Southampton vs. Arsenal Betting Tips: Two player prop bets for Sunday's match

With the spooky season well and truly upon us, Arsenal will be hoping to avoid a scare as they travel to St. Mary’s to take on Southampton.

The Saints have proved somewhat of a bogey side for the visitors in recent years, avoiding defeat in four of the last 13 meetings between the sides on the south coast including a victory in their most recent meeting.

That 1-0 win was somewhat of a smash and grab by the hosts who were outshot 23-9 by their opponents and it was symptomatic of a lot of the games in which Arsenal dropped points last season.

The Gunners forced six saves out of Fraser Forster in that meeting but couldn’t find the net with Eddie Nketiah leading the line, which is why they went out in the summer and strengthened their attacking options - with the addition of Gabriel Jesus already making a huge difference.

The Brazilian, reduced to a rotation player in Manchester City’s title-winning side, has been key in helping Arsenal open up a four-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

His performances alongside those of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, and Gabriel Martinelli, have been key to the fantastic transformation of this side under Mikel Arteta and with 27 combined goal contributions between the quartet in 10 games they aren’t showing any signs of slowing down.

As Arsenal have their sights set on the summit, Southampton are nervously looking around at the sides in the bottom half wondering which three they need to be better than to stay up.

A narrow victory over local rivals Bournemouth was enough to propel themselves out of the relegation zone, but with just two points separating them and Wolves in 18th they can’t rest on their laurels any time soon.

They’ve already lost to Everton, Aston Villa, and Wolves - all sides below them - already this season so might have to rely on causing some big surprises, though a 2-1 win over Chelsea back in August will have them believing they can stun Arsenal too.

If they are to do so they’ll have to overcome a minor crisis at full-back with Kyle Walker-Peters (thigh), Valentino Livramento (knee), and Armel Bella-Kotchap (shoulder) all ruled out through injury whilst Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who has slotted in at full-back for Arsenal in the past, is ineligible to face his parent club.

They were handed an injury boost this week, however, with the return of Romeo Lavia to training. He hasn’t featured since that win over Chelsea but this game probably comes too soon for him to start.

There are no new major injury concerns for Arsenal, though Mohamed Elneny (thigh) and Emile Smith-Rowe (hip) remain sidelined. Oleksandr Zinchenko will hope to be fit enough to feature, whilst Bukayo Saka should have recovered from the kick that gave him some discomfort against PSV in midweek.

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Martin Odegaard has been the man pulling the strings for the Gunners week-in, week-out and has absolutely oozed class whilst doing it. The former Real Madrid man’s intricate link-play and controlled composure have been the driving force behind Arsenal’s success and it’s why he’s been the subject of such high praise from manager Mikel Arteta.

He’s also been contributing in front of goal in a way that he hasn’t before, averaging 0.37 goals per 90 so far this season compared to his career mark of around 0.15 in La Liga and the Eredivisie.

That’s gone hand-in-hand with an increase in attempts on goal, where Odegaard averages 1.12 shots on target per 90 and 2.73 shots per 90 through nine games. He’s also hit this mark in six of his last seven Premier League games.

Southampton are potentially a strong match-up for him too, and they’ve been allowing attacking midfielders a plethora of shots from in and around the box - especially at home. Leeds United’s Rodrigo and Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes each notched five shots with the former managing three on target, whilst the latter hit two; whilst West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta attempted EIGHT shots and hit the target with one last week.

We are going out on a limb here and, given Southampton’s crisis at full-back, there’s every chance Caleta-Car gets the nod to make only his third start of the season.

Ralph Hassenhuttl will be throwing him in at the deep end end if he does get the start here though, as no matter where along the front three he lines up he’s going to have his hands very full.

Arsenal’s attacking trio draw 7.5 fouls per 90 in the Premier League this season, with frontman Gabriel Jesus taking the brunt of the assaults from opposition centre-backs at 3.26 per 90. The Brazilian has suffered 31 fouls already this term (only James Maddison has suffered more), while teammates Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka have been subject to 22 and 19 respectively - making all three of them among the 20 most fouled players in the league.

Caleta-Car hasn’t featured much for the Saints yet but his reputation certainly precedes him. Over the last three seasons with Marseille in Ligue 1, he picked up 20 bookings and a red card in just 76 starts. He’s even more prolific for his national side - earning eight yellows and a second yellow red in just 19 starts for Croatia.

In the event Duja Caleta-Car doesn’t start...
Gabriel Jesus to be carded @ 4/1 with Betfair - 0.25pts