Norwich City vs Newcastle United
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Today’s secondary featured game is the English Premier League game between Norwich City and Newcastle United.
A quick glance at the Norwich side pre-season told me that this side wouldn’t last in the Premier League but given how well they’re playing right now, I couldn’t have been more wrong. A massive hats-off to boss Paul Lambert, who is unquestionably the driving force behind this Norwich side. He’s an excellent manager and has proven it in every division in England and with him at the helm, this Norwich side genuinely feel that they can beat anyone. They’ve played brilliantly against almost every big side that they’ve faced this season and their attacking style has caused opponents no end of trouble. Holt is a tough customer up top with his height and power and Pilkington in midfield has impressed a lot this season too. Each player truly plays for the badge when they get on the field and I really respect that. This side will always, always attack when playing at home, especially when facing a side that they know they can beat like Newcastle United, so I expect them to throw caution to the wind (as ever!) and attack their opponents today.
Strangely enough, Newcastle themselves have been a strong side this season. Despite having the depth of a puddle, they’ve looked inspired under Alan Pardew and their militant style has yielded many shock results this season so props to Pardew and co. I didn’t forsee how they’d cope without Nolan and Barton – the centre of midfield is a horrible core to try and replace in a very short space of time! – but they’ve been superb with ex-LOSC Lille playmaker Cabaye attracting interest from all over England, if we are to believe the tabloids. Ben Arfa’s return has massively improved Newcastle’s attacking threat with his dribbling skills and big Demba Ba has been one of the best strikers in the division this season, being almost unplayable most of the time. However, Newcastle have had the stuffing knocked out of them with three tough games against Chelsea, Manchester United, and Manchester City respectively bringing them back down to earth with a bang and I expect that to show here. The lengthy injury that Steven Taylor has suffered will damage their strong defence and I think that’ll again make this trip a very hard one for the Magpies. Newcastle have the firepower to trouble the inept defence of their hosts but without Taylor, they should be in trouble themselves, too.
I’d hate to pick a winner here! Norwich are at home and have passionate support behind them and their visitors have had a very tough run lately so maybe the Canaries can take three points here. However, my interest is in goals because there realistically should be plenty here. I expect both sides to score at least once in what should hopefully be a very good game of football so my call is over 2.5 goals at 4/5.
Verdict: Over 2.5 goals at 4/5.
Saturday’s Picks
My tips:
As ever, please find my value tips listed below in no particular order:
Augsburg vs Borussia Moenchengladbach – away win at evens.
I’m not getting carried away with Gladbach’s recent excellent form. Lets not forget that they’re over-achieving thanks to the excellent displays of attacker Reus, who is on course to have yet another superb season. However, I like the chances of them beating what is unequivocally the worst side in the Bundesliga right now.
Augsburg just can’t score goals. They’ve improved of late but have had to play a more attacking game to score more goals and subsequently have conceded a lot more as a result. Four defeats in their past five games shows just why this side is bottom of the table and let’s face it – any attack led by Molders is not going to remain in the Bundesliga. They don’t have a single quality striker in this team and they lack creativity in midfield. They put a lot of work into their game but if they’ve lost their defence too then they’ve got real problems. In my view, Augsburg are sitting ducks today unless they really pull it together.
Gladbach can win this one. I absolutely would not take this below evens as it’d just be a trap waiting to happen and the value would go, in my view. Gladbach have enough firepower in Reus and Hanke, especially with Arango supporting. Gladbach have a largely young team and that will count against them as the season goes on but for now, they’re extremely enthused and playing good football.
With that in mind, I find it hard to overlook the value on the away win at evens.
Verdict: Borussia Moenchengladbach to win at evens.
Levante vs Sevilla CF – home win with draw no bet at evens.
Here we have another side that’s over-achieving this season – Levante. They always play with tremendous spirit at home and will rarely lose here, though, and that encourages me.
Levante struggled a lot recently and I thought we’d seen the end of their excellent run after their disappointing 3-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid. However, they stunned me by bouncing back and battering in-form Sporting Gijon 4-0 so this side clearly has no issues with belief. They lost 5-0 at Barcelona last time out but at the Nou Camp, few sides can better that result right now as Messi and co. are scoring at will. Levante are very much an all-or-nothing side but at home, we tend to see them at their best. Arouna Kone is a powerful and quick striker that is not easy to play against and with the bags of experience that Levante have in midfield with Bakero, Valdo, Farinos, and Juanlu, it’s hard to see him being deprived of service! I like the experience a lot in this Levante team, to be honest – it’s going to serve them well this season and the benefits of it can already be seen so I’ll be taking Levante seriously at home, as per usual.
