Atletico Madrid v Arsenal Betting Markets
Atletico Madrid aren't priced at 2.87 for many of their home matches. Diego Simeone's team have been mustard at the Metropolitano for much of the season, registering thirteen victories across sixteen encounters. It's a ground that creates a formidable atmosphere and this will certainly be in evidence when Arsenal roll into town.
Atleti didn't do things the easy way to reach this stage. Heading to the Nou Camp for the quarter final first leg clash, the side from the Spanish capital claimed a 2-0 victory. Having been pegged back to 2-2 on aggregate, a goal from Ademola Lookman proved to be decisive and they will now fancy their chances of a final spot.
Like Arsenal, the Spanish side will have been glad to avoid Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich at this stage of the competition. However, recent form hasn't been great for Atletico who have lost five of their previous six encounters. This includes a 3-2 defeat at Tottenham although it was preceded by a 5-2 success on home soil.
Arsenal will hope to have the Premier League title in the bag by the time that this match is played. Otherwise, this might represent their best chance of landing silverware. There have been a few recent bumps in the road, including an EFL Cup defeat after losing 2-0 to Manchester City in the final.
To compound their misery, the Gunners then bowed out of the FA Cup to Southampton and recently lost a Premier League clash at home to Bournemouth. They did edge past Sporting 1-0 on aggregate after a late winner in Portugal before an unconvincing goalless draw enabled them to reach the semi-final stage of the competition.
Perhaps the draw could be a reasonable player, especially if the game turns out to be a tight one. The fact that Arsenal adopted a defensive approach in Lisbon intimates that this one could end all square.
Goals Under/Over
The Under 2.5 Goals is trading as the favourite and it's hardly a surprise. Only one goal was scored during the 180 minutes of football between Arsenal and Sporting at the quarter final stage. In the Lisbon clash, David Raya produced a strong performance between the sticks to deny the Portuguese side, with the Gunners creating a handful of chances before Kai Havertz scored at the death.
Six of the previous eight Arsenal games at the time of writing have seen Under 2.5 Goals happen, with Mikel Arteta's team unlikely to be too attacking in this first leg. Atletico Madrid will be fully aware of their opponents' defensive capabilities although the majority of their recent matches have seen at least three goals scored.
Eight of their past ten matches in all competitions have involved three or more goals being scored. This sort of track record insinuates that Atletico aren't as defensively minded as they perhaps used to be under Simeone. He will certainly want to head to the Emirates Stadium feeling as though his team have the upper hand before a testing game.
BTTS
There's not a huge amount of different between the BTTS Yes and BTTS No betting odds. The latter is slightly shorter in the betting and we'd be leaning in that particular direction. This outcome happened in the two matches involving Arsenal and Sporting. We also know that Mikel Arteta would gladly take a goalless draw in the Spanish capital and his team might be set up to defend.
The last time that Atleti drew a blank at the Metropolitano was on 8 February when suffering a 1-0 home defeat against Real Betis. In the ensuing eight games, the Madrid side have found the net at least once. They were able to score five times against other north London opponents two rounds ago, although that was mainly down to the failings of Tottenham Hotspur.
Arsenal are also prolific scorers although they only scored a late goal at Sporting in the first leg and then ran a tight ship to draw 0-0 against the Portuguese side. The past few games involving the Gunners have been littered with BTTS No outcomes. There were 2-0 home wins against Everton and Bayer Leverkusen, with a 2-0 defeat in the Carabao Cup final being suffered.
First Goalscorer
Arsenal are low on goals right now. They seem to have lost the knack of creating scoring chances at precisely the wrong time of the season. Viktor Gyokeres arrived from Sporting last summer with lots of potential and the Swede has a solid twenty-two for the campaign across all competitions. This includes six in six games including a hat-trick for his native Sweden.
However, Gyokeres lasted only 56 minutes against Sporting in the quarter final second leg, with Eberechi Eze getting a start in that game. The England midfielder is the sort of player that can find pockets of space and perhaps he's a good option to add to his tally of eleven goals for the season.
Atletico have lots of potential scorers and none more so than Julian Alvarez. The former Manchester City man scored a superlative free-kick at the Nou Camp in the previous round and he's sitting on nineteen goals for the campaign. The Argentine is sure to cause problems for Arsenal's usually tight defence and Ademola Lookman could also have an eye for goal as well as Alexander Sorloth.