Arsenal vs Man City Betting: London Hosts EPL Title Showdown
This wasn’t supposed to be Arsenal’s season. The Gunners were coming off a fifth-place finish in the 2021-22 English Premier League and were fifth favourites in EPL title betting at Bodog Sportsbook for this year’s campaign – their fourth under former midfielder and current manager Mikel Arteta. However, as the Arsenal vs Man City betting rolls in, people are taking the Gunners seriously.
Maybe it’s time to start believing in Arteta. Those first two years may have been difficult, with the Gunners finishing eighth on the EPL table, but they did win both the FA Cup and the Community Shield in 2020, earning Arteta his promotion from head coach to manager. Then things started clicking for Arsenal last year, and all of a sudden, here they are at the top of the table with 16 wins, three draws and just two losses as we approach the final trimester of the 2022-23 campaign.
Can Arsenal prevent Manchester City (15-3-4) from winning yet another championship? It’s a virtual coin flip which of these two storied franchises will finish on top. Here’s a closer look at the EPL title picture at Bodog as we go to press, and a preview of what to expect this Wednesday (2:30 PM ET) when Arsenal welcome the Sky Blues to Emirates Stadium in London.
Arsenal vs Man City Betting
They might be the road team in this match, but as usual, Manchester City are the favourites at Bodog as we go to press. They’re available at +135 on the 1×2 lines, with Arsenal at +190 and the draw at +260.
This will be their first meeting of the 2022-23 EPL season – but not their first overall. On January 27, Manchester City got the better of Arsenal 1-0 during the fourth round of this year’s FA Cup, with defender Nathan Ake scoring the lone marker at Etihad. It was a disappointing loss for the Gunners, but they fielded a reserve-laden side for this contest, while City were at close to full strength.
The “real” Gunners were the ones who had just beaten Manchester United 3-2 five days earlier in London, on a brace by forward Edward Nketiah. That win kept Arsenal five points ahead of Man City on the EPL table, but that lead has been whittled down to three after the Gunners picked up just one point in their last two Premier League appearances.
Arsenal EPL Title Odds
Despite being underdogs at home for Wednesday’s contest, Arsenal still find themselves atop the EPL title odds at Bodog Sportsbook – but just barely at even money. They do have a match in hand on City as well as that three-point lead; still, a loss at the Emirates will almost certainly push the Sky Blues to No. 1 on the odds list, while a victory might only create a small amount of separation between the two.
That’s because these same teams will meet one more time on April 26 at Etihad. Aside from that, Arsenal have already finished their season series with both United (splitting home and away) and Tottenham Hotspur (winning both), with added victories over Liverpool and Chelsea for good measure.
Man City EPL Title Odds
Manchester City don’t always win the English Premier League – it just seems that way. The Sky Blues have claimed four of the last five titles, and six in total since they were purchased by Sheikh Mansour’s Emirati holding company in 2008. They’ve built themselves quite the soccer empire, although their willingness to bend/break the financial rules could eventually come back to bite them.
While we wait to see if and when Premier League officials drop the hammer on Man City after charging them last week with over 100 infractions, City find themselves a very close second behind the Gunners at +110 on the EPL championship odds at Bodog. Their +34 goal differential is the best in the league, and six goals better than Arsenal; a win this Wednesday would affirm their place as the team to beat in the Premier League.
EPL Top Scorer Odds
The race for the Golden Boot is usually one of the more popular soccer bets here at Bodog Sportsbook, but as we go to press, there are no odds available for EPL Top Scorer – perhaps because Erling Haaland is just too good. Manchester City’s big offseason pick-up already has 25 goals in 22 matches this year, leaving Tottenham’s Harry Kane (17 goals) and Brentford’s Ivan Toney (14) in the dust. Martin Odegaard leads all Arsenal players with eight.
Haaland was expected to do big things for City this year. The Norwegian striker was the top scorer in the 2020-21 Champions League, playing for Borussia Dortmund in the German Bundesliga; Haaland set an EPL record for his new employers by registering hat tricks in three straight home games for the Sky Blues. It seems inevitable that he’ll win this year’s Golden Boot, and maybe next year’s Balloon D’Or as the best player in European club soccer.
EPL Relegation Odds
Relegation odds for this year’s Premier League are also pending at press time, but Southampton (4-3-15) are three points clear in the race for the Wooden Spoon, and facing the drop for the first time since rejoining the top flight in 2012.
The other two teams in the relegation zone are Everton (4-6-11) and Bournemouth (4-6-12), each with 18 points; Everton have a match in hand over everyone else at the bottom of the table, including Leeds (4-7-11) in 17th place with 19 points.
These next three months or so should also be nerve-wracking for David Moyes and No. 16 West Ham (5-5-12), who have managed just 20 points thus far after finishing seventh last year. The Hammers are probably too good to fall into the bottom three, but anything can happen in the English Premier League. Keep checking in with Bodog Sportsbook for the latest EPL odds.