Mark O'Haire, who landed a clean sweep of winners across his column last weekend, returns with his latest weekend best bets.
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- Mark O'Haire nap 21/22: +19.8pts profit | 23% return on investment
- Mark O'Haire nap 22/23: +3.15pts profit | 21% return on investment
Football betting tips: Mark O'Haire
2pts Over 2.5 Goals and BTTS in Aston Villa vs Southampton at 6/5 (10BET)
2pts Tottenham to win and BTTS at 15/8 (Betfair)
Tottenham vs Leicester
- Kick-off time: 17:30 BST, Saturday
- Home 4/9 | Draw 18/5 | Away 11/2
Tottenham were poor in Portugal on Tuesday night.
Antonio Conte’s charges failed to take their chances, defended sloppily and appeared flat, uninspired, risk adverse and insipid for large swathes of their 2-0 reverse at Sporting.
A bounce back is required on Saturday and Spurs have ideal opponents on the menu with struggling Leicester arriving in North London.
The Foxes have picked up a solitary point (W0-D1-L5) and have conceded 16 goals already.
Brendan Rodgers’ boys have endured a tough schedule, yet their defensive flaws have been routinely exposed and that’s a major concern when coming up against the likes of Harry Kane, Richarlison, Dejan Kulusevski and Son Heung-Min.
Nevertheless, Leicester do have individual talent in forward areas that are capable of causing problems to most Premier League rearguards. City have already scored twice at Arsenal, Brighton and really should have notched multiple goals at Chelsea too; in fact, Leicester have failed to score just twice on their travels since the start of last term.
Unfortunately for Rodgers, Leicester’s supreme goalscoring return is wiped out by their inability to keep their sheets clean.
The Foxes have kept their opponents quiet once in those 22 away Premier League dates, leading to a huge 19 (86%) Both Teams To Score winners – 15 (68%) of those fixtures featured Over 2.5 Goals, as all 22 produced two goals or more.
So I wouldn’t put it past Leicester grabbing a goal in the capital on Saturday, after all, Spurs have conceded here against Southampton, Fulham and Wolves had their opportunities too.
But ultimately, I’ve been seduced by the 15/8 (2.88) available on Betfair for TOTTENHAM TO WIN & BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE considering Spurs’ exceptional home record under Conte.
Since the Italian arrived, Tottenham have tabled 13 triumphs from 17 home EPL encounters. The hosts did the double over Leicester last term and have been the standout side outside of Man City and Liverpool in terms of points and Expected Points (xP).
In contrast, Leicester are W1-D6-L12 on the road when excluding relegated clubs since the start of 2021/22.
Aston Villa vs Southampton
- Kick-off time: 20:00 BST, Friday
- Home 21/20 | Draw 5/2 | Away 5/2
Aston Villa return to action for the first time since their creditable 1-1 draw with Manchester City.
The precious point eased the pressure on Steven Gerrard following four defeats in the Villains opening five Premier League matches; but failure to succeed in Friday night’s with Southampton will again provoke plenty of inquests.
Saints (W2-D1-L3) have performed above expectations during the opening stanza of the season. The south coast club were turned over 1-0 by Wolves in their most recent outing, although Ralph Hasenhuttl’s charges twice went agonisingly close through Che Adams to earning a share of the spoils at Molineux.
The market is favouring Villa here but it’s hard to have faith in the home team considering they’ve clinched top honours in only five of their 17 Villa Park league games under Gerrard’s watch.
The hosts have kept just five shutouts in that same sequence and so I’m much more comfortable taking a goals-based approach in the Second City.
Neither side has managed to keep a clean sheet in 2022/23 with eight of their combined 10 Premier League dates paying-out for Both Teams To Score backers, whilst seven of those showdowns crossed the Over 2.5 Goals barrier.
With 10/17 (59%) Villa home outings under Gerrard and 14/22 (64%) of Southampton’s away days since the start of last season delivering BTTS profit, I’m keen to support OVER 2.5 GOALS & BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE at an attractive 6/5.
Odds correct at 1130 BST (15/09/22)
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