h2h meetings

Only 2 games qualify this weekend

Friday - AC MILAN v parma 9-1-0 , odds 1.53

Sunday - NAPOLI v sampdoria 4-0-0 , odds 1.40 [all 4 were win-to-nil]

AC MILAN have a home record of 8-0-4 this season , 3 of those were from the first 4 home league games of the season , they have actually won their last 6 at home .
Mario Ballotelli will be looking for his 3rd goal in as many games and a win here will have the added bonus of going above city rivals INTER , for 48 hours at least !!

PARMA are 2-3-7 away from home so far and those wins were against teams below them in the league as , in fact , were 2 of the away draws.

AC's record v PARMA since 1999 has been 11-2-0 and with MILAN's strong home form compared to Parma's poor away record i fully believe that stat could read 12-20 by full-time tomorrow.

Stake 10pts @ 1.53 [Betvictor]

2-1 MILAN

NAPOLI will hope to narrow the gap between them and Juventus [lost 1-0 in Rome tonight] at the top of the table .
They 9-2-1 at home this season and are in decent goal scoring form , 16 in their last 5 conceding only 5 .
A 3-0 defeat at home in the Europa cup mid-week to PLZEN is a slight concern but i'm hoping Serie A is their primary target.

SAMPDORIA have improved under a recently appointed coach losing only twice since the new regime took over and have certainly tightened up defensively losing only 4 goals in 7 match's .
Wins against Juventus + Roma and a draw v Milan show a new level of determination from the visitors and with that in mind i'm wary about the odds on offer esp as NAPOLI will miss regular and influential midfielder Behrami.

However Betvictor are offering 1.44 which well ahead of Bet365's 1.36 and after tonight's result in Rome is just worth a bet imho.

Stake the returns from Fridays winning bet , 15.30pts on the home win @ 1.44

0-0

Total profit +47.13pts

Sat
---
GENT v cercle brugge 5-0-1 , 1.57

BRAGA v guimaraes 7-1-0 , 1.44

MALLORCA v getafe 5-0-1 , 2.20

Sun
---
LYON v lorient 6-1-0 , 1.67

UTRECHT v roda 5-1-0 , 1.67

BENFICA v ferreira 10-0-0 , 1.25 low odds but 11/13 has ended OVER 2.5 goals.


It's not the fact that GENT are that good it's the fact that CERCLE are so very bad , esp away from home, ...a pitiful away record this season of 0-2-11 scoring 13 and conceding 33.

GENT are only 4 places above CERCLE but there's a 16pt gap there .
After a relatively poor 1st half GENT have came back after the winter break and picked up 8pts from a possible 15 with 2 creditable draws v STANDARD [4th] and CLUB BRUGGE [6th] as well as 2 wins v teams in 9th and 14th spot .
Their sole loss in that 5 game period was a 1-0 defeat to 8th placed KORTRIJK in which they were reduced to 10 men , 5 mins after which they conceded that goal.

Despite the fairly strong 7-1-0 h2h stats for BRAGA in their 'derby' game v GUIMARAES their recent form is a worry .
They have won 3 and lost 2 at home since the resumption of the league but those wins were v teams in 8th , 12th and 16th [bottom] in the table while they lost to the 2nd and 3rd sides .
GUIMARAES are currently in 7th , only 3 places behind BRAGA and have only lost 1 from 4 aways since the winter break , they beat 5th placed RIO AVE and drew with the 9th and 13th placed sides while losing to ESTORIL[8th] but played 85mins with only 10 men .

Again the stats point to a home win but on current form i don't think 1.50 [WmHill] is anywhere near worth taking.


MALLORCA are struggling this season as their place in the league shows [ 19th of 20] while GETAFE are 14pts above them in 11th spot .
GETAFE have lost their last 4 aways but they were v BARCELONA [1st] , REAL MADRID [2nd] , VALENCIA [5th] and VALLECANO [7th] so they were pretty tough asks and they face easier opposition tomorrow .
In MALLORCA's defence they have managed to draw 3 of their last 5 homes and 2 of those were against sides higher up the table than GETAFE .
I certainly wouldn't take the home win here as MALLORCA are having such a poor season but i've had a wee look at the both teams to score market and it appeals ...in 8 corresponding fixtures both have scored in 6 .
At home this season MALLORCA have scored in 9 from 10 , they failed to score v REAL MADRID
Away from home , GETAFE have scored in 10 from 12 , again one of those was v REAL MADRID

Ladbrokes are offering 1.85 , well above Paddy P's and Betvic's 1.73


Let try a Saturday double ...10pts GENT @ 1.53 and MALLORCA BTTS @ 1.85

Double came in yesterday

.....due to circumstances i only managed to get on LYON just after half-time today @ 2.00 so that worked out nicely , UTRECHT were already 2-0 nil up v 10 men so missed that one .


