Wednesday, 17 February 2021

Pools tips and best bets for weekend of February 20-21

Ten draws: West Ham v Tottenham, Queens Park Rangers v Bournemouth, Reading v Middlesbrough, Gillingham v Bristol Rovers, Motherwell v St Johnstone, St Mirren v Livingston, Valencia v Celta Vigo, AC Milan v Inter Milan, Genoa v Verona, Cologne v Stuttgart.

Best draws: Queens Park Rangers v Bournemouth, Gillingham v Bristol Rovers, Motherwell v St Johnstone, Valencia v Celta Vigo, AC Milan v Inter Milan.

Weekend's best bets: Six aways: Manchester City, Barnsley, Swansea, Sunderland, Plymouth, Harrogate.

Weekend's best bets: Ten homes: Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester United, Millwall, Sheffield Wednesday, Accrington, MK Dons, Peterborough, Cheltenham, Salford.

Pick of the draws: Championship promotion contenders Bournemouth, still to appoint a new manager, were held to a goalless draw at Nottingham Forest last Saturday and improving QPR could also deny the south-coast side. The form of League One Gillingham resembles a yo-yo. Because of their inconsistency, I rate Bristol Rovers' chances of nicking a draw, especially as Rovers belied their lowly placing with a convincing 3-1 home victory over promotion-seeking Portsmouth in midweek. Motherwell crashed back to earth in the Scottish Premiership when they lost 4-1 at home to struggling Hamilton last Saturday. I can't see them getting more than a point against St Johnstone. Two draw specialists, Valencia and Celta Vigo, play each other in the Spanish League, which is a good reason for thinking this will end all square. First and second in the Italian League, Inter Milan and AC Milan respectively, meet in the San Siro, where a draw is the most likely outcome.

Away days: Manchester City, the Premier League's runaway leaders, have already beaten Arsenal twice this season - in the league and League Cup - and there's no reason why they shouldn't make it a hat-trick of wins at the Emirates on Sunday. City look invincible at the moment. Barnsley, mid-table in the Championship, played well in defeat against Chelsea in the FA Cup fifth round last week and did even better when defeating high-flying Brentford away 2-0 last Sunday. As they also beat Blackburn at home in midweek, they'll start favourites at Bristol City, who have lost six games in a row. I expect Swansea to strengthen their promotion challenge by prevailing at Huddersfield, who are slipping dangerously close to the relegation zone. Sunderland's resounding 4-1 home victory over League One promotion rivals Doncaster was a sign they are finding top gear and they will visit bottom club Burton with confidence. Plymouth are one of the most improved teams in this division and look a good bet at Rochdale. In League Two, I believe Harrogate, who are steadily climbing the table, will have too much for Scunthorpe.

Homes sweet homes: Fulham's 2-0 triumph at Everton was one of the upsets of last weekend and I fancy them to win their "relegation six-pointer" against Sheffield United, who were well beaten at West Ham in midweek. Liverpool's recent lapses at Anfield have been astonishing but they had an excellent result against Leipzig in the Champions League  and I believe they'll return to winning ways in the Premier League against their fierce foes Everton. Sheffield Wednesday's attempts to avoid relegation to League One took a knock in midweek when they lost at Stoke but they are well worth a wager against Birmingham, who have slumped to second bottom in the Championship.

Pools info: I got five out of nine draws last weekend, with the matches at Brighton, Nottingham Forest, Eibar, Torino and Werder Bremen ending all square. My other draw selection, the match between Rotherham and Queens Park Rangers, was postponed.






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