UEFA Champions League football betting - Barcelona vs Arsenal

Defending Champions Barcelona host Arsenal tonight in the Champions League with both sides missing several key players. Arsenal will be without captain and top-scorer Cesc Fabregas after the Spaniard broke his leg in the reverse of this fixture in London, with William Gallas, Andrei Arshavin and Alex Song all missing out as well. Barcelona cannot call on either of their first-choice centre-backs, Andres Iniesta, or Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored both goals in the first leg.

The hosts are strong favourites for the game at 4/11 (bet £11 to win £4 profit), leaving Arsenal as big underdogs, as long as 8/1 with Ladbrokes for a shock away triumph tonight. The visitors are unbeaten in their last nine games but have drawn two of their last three, needing a 94th minute strike to get past Wolves at the Emirates on Saturday. Barcelona have encountered very little opposition in winning seven of their previous eight games, the one draw coming in the first leg of this tie.

The first leg of this tie saw an incredible display of football from Spanish side as they took complete control of the game, enjoying 62% possession even on their opponents` turf. The game finished 2-2 after an impressive fightback from Arsenal and another draw tonight is 9/2 with Victor Chandler. However, it seems unlikely that Pep Guardiola`s team will again fail to get past an injury-ravaged Arsenal team.

The bookmakers seem to think Barca will have a fairly easy night and have made a 2-0 win for the Catalans the favourite score for the game at 13/2, followed by 2-1 at 8/1 with SkyBet, who are also best price at 9/1 on a 3-0 home win. A 1-1 draw, which would send Arsenal out of the competition, is 10/1 with Bet365, with 0-0 generally available at 22/1. A shock 1-0 win for Arsenal is available at 25/1 wit Paddy Power.

Lionel Messi has been made favourite to open the scoring tonight for Barca at 11/4 after scoring a remarkable eleven times in his last eight appearances. The Argentine is followed by former Arsenal legend Thierry Henry at 6/1 with Bojan, who scored twice in his sides` 4-1 win over Bilbao at the weekend, available at the same price. Nicklas Bendtner is seen as Arseal`s best hope of breaking the deadlock tonight and the Dane is 10/1 to do the honours.

Barcelona are evens to lead tonight at both half-time and full-time and 7/2 to win the match after drawing at half-time. Victor Chandler offer 8/1 that both halves end in a draw, as was the case in the fist leg. Arsenal are as long as 18/1, also with Victor Chandler, to be in front at both the interval and the final whistle and draw/Arsenal is generally available at the same price.

Last year, Barcelona won an unprecedented six trophies. They cannot repeat the feat this year after crashing out of the Spanish Cup but are second only on goal difference in La Liga and are favourites at 7/5 to be the first team to successfully defend their European title in the Champions League era. Arsenal are facing a huge uphill struggle to get to the next round and are now real outsiders at 16/1 to be crowned champions of Europe come the end of the season.

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