That leaves one game later on today over in Portugal -

BENFICA are unbeaten v FERREIRA since 2001 , thats 12 games in League and Cup and there have been over 2.5 goals in no fewer than 11 of them.
This season BENFICA have had 9 of 11 homes in league and national cups end Over 2.5 , only conceding in 5.

FERREIRA have scord at least once in 11 from 15 aways .

Stake 10pts @ 1.67 with PaddyPower

GENT v cercle brugge 5-0-1 , 1.57 2-0

BRAGA v guimaraes 7-1-0 , 1.44 3-2

MALLORCA v getafe 5-0-1 , 2.20 1-3

Sun
---
LYON v lorient 6-1-0 , 1.67 3-1

UTRECHT v roda 5-1-0 , 1.67 4-0

BENFICA v ferreira 10-0-0 , 1.25 low odds but 11/13 has ended OVER 2.5 goals.
3-0



Let try a Saturday double ...10pts GENT @ 1.53 and MALLORCA BTTS @ 1.85 Returned 28.31pts

Stake 10pts BENFICA Over 2.5 goals @ 1.67 with PaddyPower Returned 16.70pts

13 winning bets from 22
Profit - 62.14pts

For some reason i couldn't get on here last night and forgot about that today and of course the double for Saturday came in ..apologies for anybody following ...here's Sundays bet...

CHELSEA 1-0
FERREIRA 2-0

The double returned 23.76pts , a profit of 13.76pts on the day .

Tomorrow we have an interesting fixture with ROMA taking on a GENOA side who since replacing their coach have beaten LAZIO [3rd] and UDINESE [9th] at home whilst drawing 0-0 at both PALERMO [20th] and PARMA [11th] and holding current Serie A leaders JUVENTUS 1-1 .
A very decent run you would agree BUT tomorrow they will be missing at least 3 important and regular players in defenders Thomas Manfredini and Andreas Granqvist who usually form 2 of their regular back 3 , also out is central midfielder Matuzalem [ Antonio Floro Flores is injured and Ruben Olivera is a doubt].
ROMA have been creeping back up the table since a poor start to the season beating JUVE [1st], MILAN[4th] and FIORENTINA [6th] whilst drawing with INTER [5th] and losing , surprisingly to CAGLIARI [17th !!] but that must go down as one of those games .
The home side have also recently replaced their coach and have both both games since [JUVE at home and ATALANTA[16th] away and more importantly have an almost full squad to choose from [ 2 missing are long-term]

Now i like to get as near a 100% return on each bet if i possibly can and with that in mind i've cast the h2h net further and found what could be a hidden gem over in ECUADOR ....

Tomorrow see's LDU QUITO take on MANTA at home , they have a record since 2003 [played each other in 5 seasons since up till today 09,10,11 and 2012] of 10-0-0 with a goals record of 32 for , only 5 against .
The reasoning for such a strong trend is obvious to those who passed Geography at school ...namely QUITO is the worlds HIGHEST capital city at 9,350ft while MANTA is a seaport ....the difference at playing in such circumstances for the away side cannot be stressed to highly .
So far this season LDU have played only twice at home losing to current league leaders and unbeaten EMELEC but beating U.CATOLICA .
MANTA have lost away to U.CATOLICA and drawn v BARCELONA SC.

PADDYPOWER offer 1.50 ROMA and 1.53 LDU QUITO ...Stake 10pts

ROMA 3-1
LDU QUITO 2-0

Returns 22.95pts

15 winning bets from 24 , returning a profit of 88.85pts

Fri
---
GALATASARAY v g'birligi 6-0-1 , odds 1.40

Sat
---
ANDERLECHT v mechelen 8-0-0 , 1.30

AZ ALKMAAR v den haag 6-1-0 , 1.57

Sun
----
SP PRAGUE v jablonec 14-0-1 , 1.57


GALATASARAY are sitting pretty on top of the league with a home record of 8-2-1 .
They have won all 3 all 3 homes since the resumption , with wins against the sides currently in 2nd , 6th and 7th [18 teams in the league]

GENCLERBIRLIGI are in 9th with an away record of 3-5-4.

I'm unable to find any team news but tbh the h2h's and league positions encourage a bet on the home side here.


