Waterford have struggled to get going on their travels. Monday’s visitors come into this fixture as the not-so-proud owners of the eighth-worst away record in the division. Such a record stems from winning just two out of nine on the road, while losing five of the other seven certainly hasn’t helped.
From an attacking point of view, Waterford have often got involved, scoring 11 in nine away games, but they’ve let themselves down at the back far too much, shipping an average of 1.45. There a several teams with worse defensive records, though 16 goals conceded in 11 matches is nowhere near good enough if you’re not an overly powerful scoring side, which quite frankly, Waterford are not.
However, while Waterford have not covered themselves in glory on the road of late, they’ve not often been battered, so they may fancy themselves to keep things respectable at Oriel Park on Monday evening.
In the betting, ‘Dundalk to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’ looks a solid option. For all the hosts have more than enough quality to see off Waterford on Monday night, some of their recent efforts suggest that they can do so without running riot. Dundalk have scored more than three goals in just one of their last nine at Oriel Park. Add in the fact that the visitors have only conceded five in their last five on the road and backing the league leaders to win in low-scoring fashion makes plenty of sense.
Benin are favourites to claim their first win at the expense of Guinea-Bissau, having demonstrated an impressive performance in their first match against Ghana. This will be the first ever meeting between Benin and Guinea Bissau.
Bafana Bafana need to up their game at this tournament, they have at least scored in six of their last seven AFCON matches. Meanwhile, Namibia have never won a game at this tournament, with their loss at the weekend their fifth defeat in seven. Given that South Africa have won four of their last five clashes with Namibia – including a 4-1 victory just 12 months ago – we’re going with South Africa for the victory here.
This France side isn’t a stellar one, but they do have some potential stars of the future. They have talented players in the shape of Ibrahima Konaté and Houssem Aouar, but overall this squad won’t be the backbone of the squad down the line, as the current French senior side is already young enough. Winning the title would show strength in depth, but do France have that much talent?
Spain have come to the Euros with a clear aim of winning the title. They’ve made a strong squad selection including some experienced top stars, which has left them pushing for glory as the competition wraps up this week. They did well just to survive this long, after losing to Italy in their opener. The Spanish bounced back from that with two victories, which suggests they are back in form and ready to go all the way in Italy this summer.
Not only have AIK simply got positive results at home, but they’ve performed very well at both ends of the pitch, scoring 14 goals and conceding only five. Only one team has scored more home goals than AIK this season. In addition, AIK’s underlying numbers have been respectable at home. Having posted an average of 1.33 expected goals for, they’ve not been amazing going forward, but they’ve done a good job of limiting their opponents, as they’ve surrendered an average of 1.11. What’s more, each of their last two efforts at this venue, where they created 1.74 and 1.69 expected goals for (and conceded 0.53 and 1.1) are encouraging.
While the hosts have been strong at home, Norrkoping have found wins hard to come by on their travels, as they’ve emerged victorious from just two of their seven away matches. However, they’ve only lost one of those seven and are now unbeaten in six on the road, so they’re not the easiest side to get the better of.
France are already world champions, but can they add the Under 21 European Championship to their trophy cabinet? They haven’t managed to win this competition since 1988, which is a huge gap for a country who have produced so many talented players over the years. In fact, France hadn’t even qualified for the last six tournaments ahead of this one, so they are certainly making the most of this visit to the finals. Will they follow that up with a victory over Romania this week?
These two sides head into the final game level, with the pair on six points from their opening clashes. France claimed a huge 2-1 victory over England. That result effectively knocked the stuffing out of the Young Lions, which helped Romania. They were able to win 4-2 against England in their last game, with both of these sides seeing off Croatia so far. That means the two teams are top of the pile on six points each heading into their final day meeting.
Romania have been the real dark horse of the tournament so far, emerging as the hipster choice given their impressive form in front of goal. They’ve scored eight times in their opening two games in Italy, which has put them on the verge of the last four. They qualified for the finals for the first time, having made it back in 1998 as hosts. They lost both games that year, while this time around Romania have two wins already and they’ve got an eye on the next round.
