Month: April 2024

Copa del Rey final in Sevilla and for a change no big side will contest it.  Athletic Bilbao have won this title an ashtonising 23 times, 2^nd only to Barcelona. Mallorca title winners on one occasion.  Overall league form sees Bilbao in 5^th with 58 points. Mallorca are on 15^th and are 27 points behind the Basque men.

Team news: Some doubts for Bilbao with Nico Williams and Yeray Alvarez out. Omar Mascarell is out for Mallorca while Martin Valjent is a doubt.

Head-to-head statistics: 20 games – 10 wins Athletic Bilbao, 6 draws  and 4 wins Mallorca.

Betting selection – One off tie in Sevilla and Bilboa are backed to win in the 90 minutes. Bilbao to win is 1.67 or 4-6 with Betfair.

German Bundesliga action as Frankfurt host Werder Bremen. The home side are 6^th and sit in Europa conference qualifying place. Overall form for them shows 10 wins, 11 draws and 6 defeats. Home form of 6 wins, 6 draws and 1 defeat. Recent form is 2 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. Werder Bremen are in 10^th position and should be safe from relegation.  They have 8 wins, 6 draws and 13 defeats. Away form is 3 wins, 3 draws and 7 losses. Recent form is poor with 4 straight losses, their last 6 Bundesliga is 1 win and 1 draw also.

Team news: Frankfurt have doubts over Aurelio Buta and Hugo Larsson. Bremen misses the suspended Anthony Jung but back come Stage, Weiser, and Lynen.  

Head-to-head statistics: 20 games – 9 wins Frankfurt, 6 draws and 5 wins Werder Bremen

Betting selection – Poor form Bremen coming into this game, and they are in a bit of no mans land with huge gaps to European places and a big gap to relegation. Frankfurt is solid at home, and I expect them to take all three points. Bet Eintracht Frankfurt to win at 1.83 or 5-6 10bet.

We head to Italy and the Stadio Arechi for a relegation battle this Friday. Salernitana prop up the entire division in last place with just 14 points from 30 games. Overall form shows 2 wins, 8 draws and 20 defeats. Home form reads 1 win, 4 draws and 10 defeats. Their last win in any competition was last year! 30^th December. Since then, they have 2 draws and 11 defeats. Sassuolo are 1 place above the home side but 10 points ahead, they are only 1 point from safety. Overall form for them reads 6 wins, 6 draws and 18 defeats. Away form shows 2 wins, 2 draws and 11 losses.  Recent form 1 win, 1 draw and 3 losses.

Team news:  Home side misses Fazio for sure while have doubts over Kastanos and Dia. Sassuolo are without Candreva but no other injury issues.  

Head-to-head statistics: 10 games – 3 wins Salernitana, 2 draws and 5 wins Sassuolo.

Betting selection – Salernitana look doomed with just 8 games left. This is a real must win game for the visitors and they should have too much for Salernitana. I take a Sassuolo 0.0/-0.5 at 1.91. We get half stake returned if game is a draw.

Early bet alert in the Turkey Super Cup on Sunday. Fenerbahce are threatening to play their u19 side if a number of key points are not met in their threat to withdraw from the league! After several issues they are demanding a foreign referee for the match (among other things) so if this is not met they will play their youth side in the Super cup final!

Head-to-head statistics: 20 games – 6 wins Galatasaray, 9 draws  and 5 wins Fenerbahce.

Betting selection – Galatasaray would be a good bet anyway as they are the better of the two sides but if Fenerbahce go ahead with their claims to play a youth side this could be an almighty one sided game. Take the 2.55 or 31/20 with betfair on Galatasaray win and take it now! Update – Odds as of now are much shorter on Galatasaray but game may not go ahead – I hope you got on!

Turkey Super Lig and we head to Samsun province in North Turkey. Samsunpor sit 12^th in Super Lig with 36 points, 5 points ahead of relegation zone. Overall form sees 10 wins, 6 draws and 14 losses. Home form reads 9 wins, 2 draws and 4 defeats. Recent form 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. Pendikspor sit 2^nd bottom of the league on 29 points. Overall form for them is 7 wins, 8 draws and 15 losses. Away form shows 2 wins, 5 draws and 8 losses. Recent form 1 win and 5 losses.

Team news: The home side misses Lubomir Satka and Emre Kilinc. No issues for the visitors.

Head-to-head statistics: 5 games – 4 wins Samsunspor and 1-win Pendikspor.

Betting selection – After a long break the Super Lig returns with this bottom of the table battle. I expect Samsunspor to be too hot for Pendikspor and take the Samsunspor win at 1.91 or 10-11 with 10bet.

EPL games come thick and fast, and we head to Anfield as The Reds seek 3 points and to improve their goal difference against bottom placed Sheffield United. Liverpool is top of the league with 67 points and have a 2-point lead over Arsenal. Overall, they have 20 wins, 7 draws and 2 defeats. Home form sees them unbeaten with 12 wins and 3 draws. Recent all competition form sees an unbeaten run of 11 games with 9 wins and 2 draws (although they drew with Man Utd 2-2 they did go on to lose in extra time in the FA Cup last month) Sheffield United are bottom of the pile with 15 points, 10 points behind Nott’m Forest in 4^th last and safety. Overall form is 3 wins, 6 draws and 20 defeats. Away form reads 1 win, 3 draws and 10 defeats. Recent form sees 1 win, 2 draws and 4 defeats.

