TFT Issue 1027!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
As ever, approach each tip with caution and intelligence. Every tip has the potential to win or to lose; it depends how the team plays. My advice would always be to watch the games (where possible) and bet in-play because you’ve got an idea of what should happen in the game (based on the preview) and you can judge if things are going the way that they should or not. In-play betting is a very valuable tool that is not to be overlooked! If you have any questions then feel free to ask.
Bankers
I’d be surprised if they all win as betting isn’t that simple but these are the bets that really should come in. You know it’s a weird day when the majority of them don’t come in!
BATE Borisov vs Slutsk – home win at 1/5.
The best side in Belarus have got off to a good start this season despite losing their opening Vysshaya Liga game against Shakhtyor Soligorsk. They’ve won every game since then with Rodionov staying clear of injury (for a change!) and playmaker Krivets back to his best. They’ve got a lot of match-winners in their squad this season and despite Goncharenko no longer being at the helm, BATE remain the best side in Belarus, for my money, and I really doubt that newly-promoted Slutsk can stop them. They’re not getting battered by anyone but they are losing fairly regularly and I believe that they’ll lose here.
Verdict: BATE Borisov to win at 1/5.
Flora Paide vs Tammeka – home win at 1/4.
Three consecutive wins and a home game against a very weak Tammeka side should be very welcome to Flora Paide fans. They’re not a big side but they’re a reliable and consistent side. They’re more than good enough to overcome cash-strapped Tammeka and with strong momentum leading them into this game, you have to fancy this to end as a home win.
Verdict: Flora Paide to win at 1/4.
Featured game
Lokomotiva Zagreb vs Rijeka – home win at 4/5.
Today’s featured game is the Prva Liga game between Lokomotiva Zagreb and Rijeka. The odds are dropping like a stone on this one so take it whilst you can!
So why the home win? I mean, to be fair, Rijeka are the better side with the bigger squad so they shouldn’t really be losing this game, right? Well, ordinarily, I’d say that was correct but Rijeka have bigger fish to fry than Lokomotiva and I fully expect to see that in this encounter.
Rijeka have a massive game against Dinamo Zagreb in the Cup next week and thus will rest some players, for starters. That in itself gives Lokomotiva a good chance of recording a favourable result anyway. On top of that, Rijeka are missing some very important players anyway with the likes of Knezevic and Males on the sidelines. Fellow defenders Leovac and Maric join Knezevic on the sidelines and midfielder Zlomislic is also missing. On top of that, there are serious doubts over the fitness of Moises, star midfielder Kvrzic, Jugovic, and star striker Kramaric. There’s no reason whatsoever that Rijeka should risk them here, especially not with the big game coming up next week, so it’s fair to say that Rijeka are going to be massively under-strength here.
Lokomotiva are still fighting for a UEFA Europa League place and they’ve got the attacking quality to beat Rijeka on top of that. The home side are missing some players themselves, predominantly in defence, but they specialise in attacking and scoring goals, which is where this game should be won. Rijeka would usually be good enough to withstand Lokomotiva’s youngsters attacking them and to be able to capitalise on Lokomotiva’s defensive absentees. However, given the circumstances, it’s extremely hard for me to consider Rijeka as a genuine threat here. Lokomotiva need to win this game to pass Split and they’ve got the quality to make it happen. I have my reservations over them keeping a clean sheet in this game but they should be able to outscore their opponents with so much in their favour.
To me, the home win is worth taking at 4/5.
Verdict: Lokomotiva Zagreb to win at 4/5.
Additional games
Velez Sarsfield vs Colon de Santa Fe – home win at 4/5.
I can’t really fathom the odds on this one. I think it’s fair to say that Colon are smarter than Velez tactically but when it comes to quality and firepower, Velez are simply a lot better than they are.
