Mark O'Haire's football betting tips, best bets and nap: A Juventus shutout, National League goals
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Football betting tips: Weekend
3pts Darmstadt vs Mainz – Both Teams To Score and Over 2.5 Goals at evens (Sky Bet)
2.5pts Scunthorpe and Yeovil to score 2+ goals at 11/10 (Sky Bet)
2.5pts Juventus to beat Cagliari to nil at 5/4 (Sky Bet)
- The above are enhanced prices with a £25 max stake
Juventus vs Cagliari
- Kick-off time: 17:00 GMT, Saturday
- Home 4/11 | Draw 19/5 | Away 15/2
Without European distractions, Juventus are beginning to look like their old selves again in Serie A. The Bianconeri can temporarily go top of the table on Saturday evening with a victory over newly-promoted Cagliari and I’m happy to support JUVENTUS TO WIN TO NIL at 5/4.
Massimiliano Allegri's men have bagged four straight wins, including sufferball 1-0 triumphs at old rivals Fiorentina last time out, as well as when travelling Milan a fortnight ago. In-between, Juve have comfortably dispatched Verona and Torino to extend their run of league clean sheets to six. Overall, the Old Lady have silenced eight of their 11 Serie A opponents.
In fact, bar an off-night in Sassuolo where the Bianconeri shipped four goals, Juventus have conceded just twice in their other 10 tussles thus far. In Turin, the hosts have taken top honours in four of five, leaking just twice and allowing a miniscule 0.40 expected goals (xG) per-game, whilst facing just 4.60 shots inside the penalty area.
Cagliari have been relatively fun to follow since returning to the top-flight, although Carlo Ancelotti’s crew have tended to toil against elite opposition. The Sardinians were blanked in losses against Inter, Atalanta and Fiorentina, are winless on their travels, failing to score in three of their five away days, returning the fifth-worst xG output in games as guests.
Darmstadt vs Mainz
- Kick-off time: 14:30 GMT, Saturday
- Home 2/1 | Draw 5/2 | Away 5/4
The Bundesliga is currently averaging 3.64 goals per-game with 74% of all encounters beating the Over 2.5 Goals line and 62% of outings seeing both sides oblige. Both Darmstadt and Mainz have been heavy contributors to both metrics with the duo combining to see 17/20 (85%) showdowns feature 3+ strikes and 15 of 20 matches deliver BTTS pay-outs.
It therefore makes sense to support a repeat of BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE AND OVER 2.5 GOALS when the two basement battlers collide on Saturday afternoon. Despite operating inside the bottom-four, the two strugglers have managed to get on the scoresheet in 16 (80%) of those 20 outings, although the two teams have managed a solitary shutout between them.
Newly-promoted Darmstadt have notched in all of their Bundesliga dates bar a trip to defending champions Bayern Munich (where the visitors were incurred two red cards). Torsten Lieberknecht’s team have taken a front-foot approach to life in the top-flight, but have tended to toil defensively, shipping multiple goals in eight of their last nine games.
With matches at Darmstadt’s Stadion am Böllenfalltor base boasting 4.80 goals per-game, and Mainz’s away days delivering 4.00 goals on average, it’s easy to envisage a high-scoring shootout. The visitors have plundered two goals or more in three of their most recent four yet have also leaked at least twice in eight of their last nine Bundesliga encounters.
Scunthorpe vs Gloucester City and Yeovil vs Dover
- Kick-off time: 15:00 GMT, Saturday
Scunthorpe have endured a tumultuous few seasons, dropping down to the National League North. The Iron have had their fair share of crises already this term, yet supporters are starting to see light at the end of the long tunnel and Jimmy Dean’s team are worth backing to score at least twice on Saturday when Gloucester City visit Glanford Park.
Scunny are W6-D1-L1 as hosts, smashing home 25 strikes in that eight-game sample. The Iron have scored at least three goals in five of their past seven here, including handing out 6-0 and 6-1 shellackings over the past three weeks. Second-from-bottom Gloucester City are W0-D3-L5 on their travels, leaking 11 goals across their five away defeats.
Elsewhere, Yeovil extended their National League South winning streak to eight with a memorable 3-1 triumph at regional rivals Torquay in midweek. The Gloves have now scored at least twice in 12 of their last 14 league fixtures, averaging 2.07 goals per-game across the whole campaign, suggesting they’re well capable of repeating the feat this weekend.
Yeovil have struck twice or more in seven of nine Huish Park outings and are expected to follow that trend against struggling Dover. The visitors have won just once this term, are yet to keep their sheets clean and have shipped multiple goals in all five of their trips outside of the bottom-10. Athletic have conceded 2+ goals in eight of their last 10 across all venues.
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