arsenal win is on offer at odds of 7/1 and that looks like the most realistic result. Some may be tempted to back a 1-1 draw at 6/1 but I think Arsenal will edge this game to end the season on a high.

Victory would give the squad a boost and send them into the FA Cup final in a positive mood. The last thing we need is another poor performance like the one we saw at Villa. Players need momentum and can’t just turn it on at the click of a button.

Therefore, I’d like to see Arteta go with virtually our strongest line-up against Watford. Nicolas Pepe should be recalled to start in attack as we need his creativity to help out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.

Dani Ceballos, Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin should also be recalled and I think it’s time we brought Mesut Ozil back into the squad. We desperately need some creativity in the final third and his spark could have made the difference off the bench at Villa Park. Let’s give Ozil some minutes against Watford so he’s ready if needed in the FA Cup final.