Team news: Liverpool are still without a host of players but have no new injury worried. Indeed, they have Curtis Jones and Andy Robertson back available.  Sheffield’s injury list is as bad as the home sides with Norrington-Davies, Basham, Lowe, Egan, Baldock, Brewster and Jebbison all out. Doubts over Tom Davies and Cameron Archer also.

Head-to-head statistics: 9 games – 6 wins Liverpool, 2 draws and 1 win Sheffield United

Betting selection – I can only see a Liverpool win here but its just trying to get the correct value bet. Home win odds are incredibly low with Liverpool as short as 1.06 or 1-16. Although Liverpool has the 2^nd best defensive record, they have been conceding the 1^st goal quite a lot in games (last three league and cup matches) I am taking them to halt this run and Liverpool win without conceding at 17-20 or 1.85 10bet.

Concacaf Champions League now for a quarter final tie that pits USA v Mexico. So far in this competition Inter Miami have only played two legs – beating countrymen Nashville 5-3 on aggregate. Drawing away 2-2 and a 3-1 win at home with Messi & Suarez scoring 2 each.  Recent league form for Inter Miami sees 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats but last few games have been poor without Lionel Messi. In this cup so far, Monterrey beat Cincinnati home and away 3-1 on aggregate, while smashing Comunicaciones (Guatemala) 7-1 over two legs with 2 wins. Monterrey are joint top of Mexico Liga MX with 28 points from their 13 games.

Team news: The major news here is Inter have no Lionel Messi again. However, Inter have a lot of other problems with defenders Freire and Kryvtsov out, joining Farias, Fray, Redondo and Robinson already sidelined. Key man Benjamin Cremaschi is also doubtful. Almost full squad for Monterrey here with only Axel Grijalva missing.

Recent Head-to-head statistics: No meetings.

Betting selection – The Mexicans are 5 times continental champions (last winning in 2021) Inter Miami are debutants on the scene. Without Messi I don’t see how they can trouble Monterrey. I take Monterrey and draw at 1.91 or 10-11 Skybet

EPL race is hotting up as three teams battle it out. Man City are 3^rd and usually around now they are powering ahead. They have 64 points with 9 games left. Overall form sees 19 wins, 7 draws and 3 defeats. Home form reads 10 wins and 5 draws without defeat. Indeed, City have not lost in 23 games with 19 wins and 4 draws in all competitions. The team to last beat them was todays rivals Aston Villa! The visitors are just 5 points behind City in 4^th. Away for reads 7 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses. Last 8 games see 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat.

Team news: City are without keeper Ederson again plus defenders Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake. John Stones was passed fit but didn’t leave the bench last match. Few injuries for Villa with Kamara, Cash and McGinn out. Striker Watkins is a doubt also.

Recent Head-to-head statistics: 20 games – 15 wins Man City, 3 draws and 2 wins Aston Villa.

Betting selection – Might seem crazy to oppose Man City but a -1.75 handicap seems massive to me. We get paid on a Villa win, a draw or even a Man City 1 goal win. A Man City 2 goal win gives us half stakes return. Take Aston Villa +1.5,+2.0 with bet365 at 1.98.

Coppa Italia semi-final action as Juventus play Lazio in 1^st of 2 legs. These two sides met on Saturday in the league as new Lazio manager Igor Tudor got a vital win on debut. League position shows Juventus in 3^rd with 59 points. They sit 13 points ahead of Lazio. Recent form is not good for Juventus with just 1 win in 8 games, with three draws and 4 defeats in that time. Lazio last 8 games has seen 3 wins and 5 defeats so they themselves are not in great form either.

Team news: Key striker Dusan Vlahovic returns from suspension. They have doubts over Milik, Alex Sandro and Alcaraz. Lazio have Pellegrini available after suspension.

Recent Head-to-head statistics: 20 games – 12 wins Juventus, 2 draws and 6 wins Lazio.

Betting selection – Two-legged cup ties always make the first game very difficult to predict. Two sides out of form. I think Juventus will be keen for the win while Lazio will look to stifle the home side and be more conservative. Hoping to win the tie back in Rome. I take Juventus win at 4-5 or 1.80 10bet.

Taca de Portugal semi final 2^nd leg as Benfica host Sporting Lisbon. The first leg ended 2-1 to Sporting Lisbon so extra time and penalties is a possibility. Porto and Vitoria contest the other place in the final.  League form sees Benfica 1 point behind their rivals in 2^nd place with 67 points, having played a game more. Benfica are unbeaten in 5 games in all competitions with 4 wins and 1 draw. Sporting’s form is 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss with a defeat to Atalanta in Europa Liga ending their title hopes there.

Team news: No new injury worries for the home side.  Sporting is still without keeper Antonio Adan and miss midfielder Goncalves here also.

Recent Head-to-head statistics: 20 games – 9 wins Benfica, 6 draws and 5 wins Sporting.

Betting selection – Two games this season between the sides have both ended 2-1 to the home side. They meet again on Saturday in the League which is arguably more important.  I take both teams to score yes here at 1.67 or 4-6 bet365.