There are some really juicy matches taking place on Sunday in England. Manchester City go to Leicester early on in the Premier League and all eyes are on them.
Erling Haaland in particular is worth watching closely. He has had it all his own way on his football journey so far, with some petulance now being shown when it’s going wrong. This is another interesting mental test for him and his colleagues.
European hopefuls Nottingham Forest travel to Everton for a game which is important for both sides. West Ham host Liverpool in the evening as the title race already gets intense and still, there’s more.
In the Championship, Sheffield United host West Brom in a biggie while Sunderland have to go to Stoke after drawing at Blackburn the other day. Boro host Burnley in the late game.
As well as this, Leeds travel to Derby at tea time with the top of the Championship likely to change throughout the day. These however are the games we reckon are worth betting in:
Norwich City v QPR – Championship, 12:30
There are only 4 points between Norwich and QPR in the table, but there is more to separate them when you look a little closer. Norwich are +12 at home in terms of goal difference, while QPR are -6 on their travels which tells a story.
Norwich recently lost narrowly at Sunderland with ten men, then beat Millwall at Carrow Road on Boxing Day. QPR for their part had been showing a revival, but lost heavily to Swansea (3-0) the other day and could suffer on the road once again. The odds of 7/10 is a fair price for the Norwich win.
Crystal Palace v Southampton – Premier League, 15:00
To be brutally honest, Southampton weren’t ready for their latest promotion and are just terrible at this level. They are usually worth taking on. Crystal Palace too made a shaky start, but they are now 11 points clear of Sunday’s opposition and that gap is highly likely to grow as the season goes on.
Palace drew 0-0 at Bournemouth on Boxing Day, but they are sure to start quickly in this match and can probably put Southampton away. The 4/7 for them at home looks better than fair.
Fulham v Bournemouth – Premier League, 15:00
It’s close between these two. We’ve spoken this season about Bournemouth being at the upper end of the Premier League on merit and they are capable away from home too. Their 3-0 win at Old Trafford certainly showed that.
The Cherries couldn’t beat Palace at home the other day though, while Fulham were busy impressing at Stamford Bridge by beating Chelsea 2-1. Having blown a couple of teams away at Craven Cottage this season and looking clearly in form, the 13/10 for them to win is far too big.
Coventry City v Millwall – Championship, 15:00
Once again, this game is a close one at a glance but delve deeper and we can see a clear difference in the two teams currently.
Coventry average 2 goals per game at home which is pretty impressive. They have amassed 17 points so far from their 11 home matches. Millwall on the other hand are a little shy when they travel. The Lions have managed only 8 points and 8 goals in their ten games on the road. That is not good enough.
With Millwall’s away record, this is not the right time to be facing Coventry. The home side won 4-0 the other day, all four goals coming before half time and that’s a crucial thing to remember from a punting point of view.
Millwall’s games have been close of late, but if Coventry can score early then the visitors have to do something different. They’ll need to be more expansive and that could make them very vulnerable here. The 3/4 for Coventry is a good price.
Blackburn Rovers v Hull City – Championship, 15:00
Blackburn are back! Well, sort of. The Lancashire side made a much stronger than anticipated start to the season and, after some in and out form, they showed the kind of resolution the other day we need to see when thinking of backing a team.
Their Boxing Day match was a hard-fought 2-2 draw with promotion-chasing Sunderland and that should set them up perfectly for this game. It’s a different sort of test, but one we reckon they can pass facing up to an underwhelming Hull side.
Blackburn have 23 points from 11 games at home. They’ve done that while managing a goal difference of +8 at Ewood Park. By contrast, Hull are 17th based on away league form, gaining only 8 points in 11 games at -8. With that in mind, Evens is surely the wrong price for Blackburn and they are worth backing.
How to Use These Teams in Your Bets
At these prices, there are ways to split these teams up into different bets if you wish.
Value Bet
It’s not often you can get around 7/2 for a football win double, but that’s the case with Fulham and Blackburn this Sunday. Both teams look strong and great value.
Anything above 3/1 in fact is a great price for these two to win, with the bet providing some insurance given that we only rely on two teams.
The Accumulator
Naturally, having named five teams we have to think about backing them all. As a five-fold multi bet, this wager comes to around 20/1 depending on where you bet which is brilliant for the number of teams involved.
More Multiples
With five selections, you can place singles, doubles, trebles, 4-folds, a Super Yankee, a Lucky 31, a Permed Patent and a Permed Yankee. These bets can mean placing anything from 5 to 70 different bets, so watch your unit stake.
A £1 Lucky 31 means a £31 bet, giving you all five singles, 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 x 4-folds and the 5-fold too.