Arsenal Won’t Buckle At Anderlecht

The pressure is mounting on Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal team, can they respond with a win in Belgium this Wednesday?

Form
Anderlecht welcome Arsenal to Brussels as Belgian Pro League leaders, but having drawn each of their last two league fixtures – against Genk (h) and Mechelen (a).

Bensik Hasi’s men also have only one point from their opening two Champions League group stage matches, having lost 3-0 to Dortmund last time out after drawing 1-1 with Galatasaray in their opener.

Former Porto man Steven Defour scored his second goal of the season in Saturday’s game against Mechelen, while Aleksandar Mitrovic remains the club’s top scorer for the season with five league goals. Matias Sauraez has four goals to his name despite only starting five league games this season.

Arsenal’s stuttering season continued with a last-gasp 2-2 draw against Hull on Saturday. Danny Welbeck salvaged a point for the Gunners in the dying minutes but it remains just one win in five for Arsene Wenger’s side.

Welbeck’s goal was his fifth in an Arsenal shirt, adding to the hat-trick that he scored against Galatasaray in their most recent Champions League fixture. Having lost their opening game of the campaign against Dortmund this is really a must win clash for the North London club.

Team News
Fabrice N’Sakala hasn’t featured for the Belgians since a knee injury sustained at the end of August and remains out for this one. Anthony Vande Borre did make his first start of the campaign against Mechelen, however, and offers a defensive boost for the Belgians.

Arsenal are expected to have to call on third-choice goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez after David Ospina, who would have deputised for the suspended Wojciech Szczesny, became the latest player to join the Arsenal injury list. On the plus side, Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Areta could be available for selection again and Jack Wilshere is thought to be okay despite limping off in the draw with Hull.

Head-to-Head
This is the first meeting between these two clubs since they crossed paths way back in 1970 in the Fairs Cup. Anderlecht won 3-1 in Belgium, but Arsenal progressed to the next round following a 3-0 victory at Highbury.

Recommended Bets
Despite their inauspicious start to the season this is a game that I expect Arsenal to win.

In previous campaigns The Gunners have proved masters of irking three points out of fixtures such as this one and putting themselves in pole position for qualification.

Odds of 7/10 about an away win look to be good value and are worth getting stuck into.

If you want to get a little more bang for your buck then 6/4 about Arsenal/Arsenal in the Half Time/Full Time market and 2/1 about the visitors winning without conceding a goal also look to be good selections to have on side.