Saturday, at 15:00, Arsenal receives Huddersfield’s visit to London in an unbalanced duel in the 16th round of the Premier League. Hosts have batch issues with Holding, Mavropanos, Monreal, Welbeck, Ramsey and Koscielny. Ozil is uncertain, but it has good chances to be recovered in a timely manner. Guests are missing only Lowe and Sabiri, both with shoulder problems.
Arsenal is on the 5th place (34-20 golaver), while Huddersfield just came out of the relegation zone after a good series of results – 17th place (goal 10-26). Overall, however, the capacity difference between the two lots is immense. If the “gunsmiths” point to automatic fire (especially on their own), Huddersfield accuses the lack of an experienced peak, but David Wagner’s boys do not build a lot of decisive opportunities anyway. As a result, white-blue have only 10 goals scored this season and only two of them have been successful on the move.
Arsenal has won ALL direct duels so far.
In the past, Arsenal had only to thank 2-2 on Manchester United, but Unai Emery’s team has been very productive lately and scored at least two goals in each of the last 4 official matches. Victoria in the Tottenham derby (4-2) illustrated the strength of the Londoners who meet an opponent with two consecutive failures in the league: 1-2 with Brighton and 1-2 with Bournemouth. The lack of incisiveness in the attack and the tactical offensive limitation leave Huddersfield with little chance in this move.
Arsenal has won the three direct duels with Huddersfield over history: 1-0 and 5-0 in the championship last season, and 2-1 in the English Cup eight years ago. All clues lead to an unbalanced, authoritatively dominated white-red match. Any other result than a clear victory for Arsenal would be a big surprise, and we are counting on the quality of our favorites.
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / NO @ 1.75
