Arsenal favourites to heap more pain on Tottenham

Wednesday nightâÂÂs North London Derby at White Hart Lane has big ramifications for both teams.

A win for Spurs would close the gap on free scoring Man City in the race for fourth while a win for Arsenal would take them above Manchester United into second place.

With so much at stake this could be the most explosive match between these two in years...either that or it will end up as a low-scoring draw as it usually does at The Lane.

The last time Spurs beat Arsenal in the league was in 1999, since then there have been seven draws from the nine games so is 9/4 on another draw the most sensible bet? Paddy Power make Spurs 11/5 to get the home win whilst the Gunners are 5/4 favourites.

11/5      Spurs Win
9/4        Draw
5/4        Arsenal Win

While Aaron Lennon is still sidelined, Theo Walcott has another window of opportunity to impress England manager Fabio Capello.

After an FA Cup semi final defeat on that energy sapping Wembley pitch, the one thing Spurs defenders do not want to be doing is chasing Walcott up and down their left flank. So Paddy Power could potentially come to the rescue of hordes of disappointed punters on Wednesday night because if Theo Walcott scores the last goal they will refund all losing first goalscorer, correct score and scorecast bets on the match.

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How much the Portsmouth defeat will affect Spurs remains to be seen, but the games donâÂÂt get any easier for Spurs after Arsenal; its Chelsea at The Lane on Saturday and then a trip to Old Trafford next week.

They have plenty of striking options which to take advantage of the uncertainty in the Arsenal backline. Sol Campbell could be back as centre back for The Gunners and can expect a deluge of abuse from the Spurs fans, Peter Crouch might just be the man to get ahead of Sol in the box for the first goal, 13/2 says he does that.

Jermaine Defoe leads the market for Spurs at 9/2 but doesnâÂÂt have a good record against Arsenal so you might be better advised looking at one of the midfielders if you donâÂÂt fancy Crouch, how about David Bentley against his old club at 12/1?

Robin Van Persie is in the squad for this match although heâÂÂll most likely start from the bench but itâÂÂs âÂÂBig Game Bendtnerâ that the Spurs defenders will have to contest with.

He might not be as technically gifted as Van Persie but his work rate is unquestionable and has scored plenty of important goals for Arsenal recently.

The two Arsenal strikers are both 9/2 chances for the opening goal but in Van PersieâÂÂs case you might be better advised backing him for the last goal at 9/2 as well.

First Scorers
9/2        Defoe
9/2        Bendtner
9/2        Van Persie
5/1        Eduardo
6/1        Walcott
13/2      Crouch
11/1      Nasri
12/1      Bentley
(More available onsite)

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So with a draw being the most common scoreline in this match only the most gung ho of fans will be backing their side in the correct score market.

Four of those seven recent draws have ended 1-1 and itâÂÂs 5/1 to happen for a fifth time on Wednesday.

When Arsenal have won theyâÂÂve won 3-1 and 5-4, which is either 14/1 or 500/1 respectively to happen again. When Spurs last beat Arsenal in the league it was a 2-1 win which you can have at 9/1 but Spurs fans will be quick to remind you they have beaten Arsenal 5-1 in the Carling Cup since then and its 375/1 they can repeat that feat.

Correct Scores
9/1        Spurs 1-0
17/1      Spurs 2-0
9/1        Spurs 2-1
45/1      Spurs 3-0
25/1      Spurs 3-1
375/1    Spurs 5-1
17/2      Draw 0-0
5/1        Draw 1-1
10/1      Draw 2-2        
45/1      Draw 3-3
325/1    Draw 4-4
7/1        Arsenal 1-0
10/1      Arsenal 2-0
7/1        Arsenal 2-1
20/1      Arsenal 3-0
14/1      Arsenal 3-1

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