ANDERLECHT are top of the Belgian league losing only once at home , 11-2-1 with last weeks loss to 2nd place WAREGEM not a totally unexpected result.
MECHELEN are in 7th spot [16 in league] with an away record of 5-4-5 but those 5 wins were v sides in 8th , 11th , 14th , 15th and 16th place.
Again it's difficult to find any news but , as with the Turkish game , the stats look favourable .

ALKMAAR sit 7 places below DEN HAAG in the league and have lost 3 of their last 5 homes BUT DENHAAG are just as poor , having also lost 3 of their last 5 aways
I think the 1.57 on a home win are very skinny considering the form of AZ , the past 6 meetings have ended OVER but even that does not appeal as AZ have not scored in 7 of the last 9 home games .
NO BET in this game .

Stake 10pts on a GALATASARAY / ANDERLECHT double at odds of 1.40 + 1.40 from Ladbrokes

'Stake 10pts on a GALATASARAY [0-1] / ANDERLECHT [1-0] double at odds of 1.40 + 1.40 from Ladbrokes'

Although GALA had 63% of the play , had 18 goal attempts to GENCLER'S 2 , it would appear to have been one of those games as the opposition managed to score and thats the only stat that mattered !!!

Never mind , I was starting to doubt whether SPARTA PRAGUE would be a confident selection today with JABLONEC only 2pts and 2 places off them in the league
JABLONEC have only lost one game away from home this season [played 8] and defeated SIGMA who are in 3rd place a few games ago .
However , and i claim ignorance on this , SPATA defeated JABLONEC 4-0 , 3 games ago on 19th Jan , in a competion named the Tipsport Liga [don't know the stregnth of sides put out or indeed what this competion is about ] but it's back to the main GAMBRINUS Liga today and JABLONEC lost their first game in that competion after the resumption to LIBEREC who had also beaten them in that other comp 3 days previous to the SPARTA game .
SPARTA were knocked out of the Europa by CHELSEA and the assumption is that they now will concentrate all their efforts on catching the team above them in top spot , they bounced back well enough after the CHELSEA defeat by winning at home and away in the league with no goals conceded as well as a domestic cup game .

It's hard to ignore that 14-0-1 stat ..and i hope JABLONEC's bubble has burst !!

Now the next question is where is the 2nd part of todays double coming from and having scanned the world's league's it think i've found a decent UNDER 2.5 bet in SERIE A.
CAGLIARI v SAMPDORIA has finished UNDER in no less than 9 of the last 10 corresponding fixtures .
CAGLIARI have only scored 16 goals in 13 home games with 8 coming in 2 of those .
SAMP are even tighter away from home with only 14 scored in 13 aways and have failed to net in their last 3 aways .
Both are missing a couple of players in mid-field and defence .

This is lifter from the Football Italia website preview of the game -


Angelo Palombo, brought back into the fold by Rossi having been left out by previous incumbent Ciro Ferrara, also chipped in with his two cents.

"Rossi has changed our mentality. Training sessions are harder and more intense," he said earlier this week.

It has certainly stood the team in good stead, and their ability to grind results out will come in useful against an outfit in Cagliari that make teams work for wins.

Lets hope for another GRINDER today at odds of 1.67 from Betvictor

So todays bet is a 10pt double SPARTA PRAGUE win @ 1.57 and CAGLIARI v SAMP to finish UNDER 2.5 @ 1.67 with Betvictor

Fri
---
GALATASARAY v g'birligi 0-1

Sat
---
ANDERLECHT v mechelen 1-0

AZ ALKMAAR v den haag 1-1

Sun
----
SP PRAGUE v jablonec 2-2

add the CAGLIARI game and it was a poor weekend

15 winning bets from 26 , returning a profit of 68.85pts ...roll on next week

Sat
---
VALENCIA v betis 10-1-0 , 1.62
CLUB BRUGGE v lierse 11-1-0 , 1.30 [8/12 were win-to-nil]
SATNDARD v lokeren 9-1-0 , 1.73

Sun
---
CHELSEA v west ham 5-1-0 , 1.36
FIORENTINA v genoa 5-0-0 , 1.40 [4/5 win-to-nil]
ROMA v parma 10-1-0 , 1.50 [8/11 ended OVER 2.5 goals]
MALAGA v espanyol 5-0-1 , 1.83
SEVILLE v r zaragoza 5-0-0 , 1.40

Only 1 point separates VALENCIA [42] from BETIS [43] so at first glance it would appear to be a tight game in prospect.
I'll hold off on this game until tomorrow to see what team news appears .
It doesn't kick-off until 21.00 so there's no rush.

