Arsenal vs Birmingham Carling Cup Final Betting Preview All Sports Room

Feb 23 2011

Arsenal vs Birmingham Carling Cup Final Betting Preview

Posted by Dakota Macqueen in Betting Advisor

Tags: Carling Cup, Carling Cup Final, Cup Final, Final | No Comments »

Arsenal face Birmingham in the Carling Cup final at Wembley on Sunday and even with injuries to key players the bookies make the Gunners heavy favourites to win over 90 minutes.

Arsenal can be backed to win without extra-time or penalties at best odds of 3/5 (bet $5 to win $3 profit) with Betfair.

The Gunners famously haven’t won a trophy since 2005 and the prevailing wisdom among layers and pundits alike is that this is their year to lift the Carling Cup. We find it hard to argue against that train of thought as Arsene Wenger’s men are clearly a class above Birmingham and only last month brushed aside the Blues 3-0 at St Andrews. Whether 3/5 for the win is a value bet remains debatable though; with key players Fabregas and Walcott ruled out we would be much keener to risk our hard-earned cash on the Gunners at 4/6.

For all Birmingham’s limited abilities you have to give them great credit for reaching the final and they’re in pretty decent nick too having won their last two Premier League matches. Granted those ties were against lower and mid-table opposition, but 6/1 for a Blues win is a big price in a game where all the pressure is on Arsenal. The last time Birmingham reached the Carling Cup Final in 2001 they were confidently predicted to get blown away by Liverpool but only lost 5-4 on penalties. That said they seem to suffer against the top sides of late (United beat them 5-0 recently) and we would shy away from them to win over 90 minutes even at 6′s.

The draw can be taken at 3/1 with Skybet and looks the best value bet to us, although not a stonker by any means.

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