Belgium’s bizarre inability to beat nine-man Greece on Saturday was no doubt the cause for many a betting slip to be torn up in frustration, and it would have been curtains for us too if we hadn’t put the Draw No Bet kicker in place for such an eventuality.
As it was we took back our £15.84 stake, rolled it over to our second selection of the weekend – England to beat Lithuania – and watched in relative comfort as Gareth Southgate’s men cruised to a 2-0 victory.
The international weekend is typically strewn with landmines for punters, so we are glad to have navigated it with a small but growing kitty of £17.60 intact.
We’re back to a full schedule of league action this week, so let’s see if we can get through with a healthy build on the pot in this latest collection of £10 to £1000 Challenge betting tips:
Bet 7: Guingamp vs Nancy: Guingamp +1.00 Asian Handicap – £17.60 at 1/10
Friday March 31, 18:00
One side that is excellent at home meets another that is woeful on the road; the footballing gods are decreeing a positive result for Guingamp here.
They have been excellent on home soil this term (W8 D3 L3), and they sit just eight points of Ligue 1’s top six. Their last trio of home matches have yielded 5-0 and 2-1 victories over Bastia and Lyon plus a narrow 1-2 defeat to Monaco, so we have no worries about them holding up their end of the bargain.
There’s little in Nancy’s form that suggests they can upset the applecart here. Poor away from home (W2 D5 L8), they have lost seven of their last eight home and away; including four on the bounce on the road without scoring. The visitors’ job will not be made any easier by the absence of injured duo Benoit Pedretti and Tobias Badila.
To confirm, this +1.00 Asian handicap in Guingamp’s favour means that our bet lands if they win or draw, with our stake refunded if they lose by a single goal.
Bet 8: Bayern Munich vs Augsburg: Bayern to Win – £19.36 at 1/10
Saturday April 1, 14:30
Bayern’s relentless assault on yet another Bundesliga crown continues with gusto, and as ever it is their form at the Allianz Arena that is really doing the damage. They remain unbeaten in 12 (W9 D3 L0) with a goal difference of +33, which basically means they are gaining almost three goals per game on home soil.
Augsburg’s away form might look so-so (W4 D3 L5) but so-so doesn’t cut the mustard against the German champions. The visitors have been ruthlessly dispatched by Leverkusen (1-3) and Schalke (0-3) recently, and you would expect Bayern to dole out a similar if not more brutal level of punishment on Saturday.
Bet 9: Southampton vs Bournemouth: Over 1.5 Goals – £21.30 at 2/9
Saturday April 1, 17:30
The goals continue to fly in when Bournemouth are involved: 12 of their last 17 Premier League outings have witnessed Over 2.5 Goals, with 16/17 landing this 1.5 mark too. The Over 1.5 bet has landed in 23 of their 29 appearances in total. At least their supporters are getting value for money, anyway.
Southampton have rediscovered their vigour in front of goal since the signing of Manolo Gabbiadini, netting ten times in their last four league and cup displays. Over 2.5 has landed in all of those, and in fact that goal-heavy run now dates back to December 18, with three or more goals witnessed in 10 of the Saints’ last 11 outings. Those on show at St Marys on Saturday surely won’t let us down.
Bet 10: Pescara vs AC Milan: AC Milan/Draw Double Chance – £26.03 at 1/7
Sunday April 2, 14:00
Sunday February 5 has proven to be something of a key date for AC Milan: since tasting a 0-1 defeat to Sampdoria, their run of form reads W5 D1 L1. Their sole defeat was a narrow 1-2 at Juventus, and they have beaten some half-decent teams along the way too, including Fiorentina, Chievo and Sassuolo.
Pescara….well, they will be looking forward to this horror campaign ending. They have won once since August, losing 18 of their last 21 Serie A outings. They have also suffered defeat in nine of their last ten, conceding 29 goals. They are hopeless, hapless and hopefully pointless come Sunday afternoon.