If there’s a team that plays traditional British football, it’s Cardiff. With long balls and organized defense, they’re often a tough nut to crack, especially when playing at their own turf, the Cardiff City Stadium. That said, I have no doubts that Arsenal will have to work real hard in order to get points on Sunday afternoon. In this Cardiff vs Arsenal match preview, I’m gonna discuss whether the Gunners actually have what it takes to bright all three points from their trip to Wales.
Cardiff
Despite being the number 1 favorites for relegation, Cardiff have no intention of surrounding without fight. The experience from the previous season in the Championship gives them hope that they can surprise the pundits once again. Not many people believed that Cardiff would get promoted, but they did it, even without the need of playing the playoff.
And since they’ve gotten to the Premiership, they have been playing pretty well, particularly in defense. Actually, their attack has been very poor, which the fact that they’re still without a single goal scored clearly proves. But, their organized defense compromises for the lack of goals. After losing 2:0 to AFC Bournemouth in the opening round, they played 0:0 two times in a row.
That said, you can be 100% sure that Cardiff manager Neil Warnock will pick an ultra-defensive team for the clash with Arsenal. They’re gonna defend their goal with all they got and their fans are gonna cheer them for that the entire match. But, will it be enough to repel the Gunners’ attacks?
Arsenal
Last weekend, Arsenal won their first game of the season, beating West Ham 3:1. That was actually a very important match for the Gunners as it was their first victory under the helm of Unai Emery. The new manager had a pretty difficult start of the season, losing to Man City in the opening round, followed by a defeat to Chelsea in a very exciting game at the Stamford Bridge.
Obviously, Arsenal have a sensational attack, but their defense has been pretty poor. And I’m not talking only about this season but the past couple of years as well. Furthermore, lately they’ve been having many injury worries at the back, with several first-team defenders being sidelined.
The good news is that their defenders won’t have too much work to do this weekend, as Arsenal are the ones who are going to have the ball in their possession for the most of the time. The focus is on Arsenal forwards who are expected to start playing better.
So, far, the Gunners have scored a total of 5 goals, all of which happened in the previous two games. They don’t have a top scorer – four different players have scored one goal each, plus one of their opponents has scored an own goal. That brings me to the issue of goal drought of their two key attackers, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Although they did have plenty of goal chances in the previous three games, they failed to take advantage of them. Maybe it’s time for that to change?
Team News
Cardiff absentees
- Junior Hoilett (injury)
Arsenal absentees
- Carl Jenkinson (injury)
- Laurent Koscielny (injury)
- Ashley Maitland-Niles (injury)
- Mesut Ozil (injury)
Possible Lineups
Cardiff
Etheridge – Morrison, Bamba, Manga, Bennett – Ralls, Arter, Camarasa, Paterson, Murphy – Zohore
Arsenal
Cech – Mustafi, Papastathopoulos, Bellerin, Monreal – Ramsey, Xhaka, Torreira, Mkhitaryan – Aubameyang, Lacazette
Cardiff vs Arsenal Match Prediction
Arsenal will win this, I have no doubt about that. The question is will this be a big hammering or just a 1:0 win. It all depends on Arsenal and their attackers who haven’t been in a very good form. That’s why my advice is to stay away from betting on goals.
Cardiff vs Arsenal Betting Tips
- Arsenal @1.57 (bet365)