Before that we have 2 games over in Belgium to consider -

CLUB BRUGGE are in 4th spot in the league , 9pts behind the 2nd , so it's been a poor season by their usual standards .
At home they are 7-5-2 and their 3 results at home have been promising with a win v LEUVEN [12th] and draws v ANDERLECHT [1st] and GENT [11th].
Home and away since the break they are 3-3-1 and beat WAREGEM[2nd] at their place last week

LIERSE are in 14th spot [ 16 in the league] and are 2-4-8 away from home with those 2 wins coming against teams in 15th and 16th place .
But ignoring that last away win at BEERSCHOT[15th] they had previously picked up only two points from 10 aways.

Although the win-to-nil record for BRUGGE is an eye-catcher , i'm not convinced as yet that they will keep a clean sheet here .

The STANDARD/LOKEREN game is similar to the VALENCIA match in that there are only 4pts between the sides and LOKEREN are currently above STANDARD and have only lost once in the league since the resumption , to top side ANDERLECHT , the stats are 1-5-1.
Unless i can find some significant news to persuade me otherwise i may leave this one alone , ko-1700.

Had another perusal of Flashscores and surprised myself i'd forgotten about this h2h gem -

CELTIC v aberdeen 22-0-2 , odds 1.30

CELTIC are 24pts clear of ABERDEEN and now their european jaunt is over i'm sure they will want to wrap up the SPL asap , here's a quote taken from the BBC site -

Celtic manager Neil Lennon: "I have prioritised other games in the last two league games.

"Against Motherwell I had my eye on the St Mirren (Scottish Cup) quarter-final which I thought was a huge game for us in the context of the season.

"Obviously the Ross County game was a few days after the last-16 game in Turin.

"What you will see this weekend is a fresh Celtic team ready to go for the title."

Expect normal service to be resumed at Parkhead today !!
CELTIC have won their last 5 homes by at least 3 goals and with ABERDEEN not scoring in 11 of the 14 meetings in Glasgow the 2.20 on offer from Paddy Power is worth an interest.


Another game on the radar is PSV v waalwijk 10-0-0 but the home win odds reflect the huge difference in class ..1.17
However there's a couple of other markets that could help us ..

8 of those 10 wins have been by at least 2 goals or more .
6 have been win-to-nil.

PSV are 1pt behind leaders AJAX and have dropped points away to VITESSE [draw] , FEYENOORD [loss] and HEERENVEEN [loss] but while their recent away form is suspect their home record is still strong at 11-0-2 conceding only 10 from 13 .
WAALWIJK sit in 14th just one point above the relegation places and away from home are 1-4-7 conceding 18 from 12.

odds for PSV -1 goal - 1.44
odds for win-to-nil - 2.10
Both teams NOT to score - 2.00

I'm not too taken by the Handicap as ,although WAALWIJK are poor away from home they don't get thrashed with only 2 defeats greater than 2 goals in away games.
With that in mind i'm more inclined to go for win-to-nil OR BTTNTS as WAALWIJK have played they other 5 of the top 6 at home this season with results of 2-0 [AJAX], 2-0 [FEYENOORD] , 2-1 [VITESSE] 1-0 [UTRECHT] and 0-0 [TWENTE]
Added to the fact the away side have only netted once in their last 4 aways and that was a penalty i'm quite happy to bet WIN-TO-NIL @ 2.10


Stake 10pts on CELTIC win-to-nil @ 2.20 [PP]
Stake 10pts on PSV Both NOT to Score @ 2.10 [Lads]

Sorry that should be WIN TO NIL for the PSV game

CELTIC 4 !!!! ABERDEEN 3......

Ah well S**t happens .

Back to the original selections and i'm sticking with BRUGGE and i'm going to trust VALENCIA due mainly to the fact that BETIS have been so poor away from home lately [lost 4 of 5] and the strength of the H2H's

Bet 3 for today therefore is a 10pt double CLUB BRUGGE / VALENCIA @ 1.30 and 1.62 respectively with bet 365.

Sun
---
CHELSEA v west ham 5-1-0 , 1.36
FIORENTINA v genoa 5-0-0 , 1.40 [4/5 win-to-nil]
ROMA v parma 10-1-0 , 1.50 [8/11 ended OVER 2.5 goals]
MALAGA v espanyol 5-0-1 , 1.83
SEVILLE v r zaragoza 5-0-0 , 1.40

Despite the apparent doom and gloom surrounding CHELSEA they must have a favourites chance of taking 3pts at home from a team 19pts below them in the league and who have lost 8 of their last 10 aways .
WEST HAM have scored in only 5 of those aways and all were just a single goal , whereas CHELSEA have won 4 from 6 homes in League and Cups.
Labrokes and PaddyPower are offering a generous 1.40

