Wednesday, 18 December 2024

Pools tips and best bets for weekend of December 21-22

 Ten draws: Brentford v Nottingham Forest, Ipswich v Newcastle, West Ham v Brighton, Millwall v Blackburn, Plymouth v Middlesbrough, Burton v Exeter, Northampton v Charlton, Barrow v Fleetwood, Chesterfield v Wimbledon, Ross v St Mirren.

Best draws: Brentford v Nottingham Forest, West Ham v Brighton, Millwall v Blackburn, Burton v Exeter, Chesterfield v Wimbledon.

Weekend's best football bets: Six aways: Chelsea, Wrexham, Salford, Walsall, Partick, Gateshead. 

Ten homes: Fulham, Leeds, Portsmouth, Queens Park Rangers, Wigan, Doncaster, Port Vale, Hearts, Peterhead, Rochdale.

Pick of the draws: Brentford are exceptional on their own patch, with seven Premier League wins out of eight this season, but Nottingham Forest, with victories over Manchester United (3-2, away) and Aston Villa (2-1, home), have shown they are a threat to the top four and can get something here. Brighton's recent results have been disappointing, so West Ham, nothing special themselves, have a chance of taking a point. The unexpected resignation of manager Neil Harris is a blow to Millwall. They would rather not be facing Blackburn, who are playing well and have climbed into the Championship play-off positions. Despite looking favourites to be relegated from League One, Burton have not thrown in the towel, as they showed with a battling goalless draw at Leyton Orient last Saturday. I believe they'll give mi-table Exeter a harder game than expected. Chesterfield v Wimbledon is probably the most attractive fixture in League Two. These promotion contenders had good victories last weekend - Chesterfield 2-0 at Carlisle, Wimbledon 1-0 at home to Doncaster - and it's hard to separate them.

Away days: Chelsea have become the biggest danger to Premier League leaders Liverpool. They have won their last five league games and will want to maintain the pressure by taking maximum points at Everton. Although Wrexham have slipped out of the League One automatic promotion places, they should be too strong for Bristol Rovers, who are one place above the drop zone. In-form Salford have moved into the top half of League Two and will be aiming for another three points at lowly Accrington. Leaders Walsall will also fancy their chances at struggling Harrogate. I'm taking Partick to increase the agony of rock bottom Airdrie in the Scottish Championship and in the National League, I cannot ignore free-scoring promotion hopefuls Gateshead, who visit last-placed Ebbsfleet.

Homes sweet homes: Everything went wrong for Portsmouth when losing 4-0 at Derby in the Championship last Friday but I've a hunch they'll put things right against Coventry, who have had mixed results since the sacking of manager Mark Robins. There seemed no hope for Queens Park Rangers a few weeks ago but they are now clear of the Championship relegation zone and in the mood to move higher up the table by beating Preston. I'm backing Hearts, bottom of the Scottish Premiership, to record only their fourth league win of the season when they host fellow strugglers St Johnstone.

Pools info: I'll file my pools tips and best bets for the weekend of December 28-29 on Christmas Eve.





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