Sports Blog 27/10/2015: League Cup 4th Round Preview – Sheffield Wednesday vs Arsenal, Tuesday 27th October 2015

An in-form Arsenal visit Sheffield Wednesday this evening in the 4th round of the League Cup at 7.45pm on Sky Sports 1!

The Sheffield side won’t have been too happy with their start to the season; a confident 2-0 over Bristol on the opening weekend gave way to 3 losses and 3 draws in their first 6 games, putting a dampener on any nascent promotion hopes they may have had. However, since September they haven’t lost a game and are currently in a solid bout of form; draws against bottom of the table Bolton, Hull and QPR were complimented by wins over Fulham, Brentford, Preston and, most recently, Rotherham. This leaves them at 9th in the league, not too far behind the play-off place pack.

In terms of the League Cup so far Wednesday have looked good; playing since the very beginning, they beat Mansfield Town 4-1 in the 1st round, Oxford United 1-0 in the 2nd and, most remarkably, Newcastle 1-0 in the 3rd. They also have a decent front line; Lucas Joao (at a Super Mega PGM of 11-15), Lewis McGugan (at 12/1 to score first) and Atdhe Nuhui (at a Super Mega PGM spread of 13-17) all on 3 goals each.



Yet they are facing an Arsenal side in the midst of mounting a real title challenge. The Gunners are unbeaten in 4 games, including clean-sheet wins over Manchester United and Bayern Munich (and, less impressively, Watford). Their 2-1 victory over Everton on Saturday then briefly saw Arsenal top the Premier League table for the first time since February 2014; now they sit 2nd to Manchester City, but only on goal difference, looking as strong as they have done in years.

Leading the charge has been Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, but it is questionable that the two of them will appear in Tuesday’s League Cup game, a competition notable for Wenger’s willingness to rest his key players. It will also be interesting to see whether Olivier Giroud (at a Super Mega PGM of 43-50) or Theo Walcott (at 17/4 to score first) start, both having taken their turn to lead Arsenal’s front line so far this season.

Whilst Sheffield Wednesday may be in the middle of their own resurgence, the Gunners just look too strong at the moment, leading our Spreadex traders to offer an Arsenal/Sheffield Wednesday (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 1.2-1.4 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.95-3.15.