Premier League: Bet on low-scoring match for Arsenal-Crystal Palace

The 2023-24 season has been pretty chalky thus far.

There have been a couple of minor upsets, but favorites have generally taken care of business through the first two weekends. 

Another big favorite, Arsenal, will look to continue that trend against Crystal Palace on Monday evening. The Gunners are a -170 road favorite at the time of writing.

Arsenal vs. Crystal Palace pick

Expectations are quite high for Arsenal this season. The Gunners gave Manchester City a run for their money for most of 2022-23, but a couple of key injuries and a dip in defensive form allowed the Cityzens to catch and blow by the Gunners with time to spare. Nonetheless, it was a terrific performance from Arsenal, who was not expected to be title challengers last season.

That isn’t the case this time around.

The Gunners are second favorites to win the league and the fourth choice in the Champions League.

That pressure can cause a young team to go a bit off the rails in the early going, but Arsenal answered its first question of the season with a no-nonsense win over Nottingham Forest in Matchweek 1. 

While the first few weeks for Arsenal will be about cementing its place in the title race, for Crystal Palace it’s about banking points to quiet the folks who believe the Eagles will be in a relegation battle in 2023-24.

Crystal Palace has spent 13 consecutive seasons in the Premier League, but its finished between 10th and 15th in each one.

That kind of stretch will always have skeptics questioning if the club is on steady footing and an uninspiring transfer window hasn’t done anything to quiet the doubters around Selhurst Park.

The good news for Palace backers is that the Eagles showed a lot of good things in their curtain-raising win over Sheffield United last weekend. Not only did the Eagles post a clean sheet, but they held the Blades to just one shot on goal and 0.5 expected goals in the match.

Nobody is ever gonna mix up Sheffield United with an offensive juggernaut, but holding any Premier League team to that kind of offensive output on the road is noteworthy, especially since Palace has been one of the best teams in the Premier League at suppressing scoring chances over the past two seasons.

Arsenal’s attack is miles better than Sheffield United’s, but bettors can be confident that Palace will do everything it can to keep this match tidy in front of their home fans. That should turn this into a pretty stodgy affair and puts some value on the Under 2.5 goals.

The Bet: Under 2.5 goals (-110, DraftKings)