Visitors Sevilla – well, I couldn’t be more unimpressed with them if I tried. Alright, they won two out of their last two games and bring momentum into this game as a result but their play is so uninspiring! It’s the opposite of the way Racing Santander played under Marcelino and that confuses me. There’s no doubt whatsoever that Sevilla have the personnel to be a very good side but they don’t play well enough to bother me. You can point out that they’re unbeaten on the road this season but I’ll point out that they’ve won once in seven away games. Their style is unadventurous at best and the right side can dissect this defence easily. For me, Sevilla will be mid-table this season at best unless things take a dramatic change.
For me, there’s lots of value in taking the home win with draw no bet cover at evens. Levante are really hard to beat at home and Sevilla are just so unimpressive on the eye that I think the well-organised hosts can nick this one. Therefore, my call is Levante to win this one with draw no bet cover at evens.
Verdict: Levante to win with draw no bet at evens.
Accumulator fodder:
AA Gent, AEL Limassol, PAOK Salonika, AEK Athens, Palermo, Metalurg Skopje, Twente Enschede, AZ Alkmaar, PSV Eindhoven, Legia Warsaw, Metalist Kharkiv, The New Saints.
Recommended bets:
Borussia Moenchengladbach, Metalist Kharkiv, and AA Gent at around 2/1.
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts to prevent endless questions about my thoughts on certain games!
Australian A-League:
Wellington Phoenix vs Perth Glory (6) 2-2
Central Coast Mariners vs Newcastle Jets (7) 1-0
Melbourne Victory vs Adelaide United (6) 2-1
Austrian Bundesliga:
Rapid Vienna vs Wacker Innsbruck (7) 1-0
Sturm Graz vs Austria Vienna (6) 1-1
SV Mattersburg vs SV Kapfenberg (6) 2-1
SV Ried vs Wiener Neustadt (7) 1-0
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Lokeren vs Standard de Liege (6) 1-1
Racing Genk vs Lierse SK (7) 2-1
AA Gent vs Germinal Beerschot (8) 2-0
OH Leuven vs Zulte-Waregem (6) 1-1
Kortrijk vs Westerlo (7) 2-0
Mons vs Cercle Brugge (6) over 2.5 goals
Chilean Primera Division:
Colo Colo vs La Serena (7) over 2.5 goals
Audax Italiano vs Universidad Catolica (6) 1-1
Cypriot Division 1:
Anorthosis Famagusta vs Apollon Limassol (7) 2-1
Anagennisi Deryneia vs AEK Larnaca (7) 0-1
AEL Limassol vs Ethnikos Achnas (8) 1-0
English Premier League:
Arsenal vs Everton (7) over 2.5 gols
Bolton Wanderers vs Aston Villa (6) 1-1
Liverpool vs Queens Park Rangers (7) 2-1
Manchester United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers (7) 2-1
Norwich City vs Newcastle United (6) 2-2
Swansea City vs Fulham (6) 0-0
West Bromwich Albion vs Wigan Athletic (7) 1-0
English Championship:
Southampton vs Blackpool (6)
Middlesbrough vs Brighton & Hove Albion (7)
Watford vs Leeds United (5)
Reading vs West Ham United (6)
Derby County vs Bristol City (3)
Millwall vs Cardiff City (5)
Nottingham Forest vs Crystal Palace (5) both sides to score
Birmingham City vs Doncaster Rovers (7)
Coventry City vs Hull City (6)
Burnley vs Portsmouth (6)
Leicester City vs Peterborough United (7) over 2.5 goals
Barnsley vs Ipswich Town (7)
French Ligue 1:
