Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain
FreeOver this past year or two, what the French Ligue 1 has really needed is a competitior to Olympique Lyonnais. Olympique de Marseille didn’t really cut the mustard and nobody else got near to them. However, this year, the holders have been brought back down to earth with a crash. In my opinion, they’ve not played good football liked they used to for 1-2 years. My reasoning for this is their persistent selling of talent without giving themselves chance to replace it. When they lose Karim Benzema, that’s their game over in my opinion, but that’s for another day.
As I was saying, the French Ligue 1 now has a lot of competition, partially due to Olympique Lyonnais’ descent and the ascension of Olympique de Marseille, unlikely heroes Girondins de Bordeaux (under the stewardship of Laurent Blanc), and the rejuvenated Paris Saint-Germain. Suddenly the competition became a lot more interesting and Olympique Lyonnais find themselves in third place, four points behind Olympique de Marseille and two points behind Girondins de Bordeaux. Both of the sides above them are in ruthless form and Olympique Lyonnais need to reciprocate it to have any chance of attaining their usual league finish.
Tonight, however, they host arguably the weakest of the top four sides, which is correctly indicated by the league table. After nearly being relegated last year, Paris Saint-Germain made some impressive acquisitions over the summer and suddenly became a force in France again. I think it’s partially down to their signings, recognition of their impressive history and the great dressing room atmosphere that they’ve began to emerge as contenders again. That said, they tend to struggle against the three sides currently above them in the league and that’s the kind of game I expect tonight. It should be bitty, tense, and largely filled with yellow and red cards. However, I think the big game performance will come from the hosts as they win 2-1.
Friday’s Picks
My tips:
For me, the best value today has to be an away win for Kryvbas in Ukraine. The bookies have very kindly placed this at a splendid 2/1, which is beyond my comprehension considering the significant contrast in form. The bookies tend to be right more often than not, of course, but occasionally they slip up – I think today is one of those times!
If you want to have a multiple bet of some description, either including Kryvbas or not, then see the below sides that are listed in order of likelihood of success in ready-made bets:
Kryvbas, Bohemians, RKC Waalwijk, Braga
Salzburg, Viikingit Helsinki, Lens, Wisla Krakow
Club Brugge, Dijon FCO, Ujpest, Cork City
VVV Venlo, FC Zwolle, Go Ahead Eagles
Lastly, we have the riskier section, for which I’ve designed a 4-team accumulator:
Olympique Lyonnais, Boulogne, Hertha BSC Berlin, Emmen
The odds should be pretty damn good on all of these bets so good luck!
For the complete picks listing, see below!
Austrian Bundesliga:
SV Ried vs Salzburg (8) 1-3
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Germinal Beerschot vs Club Brugge (8) 1-2
English League One:
Leicester City vs Scunthorpe United (4)
Stockport County vs Crewe Alexandra (6)
Finnish Ykkonen:
Viikingit Helsinki vs Atlantis FC Helsinki (8)
French Ligue 1:
Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain (7) 2-1, Benzema to score at any time, at least one red card in this game
French Ligue 2:
AC Ajaccio vs Amiens SC (6) under 2.5 goals
Brest vs Sedan-Ardennes (5)
Clermont Foot vs Stade de Reims (6)
Nimes vs Dijon FCO (8)
Angers vs Boulogne (7)
Lens vs Bastia (8)
Troyes vs Montpellier HSC (7)
German Bundesliga:
Hoffenheim vs Hertha BSC Berlin (7) 1-2
Hungarian Soproni Liga:
Ujpest vs Budapest Honved (8) 3-1, at least one red card in this game
Irish Premier League:
Bohemians vs Bray Wanderers (9) 3-1
Cork City vs Galway United (8) 2-1
Derry City vs Dundalk (7) 2-0
Drogheda United vs Sligo Rovers (5) 1-1
Dutch Eredivisie:
Sparta Rotterdam vs De Graafschap (6) 1-0, at least one red card in this game
Dutch Eerste Divisie:
Omniworld vs Excelsior (7)
AGOVV Appeldoorn vs RBC Roosendaal (7)
Stormvogels/Telstar vs MVV Maastricht (7)
TOP Oss vs Helmond Sport (6)
Go Ahead Eagles vs BV Veendam (8)
FC Dordrecht ’90 vs Cambuur Leeuwarden (7)
Fortuna Sittard vs RKC Waalwijk (9)
FC Eindhoven vs FC Zwolle (8)
VVV Venlo vs Haarlem (8)
FC Emmen vs FC Den Bosch (5)
Polish Ekstraklasa:
Polonia Bytom vs Cracovia Krakow (6) 2-1
Wisla Krakow vs Gornik Zabrze (9) 2-0
Portuguese Liga:
Braga vs Trofense (9) 2-0
Romanian Liga:
Farul Constanta vs Dinamo Bucharest (7) 1-2
Rapid Bucharest vs Pandurii (4) 1-1
Swedish Allsvenskan:
Djurgardens vs Brommapojkarna (5) 1-1
Ukrainian Premier League:
Lviv vs Kryvbas (8) 1-2
Enjoy your free betting tips!