Colon have excelled themselves this season, having recorded some heroic results and having frustrated the hell out of a number of Primera Division sides. Maybe they’ll do it again tonight; who knows? Football can be a very strange game at times. I doubt they’ll have much joy in this game, though. They’re starting to get “found out”, to begin with, as Colon don’t have much actual quality in their ranks. They’ve looked tired lately, not to mention bereft of ideas, and I think that they’re going to struggle against a flambuoyant Velez attack as a result, especially with key defender Alcoba suspended. Don’t forget how important defending is to Colon’s gameplan. They can’t win games without keeping a clean sheet, generally speaking. In fact, they’ve only won one game in the current campaign when they’ve conceded so that should tell you that they’re very one-dimensional and that defending is their saving grace.
With Alcoba out, though, I don’t rate Colon’s chances of getting a result here. Velez aren’t distracted by the Copa Libertadores now because they’re out and they’re the most free-scoring side in Argentinian football right now. The only reason that they’re not top of the table is because sides are playing more intelligently than Velez are. If it comes to sheer firepower, Velez are the best side in Argentina right now. There’s simply no way that Mauro Zarate should be back in Argentina at his age because he’s a truly terrific player. I understand that the Zarate family has a long-standing connection with Velez as Mauro and all of his three brothers have played here but he’s too good for this league and it shows. Placing him alongside Pratto whilst both are supported by Allione and Cabral – that’s just lethal. Allione is a doubt tonight but I think he’ll feature and even if not, Velez’s attacking style and numerous match-winners should really see them win this game.
Don’t be surprised if Velez make this game hard for themselves because they like to do that. However, when it comes down to it, Velez have more quality and more firepower so the home win should be in the bag at 4/5.
Verdict: Velez Sarsfield to win at 4/5.
Ekranas Panevezys vs Banga Gargzdai – home win at 9/10.
At the start of the season, I wouldn’t have taken this one. Ekranas were too impotent and Banga looked untouchable. Times have changed a little since then, though, and Ekranas are getting back to their best.
Ekranas still aren’t at the level of Zalgiris but they’ve rediscovered their goalscoring touch, which is imperative as their defence has been getting torn to pieces. The biggest news for Ekranas was that they’ve found a new hero in midfielder Elivelto, who either scores or makes pretty much all of their goals. This fella looks too good to be playing at A Lyga level (just look at his pass completion rate and his vision in games!) and he’s carrying Ekranas along with him. Ekranas aren’t a bad side anyway – they just dropped to being a mid-table side after so many pre-season sales. They look top four material if they can keep Elivelto fit, though. Under his stewardship, Ekranas have battered hopeless Dainava and beaten a good Granitas side over Ekranas’ last two games and they’ve only lost once since the start of the season. They’ve started winning games more regularly in recent weeks as the young Brazilian has shown what he’s capable of and are scoring goals for fun so you have to take them seriously today, even if they have abandoned their usually stable defence.
Banga’s defence has gone from “outstanding” to “ok” in recent weeks, though, which aids this tip massively. They’ve lost some of their confidence at the back and are now conceding goals regularly. This causes them a lot of problems because they have no “Plan B” if they can’t keep their opponents at bay. They got out of jail against newly-promoted Trakai because they had more experience than their hosts but I knew it’d cost them against a good Atlantas side mid-week and Banga duly lost 2-0 at home. Banga hate falling behind, you see – they have no way of getting back into games because they’re too cautious by nature and because they lack quality attacking players. Every time a good A Lyga side has scored against them this season, Banga have gone on to lose the game. They just can’t handle playing against sides that can score goals and although Ekranas aren’t that far ahead of them in the quality charts, Ekranas do have one hell of a match-winner and Banga don’t, which makes a massive difference in this game.
Banga are becoming demoralised and Ekranas are going from strength to strength so it’s only logical to take the home win at 9/10.
Verdict: Ekranas Panevezys to win at 9/10.
Atlantas Klaipeda vs Zalgiris Vilnius – under 2.5 goals at 23/20.
