Preston North End vs Arsenal Prediction

The Round of 16 in the EFL Cup takes place this week and Championship side Preston North End have the inevitable task of getting a win against Premier League title hopefuls Arsenal. Given their recent results in the league, Arsenal could start to look elsewhere for silverware this season, and the EFL Cup represents a real opportunity for them.

Key Stats

• Preston are unbeaten in their last five, after a poor start to the season
• They have 14 points after 12 games in the Championship
• Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the season was ended by Bournemouth just after the most recent international break
• They are now five points behind league leaders Manchester City

Preston North End vs Arsenal Previews, Form and Players to Watch

Preston are currently in 16th in the Championship, but given the nature of the league, they are only three points off the bottom three, so just one bad performance could see them in the mix for relegation. They don’t have to worry about that this week though, as they face Arsenal in the EFL Cup.

The Gunners will want to return to winning ways having drawn to Liverpool at the weekend, despite taking the lead twice. They managed to win in the Champions League last week, but it has been nearly a month since they won in a domestic competition, their last victory coming against Southampton on the 5th of October.

Preston North End Preview

Preston North End Predicted Lineup - Freddie Woodman; Andrew Hughes, Liam Lindsay, Jordan Storey; Robbie Brady, Ali McCann, Ben Whiteman, Mads Frokjaer-Jensen, Kaine Kesler-Hayden; Emil Riis Jakobsen, Sam Greenwood

Preston are likely to play a rather defensive team against Arsenal, with five at the back to try and stop the Gunners’ attacking talent. The only omission from the Preston team will be Milutin Osmajic who has scored five times in 10 games this season. The Montenegro international was banned for eight matches for biting an opponent when Preston faced Blackburn at the end of last month.

He is Preston’s top scorer in all competitions this season, so it will be down to Sam Greenwood, who has scored four, to try and find a way past the Arsenal defence and goalkeeper.

Arsenal Preview

Arsenal Predicted Lineup - David Raya; Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior, Ben White, Myles Lewis-Skelly; Jorginho, Mikel Merino, Ethan Nwaneri; Raheem Sterling, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus

Arsenal have an injury crisis at the club right now, especially in defence. For this game they are likely to be without William Saliba, Gabriel, Riccardo Calafiori, Jurrien Timber, Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu. Martin Odegaard is also still missing, and Bukayo Saka is unlikely to be risked for this match, meaning that there is plenty of opportunity for fringe players to get some minutes.

Ethan Nwaneri has been hyped up by Arsenal fans for some time now, and Mikel Arteta may decide to give him a full match against Preston. In his short cameos in the league so far, he has created plenty of chances, but has been unable to make any real impact to the scoreline.

Head to Head Stats - Preston North End vs Arsenal

Despite Preston North End’s rich footballing history as one of the founders of the Football League, the club has been trapped outside of the top flight for a long time. In fact, Arsenal and Preston have met just three times since 1960, and just once since 2000. The two sides met in the FA Cup in 2017, and Arsenal walked away victorious.

7th Jan 2017 - Preston North End 1-2 Arsenal - FA Cup

Betting Tips for Preston North End vs Arsenal

Despite the likelihood that Arsenal will rotate their squad massively, I don’t think Preston stand a chance of even laying a glove on the Gunners. Mikel Arteta will want his team to bound back after two disappointing league results in a row, so anything other than a statement win will not be acceptable.

With all of this in mind, our team of professional experts have decided that the best tip for this game is for Arsenal to Win to Nil. Odds of 21/20 on Parimatch means that a £10 bet could see a potential return of £20.50.

(odds subject to change)

Final Prediction

Preston North End 0-3 Arsenal

There is plenty of EFL Cup action this week including Southampton vs Stoke and Brentford vs Sheffield Wednesday.