Weekend Review – The Week of the Draw

VAR stole the show in the Premier League and we said it would be tight across the football league and it certainly was, lots of draws and matches where one goal was the difference.

We highlighted the Leeds – Derby game but weren’t brave enough to take it on. We said Forest were short, they won but they laboured to it, and the feedback from supporters in underwhelming to say the least. Preston had another impressive win (we had them for a draw). Lincoln’s managers moving to Huddersfield seem to have done neither team any favours. Port Vale and Mansfield actually proved to be as bad as each other with a 2-2 draw. We lost out on the punt of Scunthorpe and Walsall with the home side taking a 1-0 victory, but our logic was there, the odds were to high considering the evenness of the teams. We had our 4 draw picks that we advised a double on and 2/4 came in with Swansea being held at Bristol City and Exeter and Newport sharing the spoils. A £10 double on those two wouldve returned a nice £89.65, and we will continue to look for draws. We like draws as mentioned last week, due to the fact that you start off winning the bet and you are normally never within 2 goals of your result.

We’re already looking at next week’s fixtures – Forest look long for the Friday night game at Stoke (still trading on an EPL reputation) at 9/4 and Leeds are 4/7 away at Charlton (9/2). Forest are worth a bet here, this looks like it could be Jones’ last hurrah at Stoke, and back the reds to inflict the nail in the coffin.

Also, whilst we’re on the subject, Leeds are evens to win the Championship – we think this is extremely short in what is the most competitive league around. The shapes of the leagues are now starting to form – in comparison, Ipswich are 11/4 to win L1 and Man City and Liverpool are 8/11 and 6/5 to win the EPL (in what is, effectively, a two-horse race). The Leeds favouritism means that there is value elsewhere (every cloud…), particularly each-way (1/4 odds for 1,2,3) – take your pick from some of the early front runners (Preston, Forest?). As demonstrated by Sheff Utd last season, teams that form a habit of winning in the SkyBet Championship tend to be up there at the end of the season.

Coming up this week we will have a Carabao Cup preview ahead of the midweek ties.