Arsenal v PSG Champions League Tips: Back 3/1 Riccardo Calafiori card angle

• Arsenal will be popular with punters

• Gunners may rack up yellow cards

• Calafiori vs Dembele could throw up some action

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Arsenal vs PSG
Tuesday 01 October, 20:00
Live on TNT Sports 1 & Discovery+

Arsenal dominate market in heavyweight clash

Arsenal go in search of their first Champions League win of the season against fellow European big-hitter PSG.

Both teams were involved in low scoring matches in the first round of matches as a spectacular David Raya penalty save to earned the Gunners a 0-0 draw at Atalanta whilst PSG stuttered past Girona thanks to some help from a horror mistake from Paulo Gazzaniga to gift the Ligue 1 giants a 1-0 win.

Luis Enrique's men don't carry the same level of superstar as they have done before in this tournament, but they are still a domestic powerhouse in France, winning the double last season and have started this season unbeaten in Ligue 1.

Only a 1-1 draw in Reims robbed them of a perfect start to the campaign and they rolled over Rennes comfortably on Friday night despite not having a whole host of first team players available.

Gonçalo Ramos and Marco Asensio remain out for this trip to London and Gianluigi Donnarumma and Vitinha are also rated as doubtful having missed the 3-1 win over Rennes.

Those team news worries added to playing such a ruthless and defensively astute side in Arsenal probably explain why PSG are being offered up as 5.04/1 shots on the Betfair Exchange.

Mikel Arteta looks to be building a potential winning machine - one that is certainly capable of winning this competition if things fall right. They have lost just three of their last 27 matches and their only Premier League defeat in 2024 remains that 2-0 home defeat by Aston Villa.

At 1.824/5 for the home win, they will be a popular bet.

Play your cards right with Calafiori

Arsenal being available at a backable price at home is a play I certainly considered but I'd rather head to the cards market for an angle here.

PSG are a team with exciting ball carriers that like to play aggressively and direct when given the space.

This is leading to a healthy card count from the opposition this season. In their seven games across all competitions this season, 21 cards have been drawn by PSG - so an average of three per game.

Arsenal, who as many have pointed out recently aren't afraid of utilising the dark arts in big matches, have been carded at least twice in 13 of their last 14 Premier League matches. So that led me to being surprised we can get over 1.5 cards for Arsenal on our side when constructing a Bet Builder at 6/101.60 with the Betfair Sportsbook.

The beauty of the Bet Builder is that we can stack value onto value when it comes to cards angles and a way to boost that price up further is to add Riccardo Calafiori to be carded into the mix.

He is available at 13/53.60 to be carded, something that has occurred in his last two starts for Arsenal playing down the left-hand side of the defence.

It's a position he's still becoming accustomed to and he could be in for a tough test faced with Ousmane Dembele, who has started the season in confident fashion. Of those 21 cards shown to the opposition, six of those were for fouls drawn by Dembele in just five appearances by the Frenchman.

If you combine over Arsenal over 1.5 cards and Calafiori to get one of them you produce a juicy 3/14.00 shot to attack.

Now read Jones Knows Notebook: With or without you? Why key team news is so important in Premier League

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