Wednesday, 14 April 2021

Pools tips and best bets for weekend of April 17-18

Ten draws: Luton v Watford, Norwich v Bournemouth, Sheffield Wednesday v Bristol City, Blackpool v Sunderland, Bristol Rovers v Lincoln, Rochdale v Accrington, Shrewsbury v Doncaster, Carlisle v Port Vale, Leyton Orient v Barrow, Cove v Falkirk.

Best draws: Luton v Watford, Norwich v Bournemouth, Sheffield Wednesday v Bristol City, Rochdale v Accrington, Carlisle v Port Vale.

Weekend's best bets: Six aways: Barnsley, Portsmouth, Walsall, Bolton, Raith, Hartlepool.

Weekend's best bets: Ten homes: Arsenal, Manchester United, Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Swansea, Burton, Charlton, Exeter, Forest Green, Morecambe.

Pick of the draws: Although Watford are strong favourites for an instant return to the Premier League, they make the short trip to Luton, their fierce rivals from just up the M1. Luton aren't having a bad season themselves and I've a hunch they'll rise to the occasion and deny Watford victory. If there's one team who can halt Norwich's charge to the Championship title it's Bournemouth, who have won their past four league matches to move into the play-off positions and can snatch a point. Consecutive defeats to Queens Park Rangers (4-1, away) and Swansea (2-0, home) have virtually doomed Sheffield Wednesday to League One football next season. They come up against another side on the slide in Bristol City and a Hillsborough stalemate is the likeliest outcome. It's hard to know what to make of Accrington. Recent results include a fine 2-1 win at Oxford and thrashings by Peterborough (7-0, away) and Wimbledon (5-1, home). You can't rely on them to beat bottom club Rochdale, who are fighting for their League One lives. Port Vale continue to climb the League Two table and won't fear a trip to Carlisle. 

Away days: Barnsley have scarcely put a foot wrong in the Championship since going out of the FA Cup to Chelsea and should strengthen their promotion challenge by defeating ailing Coventry on Sunday. I believe high-riding Portsmouth will recover from their recent blip in League One and beat the inconsistent MK Dons. Successive wins by Walsall have banished any thoughts of relegation from League Two and I'm tipping them for a hat-trick of victories when they travel to Colchester. Bolton, who are third and bang in form, look a banker at seemingly doomed Grimsby. Raith, second in the Scottish Championship, will surely prevail at bottom club Alloa while National League leaders Hartlepool will start firm favourites at Wealdstone.

Homes sweet homes: Burton continued their remarkable rise in League One by winning 3-0 at Doncaster in midweek. It wouldn't surprise me if they handed out similar treatment to Plymouth. Charlton's 2-1 triumph at Sunderland last Saturday has put them right back in the promotion hunt and they are in the mood for three more points against Ipswich on Saturday. Morecambe deserve to be contesting automatic promotion from League Two and are expected to see off Oldham.

Weekend info: Blackburn v Derby (No.6 on coupon), Peterborough v Northampton (25) and Crawley v Cheltenham (31) are being played on Friday and are therefore void.

On the ball: Three of my five best draws were correct last Saturday and I had five out of six away wins.




 

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