France have kept just one clean sheet in their last six matches, having lost 3-1 to Austria in their last game. Given that the last four meetings between these two sides saw both teams score, we’re backing goals when these two meet again. We’re backing both teams to score in this clash, while we see a 2-1 success for England.
Atlético were defeated by a direct rival last time out, which saw them drop four points from the top of the table. They will look to get back to winning ways in front of their supporters. São Paulo are facing a six-match winless run and have failed to score in five matches in this period, which might affect their morale ahead of Friday. Both teams are equally skilled, but the visitors are dealing with a poor run of form, which could benefit the hosts.
We all know league form don’t mean squat in a cup final, but surely there is only one outcome here.
This is Spurs’ first ever European Cup final, while these Reds players have been there before and will be fired up from the INJUSTICE last year against Real Madrid.
Plus, they’ll be desperate to end the season with a trophy after missing out on the Premier League title – again! Six-time European champions, anyone?
It’s going to be a tough contest between these sides, as Hearts will be looking to lift their first major trophy since 2012, whilst Celtic will be determined to complete their 3rd consecutive treble and make history once again. Celtic have only lost once this year and Hearts’ form might indicate that they stroll through this game but expect the Jambos’ to put up a tough fight. Moreover, Levein might have to throw caution to the wind and exploit Celtic’s weaknesses in the full-back positions, which is why we’re going to back the reigning champions to win here and for both teams to score, with a final result of 2-1.
Beltrame top scores for Den Bosch this season with fourteen league goals, while teammate Blummel has chipped in with ten. Verheydt has thirteen goals for the visitors and is closely followed by van der Venne on twelve, but Go Ahead Eagles have had some issues scoring of late. We’re confident that Den Bosch will win on Wednesday, and have predicted a final scoreline of 2-0. The hosts have a very good recent record against Go Ahead Eagles, the home advantage, have two away goals to their name, and are the form favourites heading into the 2nd leg.
Defensively, Lugo don’t match up to Depor, though at the other end of the pitch, their home efforts are much more impressive than Depor’s exploits on the road. Given that Lugo average considerably more goals for and expected goals for at home than La Coruna do on the road, coupled with the fact that the hosts have performed well against the likes of league leaders Osasuna at home in recent times, a small punt on ‘Lugo Draw No Bet’ is warranted at the prices.
That last point is a good one, the first goal in this game is key and we've already seen in this play-offs how the home side have been able to score first in second leg contests.
Forest Green, West Brom and Leeds all managed to net first and while they didn't quite get the outcome they wanted, the various reasons as to why don't particularly concern Portsmouth.
Fratton Park will be loud and if they can grab the first goal then they have a fantastic chance to go on and win the game.
It would not be a surprise to see Everton collect all three points when considering the circumstances heading into Sunday's match. However, we fancy the score draw this weekend, which both managers would probably take if it were offered ahead of kickoff.
Waterford have struggled to get going on their travels. Monday’s visitors come into this fixture as the not-so-proud owners of the eighth-worst away record in the division. Such a record stems from winning just two out of nine on the road, while losing five of the other seven certainly hasn’t helped.
From an attacking point of view, Waterford have often got involved, scoring 11 in nine away games, but they’ve let themselves down at the back far too much, shipping an average of 1.45. There a several teams with worse defensive records, though 16 goals conceded in 11 matches is nowhere near good enough if you’re not an overly powerful scoring side, which quite frankly, Waterford are not.
However, while Waterford have not covered themselves in glory on the road of late, they’ve not often been battered, so they may fancy themselves to keep things respectable at Oriel Park on Monday evening.
In the betting, ‘Dundalk to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’ looks a solid option. For all the hosts have more than enough quality to see off Waterford on Monday night, some of their recent efforts suggest that they can do so without running riot. Dundalk have scored more than three goals in just one of their last nine at Oriel Park. Add in the fact that the visitors have only conceded five in their last five on the road and backing the league leaders to win in low-scoring fashion makes plenty of sense.