This one is decidedly risky because when you look at all of the A Lyga squads, these two have the most varied and dangerous attacks. Whether they show it or not is another matter entirely but on paper, they’re both capable of scoring goals a-plenty!
I doubt we’ll see that here, though, and I’ll explain why. Atlantas have grown in confidence in recent weeks but they still pale in comparison to the side of last year. They don’t play with that arrogance and that confidence that they rapidly became notorious for. They actually look rather nervous nowadays, in my view. They’ll occasionally show glimpses of how good they can be but then they get too nervous, go defensive, and try to hang on for dear life. Atlantas aren’t very good at that so they’ve not won nearly as many games as they should have done this season. It must piss their fans off because you can see how good they are by just checking out the goals that they scored in the recent Klaipeda derby. Atlantas are a good side but they’re not playing with that swagger and I don’t honestly know if they’re going to trust themselves enough to actually score a goal and hold onto it in this game.
Having said that, Atlantas look a lot more confident than Zalgiris do right now, which is interesting. Zalgiris are the reigning champions but they’re playing like they’ve barely seen a football before. You could be forgiven for expecting them to triumph at home against newly-promoted Trakai mid-week and when they scored a late goal to take the lead, you had to think that they’d hold it, right? After all, that’s what Zalgiris are notorious for in Lithuania; they score, and they hold it. However, Trakai fought back and equalised from a corner with a bullet header and it was no more than they deserved because Trakai played with spirit and belief. I really enjoy watching Trakai, as it goes, but that’s a story for another day. The point is that after that equaliser went in, it was backs to the wall – but not for the away side, amazingly enough. Little Trakai went on to take the game to Zalgiris (in Vilnius!) and very nearly scored a winner. I don’t know why but Zalgiris’ confidence has been shot to shit. They look uncomfortable in front of goal and bereft of creativity. They’re still the best side in Lithuania so I really don’t understand why they have the issues that they do but make no mistake here; they look like they’re struggling to me. They’ve failed to score in two out of their last four games (both games were against average or poor defences) and they’ve only beaten Suduva in their last four games, which they won thanks to Suduva’s early red card. This is not the Zalgiris side that I’ve grown accustomed to seeing and Atlantas are not a side to face when you’re not playing well.
Therefore, I anticipate a close game with few goals here. On paper, I believe there’s enough for the game to contain goals but in actuality, I don’t believe either side is playing well enough for there to be plenty of goals. It’ll be fascinating to observe but taking under 2.5 goals at 23/20 looks to be the value bet.
Verdict: Under 2.5 goals at 23/20.
Team news
Argentinian Primera Division:
Racing Club Avellaneda – Saveljich, Cahais, Renteria, Ortiz, and Alvarado are absent. Corvalan and Zuculini are doubts.
Rosario Central – Schulze, Encina, and Ledesma are absent. Abreu is a doubt.
Estudiantes de la Plata – Re and Rodriguez are absent. Martinez is a doubt.
San Lorenzo de Almagro – Cauteruccio, Veron, and Cetto are absent.
Newell’s Old Boys – Casco, Mateo, and Caceres are absent.
All Boys – Stefanatto is absent.
Atletico Rafaela – Rodales and Pusetto are absent.
Tigre – Penalba is absent. G.Diaz is a doubt.
Velez Sarsfield – Cubero, Correa, and Nanni are absent. Desabato, Ferreira, and Allione are doubts.
Colon de Santa Fe – Alcoba is absent.
Brazilian Serie A:
Internacional – Joao Afonso, Claudio Winck, and Maurides are absent. Line-up named as Dida, Gilberto, Paulao, Juan, Fabricio, Willians, Aranguiz, Alan Patrick, D’Alessandro, Alex, and Rafael Moura.
Atletico Paranaense – Willian Rocha, Drausio, and Ricardo Silva are absent.
Palmeiras – Thiago Martins, Eguren, Fernando Prass, Tiago Alves, and Bruno Cesar are absent. Valdivia return. Boss Kleina has been sacked.
