Wednesday, 1 March 2023

Pools tips and best bets for weekend of March 4-5

Ten draws: Aston Villa v Crystal Palace, Huddersfield v Coventry, Millwall v Norwich, Rotherham v Queens Park Rangers, Bristol Rovers v Barnsley, Cheltenham v Fleetwood, Lincoln v Oxford, Harrogate v Gillingham, Walsall v Barrow, Ayr v Inverness.

Best draws: Aston Villa v Crystal Palace, Bristol Rovers v Barnsley, Lincoln v Oxford, Harrogate v Gillingham, Ayr v Inverness.

Weekend's best football bets: Six aways: Tottenham, Burnley, Portsmouth, Mansfield, Stevenage, Edinburgh.

Weekend's best football bets: Ten homes: Arsenal, Southampton, Luton, Middlesbrough, Wigan, Ipswich, Plymouth, Northampton, Ross, Solihull.

Pick of the draws: Aston Villa and Crystal Palace are two Premier League mid-table sides whose main characteristic is inconsistency, so I wouldn't put money on either of them winning. No team is in better form than League One promotion contenders Barnsley, who are winning their matches handsomely. However, Bristol Rovers, who had a fine 3-0 victory at Oxford last Saturday, can check their progress. Lincoln have drawn 12 of their 15 League One home games this season. It won't surprise me if they make it 13 against Oxford. Lowly Gillingham's revival in League Two was halted in midweek by Bradford City, who won 2-0 at Priestfield Stadium. I believe Gillingham will recover sufficiently to share the spoils at Harrogate, who are immediately below them. Inverness Caledonian Thistle held promotion-seeking Dundee to a 1-1 away draw in the Scottish Championship last weekend. On Saturday they go to Ayr, who are also in promotion contention. I think the visitors could again come away with something.

Away days: Tottenham's firepower, with Harry Kane prominent, will probably be the decisive factor when they visit Wolves, who, by contrast, have scored only nine Premier League home goals this season. Burnley, the runaway Championship leaders, look an away banker at second-from-bottom Blackpool. Consecutive home wins against Cheltenham (4-0) and Bolton (3-1) in League One have lifted Portsmouth and I recommend them at struggling Cambridge. Mansfield's 5-2 home loss to Salford in League Two was one of the upsets of last weekend but I'm tipping them to bounce straight back at Wimbledon, whose hopes of reaching the play-offs are fast fading. High-flying Stevenage returned to winning ways at Wimbledon in midweek and will surely prevail at Rochdale, who seem doomed to relegation. I suspect Edinburgh, third in Scottish League One, will be too good for Kelty Hearts.

Homes sweet homes: I'm taking Southampton, bottom of the Premier League, to win at home for only the second time this season against Leicester, who may be still reeling from their home FA Cup exit against Blackburn, of the Championship, in midweek. Wigan, bottom of the Championship, will never have a better chance of three points when ailing Birmingham travel to play them on Saturday. Ross County won their bottom-of-the table clash against Dundee United last Saturday with plenty to spare and they are worth a wager against Motherwell, who are just above them in the Scottish Premiership. 

0 comments:

Post a Comment