Mark O'Haire's football betting tips, best bets and nap: Swiss Sunday
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Football betting tips: Weekend
3pts Young Boys to beat Luzern at 10/11 (Sky Bet)
2.5pts Queen of the South vs Edinburgh City – BTTS at 11/8 (Sky Bet)
2.5pts Mainz vs Hoffenheim – BTTS and Over 2.5 Goals at evens (Sky Bet)
- The above are enhanced prices with a £25 max stake
Young Boys vs Luzern
- Kick-off time: 15:30 BST, Sunday
- Home 3/4 | Draw 3/1 | Away 29/10
Young Boys remain in pole position in the Swiss Super League despite enduring a rocky spell since the return from the winter break. After suffering three straight losses in a week, the Bern club surprisingly dismissed Raphael Wicky as head coach in March, claiming the team needed “fresh energy” for the run-in. U21 boss Joel Magnin has taken charge.
Results haven’t dramatically improved – YBB have tabled W2-D2-L1 across their past five, although Young Boys have remained as strong as ever at their Wankdorf Stadium base. Across the 2023/24 campaign, the hosts have posted 12 triumphs from 15 Super League home showdowns here, including 3-0 and 5-1 thrashings in their last two such tussles.
That imperious record makes the current 5/6 (1.83) on YOUNG BOYS TO WIN just too big to dismiss on Sunday. The defending champions are averaging 2.67 goals in front of their own supporters, shipping just seven goals across those 15 fixtures, whilst earlier this term they slammed their weekend visitors Luzern 6-1 in this very fixture.
Luzern have terrible memories of travelling to Bern – the guests have lost 13 of their last 16 trips to the Wankdorf Stadium, shipping 49 goals since 2016. The mid-table outfit have also been beaten in eight of 15 away days this season, posting WO-D3-L5 at top-half teams whilst conceding an average of 18 shots per-game in those eight winless outings.
Mainz vs Hoffenheim
- Kick-off time: 14:30 BST, Saturday
- Home 19/20 | Draw 11/4 | Away 13/5
Mainz’s decision to appoint Bo Henriksen as their new head coach at the start of March has breathed new life into the 05ers survival fight. The Karnevalsverein club have collected seven points from a possible nine, trouncing both basement battlers Bochum and Darmstadt at their MEWA Arena to move to within three points of safety.
Henriksen has injected a more proactive approach from Mainz and the 05ers are plying with renewed belief, confidence and aggression. The aforementioned victories saw the Rhineland-Palatinate club rack up a cumulative 6.16 Expected Goals (xG) and 21 shots in the box – a repeat of those figures against Hoffenheim should bring goals this weekend.
Hoffenheim are erratic at best, though the Sinsheim group tend to guarantee goals – the visitors have recorded a solitary shutout all season, yet managed to score themselves in 25/28 Bundesliga battles.
On the road, 12 of 14 Hoffe matches have delivered in both the OVER 2.5 GOALS AND BTTS market and I’m eager to support a repeat.
Queen of the South vs Edinburgh City
- Kick-off time: 15:00 BST, Saturday
- Home 1/11 | Draw 7/1 | Away 18/1
Edinburgh City’s clash with Montrose last Saturday was abandoned early on due to unplayable weather conditions, though I’m happy to get back on the goals train when the capital club return to action with a trip to Queen of the South this weekend.
City’s relegation from Scottish League One was confirmed in mid-March, yet Michael McIndoe’s side have continued to flood forward and play their part in a series of high-scoring affairs. The beleaguered guests have notched in 11 of 16 away days this term, including a recent trip to runaway title champions Falkirk.
Queen of the South could be the perfect opponents for a goal-filled game. The Doonhamers are the BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE kings of the third-tier, with 13 of their 16 Palmerston Park encounters paying-out for BTTS backers.
The Dumfries club are yet to keep a clean sheet in front of their home supporters with all three meetings with Edinburgh City delivering BTTS.
Odds correct at 1030 (11/04/24)
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