Oxford United vs. Arsenal Betting Tips: Best bets including a 12/1 goalscorer shout at the Kassam Stadium
Oxford United face Arsenal in the FA Cup on Monday night and here at BettingOdds.com we’ve got Anthony Eadson on hand to provide us with his best bets for the occasion.
Oxford United vs Arsenal Odds
Prior to their 3-0 defeat on Boxing Day on the road at Ipswich, Oxford United had gone ten league games without tasting defeat. The defeat to the Tractor Boys was followed up with a 3-1 win against Charlton, before a disappointing 1-0 loss on home soil to Exeter City.
Those results leave the U’s 16th in the English third tier table, and they will look to replicate some of their FA Cup successes of the last decade such as memorable victories over Premier League opponents such as Newcastle and Swansea.
It’s been a superb season so far for Arsenal who sit pretty at the top of the Premier League table. Mikel Arteta’s side now have an incredible chance to lift the title for the first time in 18 years, but with the Gunners still in the Europa League and FA Cup they must surely prioritise the league.
With this in mind plenty of rotation is expected from Arsenal, however they are still as short as 1/7 with some bookmakers to get the win at the Kassam stadium. The draw is currently best priced at 15/2 with bet365, while 10Bet go best-price on a famous Oxford win at 15/1.
Oxford United vs Arsenal Tips
The first of two selections I like the look of on Monday evening is for Oxford to have Over 6.5 shots in the match. As mentioned above, they are a side who have enjoyed FA Cup success in recent years, as well as some memorable nights in the League Cup. It could be argued that no EFL side has enjoyed more joy in the cups over the last decade than Oxford and when looking at their stats from some of those, they have racked up some serious numbers when it comes to shots.
In 2017, they dished out a 3-0 hammering to Newcastle in the FA Cup in a game which saw them let off 15 shots. In September 2019, they thrashed West Ham 4-0 in the League Cup when taking 17 shots, before two months later being beaten 3-1 by Manchester City in a match where they totted up a remarkable 18 attempts against a Pep Guardiola side. Oxford were then far from disgraced when being beaten 3-2 at home to Newcastle in 2020, with again the U’s racking up the shots with 20!
Arsenal are expected to rotate their entire team here with Premier League matches against Spurs and Manchester United next on the menu. This adds to the case for Oxford letting off a few shots and they have players who can pose a threat such as former Liverpool midfielder Cameron Brannagan who is averaging a massive 3.5 shots at home this season and has hit the 5+ line in five of his 11 league appearances at the Kassam. I’ll be taking the 11/10 on offer with bet365 for Over 6.5 shots for the hosts.
I’ve also picked out something at a bit more of a price and one of the players who I’m expected to come into the Arsenal side is left-back Kieran Tierney. SBK go 12/1 for the Scot to find the net anytime in the match, while plenty of other firms take a much more conservative approach with BetVictor and Coral 5/1 and Sky, 888 and Betfred 6/1.
Tierney has mainly featured in the Europa League so far this season, where he has let off 10 shots, with three hitting the target across his six appearances. Despite being a left-back Tierney should enjoy plenty of time in the opposition half against Oxford and will be getting into areas of the pitch where he can let off shots on goal. Tierney has scored in every league campaign since joining Arsenal and 12/1 looks a little too big here against lower level opposition, with him also potentially getting an opportunity on free-kicks.
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