Southampton v Arsenal, Premiership bets, Cashback, Match Preview, Betting

BETTING ANALYSIS

Discuss this game at the Free Bets Forums here!

AVAILABLE FREE BETS: SOUTHAMPTON V ARSENAL

Claim a Free £10 bet!		Claim a Free £10 bet!
Claim a Free £25 bet!		Claim a Free £20 bet!
Claim a Free £10 bet!		Claim a Free £50 bet!
Claim a Free £20 bet!		Claim a Free £50 bet!
Claim a Free £25 bet!		Claim a Free £25 bet!
Claim a Free £10 bet!

MATCH ANALYSIS

This is a strange time for Gooners fans, for the first time Arsenal look very inconsistant. Of course they are a superb side, but it seems on occasions they simply do not turn up and play. They have won four out of their last five away trips, but then they go to Bayern Munich in the CL and put in an abysmal performance. Their defence was all over the place on Tuesday night. Southampton are fighting for their Premiership survival, and it seems they are going to make a fight of it. They drew 0-0 away midweek against bottom side West Brom. One thing going for them is that they have only lost twice at home all season, which is remarkable for a team in their position. The Saints have drawn three and won once out of their last four games - their victory was an impressive 2-0 home win over Liverpool.

Arsenal, despite their inconsistancy are the far better side and have too much quality for Southampton. However, trying to win at St Mary's is a very difficult thing to do! The Saints are extremely strong at home, and an Arsenal win is not entirely certain. The Gooners have been awful defensively recently, conceding at least a goal in each of their last four games. I think Arsenal should outscore their opponents - they should win, but the odds of 1.55 for an away win do not offer much appeal for me. Instead I'm looking at anytime goalscorers - the partnership upfront of new signing Henri Camara from Celtic and Peter Crouch has been working well for Southampton recently, and with Arsenal always likely to concede a goal, there is some value on betting on one of these strikers. I'm going for Henri Camara to score anytime @ 3.5 with BET365 [£10 Free Bet] - He has scored four goals in four games and at this price, this is much more appealing than betting on Arsenal at pretty short odds. GET ON!

Recommendation:	HENRI CAMARA to score anytime @ 11/10 with BET365
		[£10 Free Bet]

CLAIM YOUR FREE £20 BET WITH BETFAIR HERE!

Quick! Claim a free bet with Betfair who are offering all new customers upto £20/or equivalent currency free! Sign up and Enter 'Football' in the 'Refer a friend code / promotion reference' then take a bet on anything you want!

Claim this Offer Here!

LATEST ODDS ON SOUTHAMPTON V ARSENAL

SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER!

Want to stay upto date of all the latest free offers, cash back and free bets promotions? Sign up to our new newsletter, developed by our sister site www.freebetshere.com!

Enter your name & email address below:

Name:
Email:
Subscribe
Unsubscribe

WE'RE LOOKING FOR YOU!

Fancy writing some analysis for Bonus-Bet.com? If you think you know your football and can can write a short paragraph of betting advice, be it English, Spanish, Italian or German football leagues, get in touch with us HERE! -Get YOUR face on the website!

MATCH OUTCOME

Southampton 1 Arsenal 1
Saturday February 26 2005
Southampton frustrated Arsenal to claim an important point in a Premiership clash which saw both sides reduced to 10 men.

Both teams had chances to win an open and evenly contested game at St Mary's after the sendings-off of David Prutton and Robin van Persie either side of half-time.

The Gunners claimed the lead soon after Prutton's dismissal when Freddie Ljungberg tapped home in first half injury-time.

But van Persie was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence early in the second half and Peter Crouch headed home a valuable equaliser.

Ashley Cole thought he had headed a stoppage-time winner, but his effort was ruled out for offside. Thierry Henry had earlier been thwarted by a fine save from the brilliant Paul Smith.

Champions Arsenal had gone into the game with a chance to cut the gap on Premiership leaders Chelsea to eight points.

But just as in Munich on Tuesday, their defence was almost exposed in the opening minutes.

Slack work allowed Henri Camara to sneak in and it needed a desperate stretch by Pascal Cygan to save the day at the expense of a corner.

Kolo Toure had slotted in at right-back with Philippe Senderos playing centre-half alongside Cygan, and a ball pumped over the Ivory Coast defender's head put Crouch in to force another early corner.

Yet despite all Southampton's early pressure, it was the visitors who should have taken the lead with their first real break.

Henry was quick to pounce on a mistake by Olivier Bernard and played a superb through-ball for van Persie, but the Dutchman could not keep his low first-time shot on target.

Play quickly switched back to the other end and Camara felt aggrieved not to be awarded a freekick for an apparent trip by Cygan on the edge of the area. The flag was raised but referee Alan Wiley chose to take no action.

Arsenal gradually began to enjoy more possession and van Persie threatened again when he turned to shoot on the edge of the area, but Smith saved comfortably.

Saints had another good chance just after the half hour when Crouch headed down for Camara and the Senegal frontman volleyed straight at Jens Lehmann.

Lehmann was then lucky not to be caught off his line when Graeme Le Saux's free-kick into the area drifted in towards goal but beyond the far post.

Despite Saints' chances, Arsenal were enjoying the better possession and Saints midfielder Prutton incurred a booking for a heavy tackle on Mathieu Flamini.

A chance then appeared to open up for Henry from a deep Cole cross, but he chose to pass inside and Southampton cleared.

There was not much respite, however, as Patrick Vieira drilled in a shot which Smith did well to keep out low to his right.

Southampton's task was then made all the more difficult as Prutton was shown a second yellow card and sent off for another bad tackle, this time on Robert Pires.

Prutton reacted angrily to the decision and pushed Wiley as he attempted to confront his assistant on the touchline. In the end it was manager Harry Redknapp who had to drag him away.

It proved the end of Pires' afternoon as he was carried off on a stretcher soon after and replaced by Gael Clichy.

The home side paid the penalty as the Gunners took the lead in the first-half stoppage time. Henry jinked his way into the area and squared to Freddie Ljungberg for a simple finish from six yards.

Arsenal maintained their control as the second half got under way as Henry backheeled Flamini's through-ball into Ljungberg's path in the 48th minute, but the Swede was crowded out by defenders.

A minute later Smith then made an astonishing save from Henry after the striker was set up by van Persie just eight yards out. The young keeper saved with an outstretched leg.

But Arsenal had double reason to regret that as within two minutes they themselves were reduced to 10 men, van Persie dismissed for a second yellow card for a bad challenge on Le Saux.

Henry at least looked to exploit the extra space and dribbled away from a host of challengers to find Ljungberg but his shot was well held by Smith.

Yet Southampton still sensed a way to get back into the match and were rewarded with an equaliser after 66 minutes.

Crouch was the man who did the damage as he rose to reach a Jamie Redknapp corner. Lehmann was left stranded as Crouch's powerful downward header bounced up and went in off the crossbar.

As time ran out Crouch almost reached another cross but Saints had two reprieves.

Smith produced a brilliant save to keep out Henry's curling effort with just minutes remaining and Cole was denied by the offside flag.