AS Nancy-Lorraine vs AC Ajaccio (7) 1-0
Stade Rennais vs Stade Brestois (7) 2-0
Saint-Etienne vs Stade Malherbe de Caen (6) 1-0
Sochaux vs Paris Saint-Germain (6) 1-2
Toulouse vs Evian Thonon Gaillard (5) 1-1
Valenciennes vs Montpellier HSC (6) 1-1
Olympique de Marseille vs Girondins de Bordeaux (7) 1-0
German Bundesliga:
Werder Bremen vs VfL Wolfsburg (7) 2-1
Mainz 05 vs Hamburger SV (6) 1-1
Nurnberg vs Hoffenheim (5) 0-0
Koln vs SC Freiburg (6) 1-0
Augsburg vs Borussia Moenchengladbach (7) 1-2
Hannover 96 vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen (7) 1-1
Greek Super League:
PAOK Salonika vs Atromitos (8) 1-0
Xanthi vs Levadiakos (7) 2-0
AEK Athens vs PAS Giannina (8) 2-0
Italian Serie A:
Lecce vs Lazio (6) over 2.5 goals
Siena vs Genoa (7) 0-0
Internazionale vs Fiorentina (4) 1-2
Palermo vs Cesena (8) 2-0
Macedonian First League:
Teteks Tetovo vs Rabotnicki Skopje (5) 1-0
11 Oktomvri vs Napredok (6) 1-1
Horizont Turnovo vs Renova Dzepciste (7) 0-1
Metalurg Skopje vs Ohrid (8) 2-0
Dutch Eredivisie:
Twente Enschede vs NEC Nijmegen (8) 2-0
AZ Alkmaar vs De Graafschap (8) -1.5 handicap
Excelsior Rotterdam vs Heerenveen (7) over 2.5 goals
PSV Eindhoven vs NAC Breda (8) 2-0
Paraguayan Division Profesional:
Nacional Asuncion vs Guarani Asuncion (6) 1-1, at least one red card in this game
Rubio Nu vs Sol de America (5) 1-1
Polish Ekstraklasa:
Ruch Chorzow vs Korona Kielce (6) 2-1
Widzew Lodz vs Gornik Zabrze (6) under 2.5 goals
Legia Warsaw vs Cracovia Krakow (8) 2-1
Portuguese Liga Sagres:
Beira-Mar vs Porto (7) 0-1
Sporting Clube de Lisboa vs CD Nacional de Madeira (7) over 2.5 goals
Romanian Liga:
Universitatea Cluj vs Vaslui (5) 2-1
Steaua Bucharest vs CFR Cluj (6) 0-1
Scottish Premier League:
Hibernian vs Rangers (7) 0-1
Aberdeen vs St.Mirren (7) 2-0
Celtic vs Hearts (7) 2-1
Dunfermline Athletic vs Kilmarnock (5) 1-1
Inverness Caledonian Thistle vs Dundee United (6) 1-1
St.Johnstone vs Motherwell (6) 0-1
Serbian Superliga:
Smederevo vs Hajduk Kula (7) 2-0
BSK Borca vs Javor Ivanjica (6) 0-0
Borac Cacak vs Spartak Subotica (5) 1-1
Red Star Belgrade vs Vojvodina Novi Sad (5) 2-1
Novi Pazar vs Jagodina (5) 0-1
Sevojno vs OFK Belgrade (7) over 2.5 goals
Spanish Primera Liga:
Levante vs Sevilla CF (6) 2-1
Real Betis Balompie vs Valencia CF (7) 0-1
Real Madrid vs Barcelona (4) 1-1, at least one red card in this game
Spanish Segunda Liga:
Sabadell vs Elche (5)
Gimnastic de Tarragona vs Cordoba (6)
Alcoyano vs Girona (5)
Alcorcon vs Celta de Vigo (6)
Deportivo La Coruna vs Numancia (7)
Cartagena vs Las Palmas (5)
Villarreal II vs Deportivo Xerez (6)
Recreativo de Huelva vs Huesca (6)
Swiss Super League:
Thun vs Young Boys Bern (6) 1-2
FC Zurich vs Sion (7) 1-0
Swiss Challenge League:
Bruhl vs Wohlen (5)
Turkish Super Lig:
Gaziantepspor vs Eskisehirspor (6) 1-0
Ukrainian Premier League:
Oleksandriya vs Metalist Kharkiv (8) 1-2
Karpaty Lviv vs Dynamo Kiev (5) 0-1
Dnipro Dnepropetrovsk vs Chernomorets Odessa (7) 1-0
Arsenal Kiev vs Vorksla Poltava (5) 0-0
Welsh Premier League:
Afan Lido vs Newtown (5) 2-1
Airbus UK vs Carmarthen Town (6) 1-0
Aberystwyth Town vs The New Saints (8) 0-2
Enjoy your free betting tips!