Ten draws: Leeds v Brighton, Hamilton v Dundee United, St Johnstone v St Mirren, Inter Milan v Juventus, Sampdoria v Udinese, Hoffenheim v Bielefeld, Lorient v Dijon, Ajax v Feyenoord, Groningen v Twente, Waalwijk v Willem 11.
Best draws: Leeds v Brighton, Hamilton v Dundee United, St Johnstone v St Mirren, Inter Milan v Juventus, Ajax v Feyenoord.
Weekend's best bets: Six aways: Tottenham, Norwich, Doncaster, Crawley, Rangers, Aberdeen.
Weekend's best bets: Ten homes: Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester City, Wolves, Bournemouth, Middlesbrough, Watford, Peterborough, Rochdale, Barrow.
Pick of the draws: There seems to be no grey area for Leeds. They are either terrific, as in their 5-0 away rout of West Bromwich Albion, or terrible, as in their 3-0 FA Cup third-round defeat at League Two Crawley last Sunday. It wouldn't surprise me if they were held by Brighton, who gave a good account of themselves in their midweek defeat by Manchester City. Hamilton v Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership looks an away win on paper but if second-from-bottom Hamilton play as well as they did when beating Motherwell 3-0 at home a few weeks ago they could salvage something. It's hard to make a positive case for either St Johnstone or St Mirren, so a draw is the most likely result. Juventus, fourth in the Italian League, won't want second-placed Inter Milan to go further away from them and they'll battle hard for a point. Dutch leaders Ajax were held 2-2 at home by second-placed PSV Eindhoven last weekend and I can see a similar result when they host third-placed Feyenoord.
Away days: Sheffield United, bottom of the Premier League, gained their first league victory of the season at home to Newcastle last Monday but Tottenham, their opponents on Sunday, are a far better team than the Tynesiders and I think normal service will be resumed. Championship leaders Norwich are a confident selection at Cardiff, who have slumped to 15th. League One high-flyers Doncaster knocked Championship side Blackburn out of the FA Cup last weekend and should settle for nothing less than three points at Swindon, who are third from bottom. Crawley's FA Cup giant-killing of Leeds last Sunday was no fluke. They are also doing well in League Two and I fancy them to prevail at Bradford City. Rangers, the runaway leaders in the Scottish Premiership, will surely defeat struggling Motherwell while Aberdeen, who are third, should send bottom club Ross packing.
Homes sweet homes: Although title challengers Leicester aren't as reliable at home, I believe they'll have too much for Southampton. Liverpool won't take kindly to being overtaken by Manchester United at the top of the Premier League and have a point to prove at Anfield on Sunday. I think they'll pass this stiff examination against a United side, who have lost only one away match in the league this season. Rochdale, of League One, have hit seven goals in their past two games and I'm tipping them to outscore relegation-troubled Wigan on Saturday. Barrow and Scunthorpe are at the wrong end of League Two and I feel ground advantage will favour Barrow.
Pools info: Aston Villa v Everton (No.1 on coupon) has been postponed because of the Covid outbreak and will be assessed by the pools panel.
0 comments:
Post a Comment