Goias – Tiago Real, Welinton Junior, Valmir Lucas, Rychely, and Paulo Henrique are absent.
Botafogo – Cidinho, Lodeiro, Marcelo Mattos, Rodrigo Souto, and Carlos Alberto are absent.
Criciuma – Heitor, Giovanni, Joilson, Martinez, Paulo Baier, Rafael Donato, and Ricardinho are absent.
Croatian Prva Liga:
Istra 1961 – Filipovic, Jo, and Blagojevic are absent.
Dinamo Zagreb – Soudani, Antolic, Cop, Simunic, Addy, Taravel, Husejinovic, and Pamic are absent. Rotation expected.
Lokomotiva Zagreb – Brucic, Peric, Barbaric, and Sarlija are absent.
Rijeka – Zlomislic, Leovac, Knezevic, Maric, and Males are absent. Moises, Kvrzic, Kramaric, and Jugovic are doubts.
French Ligue 1:
AC Ajaccio – Cavalli, Zubar, Dielna, O.Sissoko, Tonucci, Oliech, Scribe, A.Camara, Nadeau, and Remiti are absent.
Stade de Reims – Placide, Turan, Ayite, Weber, M.Fofana, Ouali, Bastien, Glombard, and Ghisolfi are absent.
Girondins de Bordeaux – Brechet, Saivet, Bellion, Jussie, Olimpa, Poundje, Kaabouni, Prior, Badin, D’Almeida, Crivelli, and Djigla are absent. Maurice-Belay and Hoarau return.
Olympique de Marseille – Lemina, Abergel, Khalifa, Bracigliano, Osei, and N’Doumbou are absent. Mendes returns.
Evian Thonon Gaillard – Barbosa, de Melo, Ehret, Abarouai, Salamone, D.Fofana, M.Blanc, and Baouia are absent.
OGC Nice – Digard, Bosetti, M.Traore, Pentecote, Cvitanich, Bodmer, Veronese, M’Bow, Dao Castellana, Raheriharimanana, and Astier are absent.
Guingamp – M.Diallo, Guichard, Babiloni, Vivian, Lemaitre, Cerdan, Delalande are absent. Martins Pereira and Douniama return.
Toulouse – Chantome, Moubandje, Aguilar, Vena, Ahamada, Soukouna, K.Rodrigues, Blondel, and Sana are absent. Didot and Ben Basat return.
LOSC Lille – Jeanvier and Mouko are absent.
Paris Saint-Germain – Cavani, van der Wiel, Jallet, Diaw, Thiago Silva, and Maignan are absent.
Olympique Lyonnais – M.Lopes, G.Fofana, Bisevac, Tolisso, Gorgelin, Defourny, Frick, N’Gouma, Tsimba, Bahlouli, S.Kone, Ghezzal, Danic, Labidi, Benzia, and N’Jie are absent. Gourcuff and Kone return.
Lorient – S.Diallo, Baca, Jouffre, L.Kone, Sunu, Reale, Barthelme, Aboubakar, Quercia, Audard, Ecuele Manga, Lavenant, and Lavigne are absent.
Montpellier HSC – Bakar, Montano, J.Marveaux, Ligali, Saint-Ruf, T.Mezague, di Stefano, and Tinhan are absent.
Bastia – Cioni, Squillaci, Vincensini, A.Ba, Maoulida, and Krasic are absent. Diakite and Palmieri return.
Nantes – Djordjevic, Audel, Djilobodji, Zelazny, Trebel, Trabelsi, Oudhiri, Dubois, and Niane are absent. Schechter returns.
Saint-Etienne – Valette, Mignot, Tremoulinas, Guilavogui, Clerc, Mollo, and Saint-Maximim are absent. Cohade and Brandao return.
Stade Rennais – M’Bengue, Makoun, Pitroipa, Said, Si. Romero, Kana-Biyik, and Hunou are absent.
