Drawing an away match in the FA Cup is always a massive pain for these big time teams, particularly early in the tournament. This is the first match Arsenal and Preston North End have had, and while the Gunners are merely trying to avoid becoming a scalp on the road, Preston has its sights set on a huge scalp and a magical run.
At 12:30 p.m. ET, tune into FOX Sports 1 for live television coverage of this FA Cup match on Saturday, January 7, 2016, at Deepdale.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Preston North End +750
Arsenal -265
Draw +390
Over/Under 3
Odds Analysis
A dangerous line for the Gunners if we've ever seen one. Arsenal is clearly the bigger name side against its Championship brethren, but at just -265 and -1.5 on the Asian Handicap, there is certainly some margin for fear and error. The last thing Arsene Wenger can afford right now is to be dismissed in the third round of the FA Cup, especially with a very likely early exit in the Champions League also coming in March.
The total of a flat 3 more or less indicates that the Championship side is going to have a real shot to put one home, something that not everyone gets a chance to do when a lower division side plays against a perceived better team.
Key Injuries
There's no way the generally conservative Wenger is going to risk any of his even remotely dinged up players in this match. That means no Theo Walcott, if nothing else. Mesut Ozil is sick, Kieran Gibbs has a knee injury, and Francis Coquelin sat out for the second half after picking up a knock against Bournemouth on Tuesday. We just can't see any of these men in the fold on Saturday afternoon, particularly not with as grueling as the schedule has been of late in the Premier League.
The real question is whether this means that Wenger is going to go all out and just tank this match, asking his reserves to play the roles of the heroes against what should still be a beatable side.
Recent Form
Preston actually hasn't been in great form of late. The team did beat Burton Albion to kick off the new year, but that came on the heels of a loss to Leeds and a draw against Sheffield Wednesday at home, both matches of which had to feel like opportunities to snare three points at the start of the day. As a result, this is a mid-table team that has a lot of problems just to try to get promoted, let alone deal with one of the best teams in the world.
Arsenal fought back from down two in a relatively similar match against Bournemouth to come up with a 3-3 draw on the road on Tuesday, and that should give the side confidence. The team has now picked up seven points from its last three matches, and though it would have clearly wanted all three points from the Cherries, just getting the one with as badly as that match started was a real accomplishment.
Free Soccer Betting Pick
If we're being honest, Olivier Giroud put the team on his back at Bournemouth and single-handedly picked up a point. The Gunners haven't been great on the road this year, and they have some real problems coming here into a dangerous match in Preston.
North End knows that this is its Super Bowl, and this is the match that it's going to want to win more than any other this season. But that doesn't mean that it will.
We're going to assume that Giroud is going to play in this match, and if he does, we wouldn't be shocked to see Arsenal run out to another victory. But if he doesn't? Surely, North End could pull off this shocker. For now though, we'll play the moneyline merely because we don't feel great about needing to win by two.
FA Cup Odds: Arsenal 2, Preston North End 1
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