Tuesday's televised clash at Turf Moor pits one of the form teams in the Championship against a crop of highly-talented youngsters. Which side will prevail? The bookmakers are expecting it to be the latter, offering a stingy 8/11 (Blue Square) that Arsene Wenger's 'weakened' line-up repeat their 6-0 and 3-0 successes against Sheffield United and Wigan respectively.
However, I think that firms are massively underrating Burnley for this game, especially as they held Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the last round, before knocking out the Premier League favourites on penalties. It wasn't a weakened Blues team that night either, and Owen Coyle's men represent excellent value at 7/2 (Blue Square) to win in ninety minutes, with bet direct going 5/2 about the Lancashire club on their 'Draw No Bet' market.
Burnley have only lost once at Turf Moor all season and now sit fourth in the Championship. They had an ideal warm-up for this game on Saturday by beating Derby 3-0 and it's hard to understand why the Gunners are such strong favourites. After all, while the likes of Carlos Vela (5/1 Betfred), Jay Simpson (6/1 Stan James) and Aaron Ramsey (12/1 bet direct) are stars of the future, we are still talking about a vastly inexperienced side who might not fancy a freezing night away against highly-motivated opposition.
Martin Paterson could be the man to burst Arsenal's bubble, especially as the Clarets striker has scored a brace in his last two matches. The former Scunthorpe man is 8/1 (Paddy Power) to score first or last in this match and 9/4 (totesport) to be on the scoresheet at some stage. It's also worth noting that the promotion contenders have not conceded at Turf Moor in their last four outings, making the 2-0 victory (28/1 Boylesports) an interesting prospect. The Gunners are 13/2 (Betfred) to win by the same scoreline.