LOSC Lille vs Dijon FCO
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Today’s secondary featured game is the Ligue 1 game between reigning champions LOSC Lille and newly-promoted Dijon FCO.
Hosts Lille enter this game on the back of a disappointing 0-0 draw with Turkish outfit Trabzonspor in the UEFA Champions League, a result which has condemned them to an early exit. Not only that but a 1-2 win for CSKA Moscow at the San Siro against Internazionale means that Lille won’t even be playing UEFA Europa League football next year so disappointment is rife in the Lille camp.
That said, I fancy them to do well here. They’ve been somewhat distracted so far this season by the UEFA Champions League but that won’t be a problem anymore. Instead, they can focus solely on Ligue 1 and that should benefit them as they don’t have a great amount of depth in their ranks. What they do have, however, is one of the strongest midfields in the country, in my view. Wonderkid Hazard and skilful Joe Cole are not easy to handle at the best of times but when they’re feeding the likes of Sow up front, you generally feel that Lille have what it takes to win heavily. Their defence does concern me, I must confess, but they tend to play enough attacking football to score goals and win games when they focus on it and I think they’ll do that today. After all, they’ve beaten the -1.5 handicap in all but one of their home wins this season and that was against title rivals Olympique de Marseille in a 3-2 win.
It aids my cause that Dijon are a pretty poor side, in all honesty. If you’re conceding an average of nearly two goals per game in a league predominantly filled with average strikers then you’re going to struggle to avoid the drop and that’s the position Dijon find themselves in now. Indeed, they’ve already lost five on the road this season and average conceding over two goals per away game so the future could be better for them! This side has strung together a few good results of late and they do bring momentum into this game as a result but do they realistically have enough to avoid defeat here? Not in my view.
If Lille show up then they should score at least two or three goals in this one. They should bring too much to this game for Dijon to deal with and thus the -1.5 handicap appeals to me at evens, especially as Dijon find it hard to create chances and score goals.
Verdict: LOSC Lille to beat the -1.5 handicap at evens.
Sunday’s Picks
My tips:
As ever, please find my value tips listed below in no particular order:
Omonia Nicosia vs APOEL Nicosia – away win with draw no bet at 9/10.
It’s a big derby so let’s use the usual caution here, guys. However, I have to admit that I love the bet because APOEL are some distance ahead of Omonia right now, not that the league table shows it.
Omonia’s apparent financial issues are not helping and nor are the referees. If we are to believe locals of the country then the federation tends to favour APOEL over Omonia and that includes the referees. There are lots of clubs in Cyprus with financial difficulties right now but APOEL aren’t one of them. Fixtures tend to fall kindly for them and you have to feel that they’ll have an “upper hand” here that isn’t really on the field.
Additionally, you could see how much APOEL’s minds were on this game during their defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk earlier this week in the UEFA Champions League. This game means a lot to both clubs but Omonia are a little weaker and their defence has been breached a little too easily of late for my liking. I think APOEL can win this one and I think it’ll take Omonia producing a better display in this game than they have in recent weeks to upset the apple cart, ergo my call is the away win with draw no bet cover at 9/10.
Verdict: APOEL Nicosia to win with draw no bet at 9/10.
Stoke City vs Tottenham Hotspur – away win at 11/10.
I hate going against Stoke at home but Spurs are absolutely on-fire right now and the news that Manchester United have lost defensive lynchpin Vidic for the season must give the visitors renewed hope of finishing in the top four this season. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t think that they will – but confidence plays a big part in this game and Spurs may well look to utilise that today.
Quality-wise, Spurs are the better side here, of course. I don’t think I’ve ever see a side do as well as Stoke are with such a barren central midfield but that speaks volumes for the quality of boss Tony Pulis. They’ve got good strikers and good defenders and on their tight pitch in front of vociferous fans, you must always take the Potters seriously, in my view.
That said, Spurs are playing so well that I have to take them here. There are some very good players in this side and I’m sure you don’t need me to point out who they are. The issues with Modric are long forgotten and Spurs look a galvanised unit once more with even quality players like Defoe struggling to break into the team, which tells you how well they’re playing. Even more impressively, they’re winning away from home without playing as well as they have at home. That was a big factor in their failure last season to finish as highly as they’d have liked but they appear to be doing a lot better in their away games this season, enough so for me to take them seriously here. You have to either play fantastically well or work very hard to win at Stoke and I think Spurs have enough of both to do it right now, especially with Stoke’s packed fixture list likely to take its toll in games like these.
For me, Spurs winning this one is worth a shot at 11/10 although I’d leave it if the odds drop.
Verdict: Tottenham Hotspur to win at 11/10.
Accumulator fodder:
Boca Juniors, LOSC Lille, Bv09 Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Olympiakos Piraeus, Vardar Skopje, Shkendija 79, AFC Ajax Amsterdam, Cerro Porteno, Athletic Club de Bilbao, Shakhtar Donetsk.
Recommended bets:
LOSC Lille -1.5, Athletic Club de Bilbao, and Bv09 Borussia Dortmund 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!