As i highlighted a couple of weeks ago , GENOA will be missing a couple of influential players in MANFREDINI [Defender] and MUTAZALEM [cent midfield] as well as having 4 others facing fitness tests.
They have not won in FLORENCE since the 1976-77 season and in fact have only won 3 times there in 41 attempts [10 draws]
FIORENTINA are nestled in 4th place in SERIE A but still need the points to keep the gap between them and the 4 other sides vying for CL qualification.
Their strength this season has been their home form of 10-3-1 and have a record v teams in the bottom half of the league of 8-3-2.
I believe the initial raise in league form after the replacement of the coach at GENOA has now disappeared and take FIORENTINA to continue their run of form v the side just 2pts above the relegation zone .


My main concern about MALAGA is the fact they played what was porbaly a very draining game v PORTO in the CL mi-week and managed to progress to the next round , coupled to the fact they have only won 1 game form their last 5 homes [inc 2 draws v 17th and 19th sides ] makes it an easy decision to pass this game by even at the odds on the home win .

Something quite drastic seems to have affected REAL ZARAGOZA since the resumption of the league after the winter break as they have lost 5 and drawn 1 of the 6 league/cup games they have been involved in.
Compare that to the 6-1-1 reocrd of SEVILLE at home in league/cup in the same period and it's not too difficult to oppose the home side today.
Compare the home results[9-1-3] to the aways[1-4-9] of SEVILLE and its clear where their strength lies , don't be put off that they have lost 3 of their last 5 homes as 2 of those were against BARCELONA and REAL MADRID.

I'll come back to the ROMA game later on today.

In the meantime i'll be staking a 10pt treble on FIORENTINA [1.40] / CHELSEA [1.44] / SEVILLE [1.44] with Ladbrokes

Sat
---
VALENCIA v betis 10-1-0 , 1.62 3-0
CLUB BRUGGE v lierse 11-1-0 , 1.30 [8/12 were win-to-nil] 3-0
SATNDARD v lokeren 9-1-0 , 1.73 0-2

Sun
---
CHELSEA v west ham 5-1-0 , 1.36 2-0
FIORENTINA v genoa 5-0-0 , 1.40 [4/5 win-to-nil] 3-2
ROMA v parma 10-1-0 , 1.50 [8/11 ended OVER 2.5 goals] 2-0
MALAGA v espanyol 5-0-1 , 1.83 0-2
SEVILLE v r zaragoza 5-0-0 , 1.40 4-0


Stake 10pts on CELTIC win-to-nil @ 2.20 [PP] 4-3 = 10pt loss
Stake 10pts on PSV Win-to-Nil @ 2.10 [Lads] 2-0 = 21pts returned
Bet 3 for today therefore is a 10pt double CLUB BRUGGE / VALENCIA @ 1.30 and 1.62 respectively with bet 65. Returned 21.06pts
10pt treble on FIORENTINA [1.40] / CHELSEA [1.44] / SEVILLE [1.44] with Ladbrokes Returned 29.03pts
Starting Bank 100pts
Current Bank = 200.94pts
18 winning bets from 30
Circumstances dictated i was unable to pst any selection in the ROMA match .
As well as the winners i'm happy to have left out the 2 losing games from any bets

This weeks selections , all on Saturday are -

MAN CITY v newcastle 5-1-0 , odds - 1.30

MECHELEN v charleroi 8-0-0 , odds - 1.70

BORDEAUX v lorient 4-0-0 , odds - 1.85

Will post the bets either late tomorrow or Saturday

MAN CITY are 10-3-1 at home this season and have won 7 of the last 8 at the Etihaad while NEWCASTLE are only 1-5-9 away from St James's.
CITY must win this to keep the gap between them and CHELSEA for 2nd place and with NEWCASTLE missing several players to injury inc TIOTE while CITY welcome back SERGIO AGUERO after injury .
I can't see any other result other than the home win and 1.33 is available .

I certainly can't make any reasonable excuse to bet on BORDEAUX at the odds as they are 1pt behind LORIENT in the league and have only won 5 homes from 14 all season [5-6-3] while LORIENT have a semi-reasonable away record of 3-4-7 .

MECHELEN have history and form on their side however when it comes to taking on CHARLEROI on their own patch .
Despite losing their last 3 games the home side must fancy their chance's against a side who have lost 3 and drawn once in their last 5 aways .
Unless i find any negative team news i am happy to take the 1.73 on offer from Ladbrokes and double them up with MAN CITY @ 1.33.

Stake 10pts @ 1.33 and 1.73