Amsterdam Tournament Betting: Ajax v Arsenal

Best Bookies, Betting, Bookmakers, Fixed Odds, Football, Tipsters | selectabet | August 7, 2008 at 11:16 pm

Ajax v Arsenal – Live on Sky Sports 2. Kick Off 8.15pm

Ajax v Arsenal

With just over a week to go until Arsenal get the Premier League under way they reach the closing leg of their pre-season warm up programme by competing in the Amsterdam Tournament. First up it’s hosts Ajax and the bookies have the Gunners as favourites for this one.

At 6/4 (Bet Direct, Centrebet, SkyBet, Stan James) they’re slightly ahead of Ajax for the win. The Dutch are best priced at 13/8 (888 Sport, Blue Sq, William Hill).

Ajax narrowly missed out to PSV in the Eredivisie and will be looking to make their mark in the Champions League this time around but Dutch football ain’t what it used to be. It’s always been the case that the best Dutch players are exported abroad but so far Ajax have managed to hang onto the prolific Klaas Jan Huntelaar despite Europe’s big guns sniffing around. He’s a player of real class and is most likely to find the net for the Dutch tonight. At 6/1 (Ladbrokes, Paddy Power) he’s second in the betting to score first tonight. And if he starts I think he’s worth backing to score in the 90 minutes at 2/1 (Coral).

It’s difficult to know what kind of team Arsene Wenger will start with given that they quickly follow this run out with a game against Seville tomorrow, ahead of a crucial first leg tie against FC Twente in the qualifying round of the Champions League on Wednesday. So if you’re looking at the goalscoring market it might be worth considering some of the younger Gunners like Wilshere 9/2 (Coral) or Ramsay 5/1 (Bet365, SkyBet) to find the net.

The run of 3 games in 5 days puts me off backing Arsenal to win this and it might be better keeping your money in your pocket for when the serious business begins in midweek.