FIFA World Club Cup:
ES Tunis vs Al Sadd (5) 1-0
Kashiwa Reysol vs Monterrey (6) 0-0
Argentinian Primera Division:
Argentinos Juniors vs Olimpo (7) 1-0
Belgrano de Cordoba vs Arsenal de SarandI (5) 1-1
Estudiantes de la Plata vs Union de Santa Fe (6) 1-0
Boca Juniors vs All Boys (8) 2-0
Australian A-League:
Gold Coast United vs Sydney FC (6) 0-0
Austrian Bundesliga:
Salzburg vs Admira Wacker (6) 1-0
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Club Brugge vs Sint-Truiden (7) over 2.5 goals
Chilean Primera Division:
Cobreloa vs Union La Calera (6) 1-0
Universidad de Chile vs Union Espanola (4) 1-1
Cypriot Division 1:
Omonia Nicosia vs APOEL Nicosia (6) 0-1, at least one red card in this game
Aris Limassol vs Nea Salamis (6) 2-1
Ermis vs Olympiakos Nicosia (5) 1-2
Ecuadorian Primera A:
El Nacional Quito vs Liga de Quito (5) 2-1
Emelec Guayaquil vs Deportivo Quito (6) 1-1
English Premier League:
Sunderland vs Blackburn Rovers (6) 2-1
Stoke City vs Tottenham Hotspur (6) 1-2
French Ligue 1:
Auxerre vs OGC Nice (7) 1-0
LOSC Lille vs Dijon FCO (8) 2-0
Lorient vs Olympique Lyonnais (5) 1-1
German Bundesliga:
Bv09 Borussia Dortmund vs Kaiserslautern (8) 2-0
VfB Stuttgart vs Bayern Munich (8) over 2.5 goals
Greek Super League:
Asteras Tripolis vs Aris Salonika (6) 1-1
Panaitolikos vs OFI Crete (5) 0-0
Panionios vs Panathinaikos (6) 1-2
Ergotelis vs Doxa Dramas (7) 2-0
Kerkyra vs Olympiakos Piraeus (8) 0-2
Italian Serie A:
Atalanta Bergamo vs Catania (5) 2-1, at least one red card in this game
Bologna vs AC Milan (7) over 2.5 goals
Cagliari vs Parma (6) 1-0
Udinese vs Chievo Verona (7) 1-0
Novara vs SSC Napoli (4) 2-2
Macedonian First League:
Shkendija 79 vs Sileks Kratovo (8) 2-0
Vardar Skopje vs Bregalnica Stip (8) 2-0
Dutch Eredivisie:
VVV Venlo vs Roda JC Kerkrade (5) 1-1
FC Utrecht vs Feyenoord Rotterdam (5) over 2.5 goals
RKC Waalwijk vs AFC Ajax Amsterdam (8) over 2.5 goals
Vitesse Arnhem vs Groningen (7) 2-0
Mexican Primera Division:
Tigres UANL vs Santos Laguna (4) 1-1
Paraguayan Division Profesional:
Independiente FBC vs 3 de Febrero (5) 1-1
Cerro Porteno vs General Caballero (8) 2-0
Sportivo Luqueno vs Libertad Asuncion (7) 1-2
Tacuary vs Olimpia Asuncion (7) 0-1
Peruvian Primera Division:
Alianza Lima vs Juan Aurich (7) 1-0
Polish Ekstraklasa:
LKS Lodz vs Slask Wroclaw (5) 0-1
Lechia Gdansk vs Jagiellonia Bialystok (7) 1-0
Portuguese Liga Sagres:
Rio Ave vs Gil Vicente (6) 1-0
Vitoria Setubal vs Feirense (7) 1-0
Uniao de Leiria vs Vitoria Guimaraes (6) 1-1
Maritimo Funchal vs SL Benfica (7) 1-2
Romanian Liga:
Sportul Studentesc vs Petrolul Ploiesti (6) 2-1
Mioveni vs Vointa Sibiu (6) 1-0
Otelul Galati vs Rapid Bucharest (5) 1-1
Astra Ploiesti vs Dinamo Bucharest (5) 1-2
Spanish Primera Liga:
Rayo Vallecano de Madrid vs Sporting Gijon (4) 1-2
Getafe vs Granada (7) 2-1
Villarreal CF vs Real Sociedad (5) 1-0
Real Zaragoza vs Real Mallorca (6) 1-0
Malaga vs Osasuna (7) 2-0
Athletic Club de Bilbao vs Racing Santander (8) 2-0
Espanyol vs Atletico Madrid (4) 1-1
Spanish Segunda Liga:
Hercules Alicante vs Real Valladolid (6) over 2.5 goals
Guadalajara vs Real Murcia (6)
Swiss Super League:
Lausanne Sports vs Grasshopper Zurich (5) 1-1
Luzern vs Servette (7) 2-0
Neuchatel Xamax vs Basel (6) 1-2
Swiss Challenge League:
Bellinzona vs St.Gallen (6)
Lugano vs Vaduz (6)
Wil vs Biel-Bienne (5)
Aarau vs SC Kriens (7)
Turkish Super Lig:
Antalyaspor vs Ankaragucu (7) 1-0
Genclerbirligi vs Orduspor (6) 2-1
Mersin Idmanyurdu vs Samsunspor (5) 2-2
Besiktas JK vs Istanbul BB (7) 2-1, at least one red card in this game
Trabzonspor vs Galatasaray (6) 0-0
Ukrainian Premier League:
Metalurg Donetsk vs Zorya Lugansk (7) 2-1, at least one red card in this game
Volyn Lutsk vs Illichivets Mariupol (5) 1-0
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih vs Shakhtar Donetsk (8) 0-2
Enjoy your free betting tips!