Sochaux – Butin, Lopy, P.D.Camara, Roussillon, Boumal, Eickmayer, Sauget, Peybernes, Malsa, K.Traore, Frau, and Cros are absent. Sinkala returns.
Valenciennes – Nguette, Dossevi, Bahebeck, M.Traore, Angoua, Charruau, Massmpu, and Ney are absent. Rose, da Silva, and Doumbia return.
AS Monaco – Subasic, Kondogbia, Toulalan, Rodriguez, Caillard, Chabbert, Barazite, Kurzawa, Falcao, and Fabinho are absent. Wolf and Maraval may debutise.
German Bundesliga:
Augsburg – Moravek and Ottl are absent.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen – No news.
Bayern Munich – Badstuber, Ribery, Thiago, Shaqiri are absent. Lahm and Gotze are doubts.
Bv09 Borussia Dortmund – Lewandowski is absent.
Borussia Moenchengladbach – No news.
Eintracht Braunschweig – Elabdellaoui and Schonborn are absent.
Eintracht Frankfurt – Ozer, Anderson, Barnetta, Flum, Kittel, and Rode are absent.
SC Freiburg – Mujdza and Mehmedi are absent.
Hamburger SV – Lam, Beister, Lasogga, Rajkovic, Sobiech, and Zoua are absent. Diekmeier and Jansen return.
Hannover 96 – Marcelo and Ya Konan are absent.
Hertha BSC Berlin – Lustenberger, Ronny, Cigerci, and Baumjohann are absent.
Hoffenheim – No absentees.
Mainz 05 – Nungert, Choupo-Moting, and Muller are absent.
Nurnberg – Chandler, Pinolla, Schafer, Ginczek, and Gebhart are absent.
Schalke 04 – No news.
VfB Stuttgart – Harnik, Schwaab, and Khedira are absent. Niedermeier is a doubt.
VfL Wolfsburg – No news.
Werder Bremen – No news.
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Hapoel Tel-Aviv – Gerzicich, Orlandic, Harush, Abutbul, Colin, and Ilic are absent. Haimovic and Gordana return.
Hapoel Be’er Sheva – Davidzada and Suissa are absent. Soares returns.
Bnei Sakhnin – Pass, Mughrabi, Abu-Salah, and Crusat are absent.
Maccabi Haifa – Abuhatzira, Meshumar, Edri, Vered, Abukarat, Ezra, Keinan, Golasa, Cohen, and Yadin are absent. Cocalic returns.
Hapoel Acre – Dayan, Spadacio, Oremos, Abu-Ria, and Ryan are absent. Experimental line-up expected.
Ironi Ramat Hasharon – Seif is absent. Shivhon returns.
Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv – Baruch, Dahan, Ivaskevicius, and Zeiri are absent. Rali returns.
MS Ashdod – Solari and Davidov are absent. El-Hamid, Belo, and Peti return.
Maccabi Petah Tikva – Kabha is absent.
Hapoel Haifa – Roash, Sardel, and Kale are absent.
Beitar Jerusalem – Capiloto, Haddad, Tunies, and Villa are absent.
Hapoel Ra’anana – Tamir Cohen, Taha, Kasonda, Binyamin, and Nimni are absent.
Italian Serie A:
Lazio – Ederson, Konko, Radu, Postiga, Marchetti, Lulic, Alfaro, and Kakuta are absent.
Internazionale – Juan Jesus, Cambiasso, and Mariga are absent.
Hellas Verona – Donati, Iturbe, and Albertazzi are absent. Martinho and Romulo are doubts.
Udinese – Muriel is absent. Basta, Badu, Maicousel, Heurtaux, and Benussi are absent.
Portuguese Liga Sagres:
Porto – Mangala, Fernando, and Ghilas are absent. Quaresma, Alex Sandro, and Josue return.
SL Benfica – No specific news but it’s expected that lots of youngsters will play and Rodrigo, Luisao, Gaitan, Siqueira, Lima, Oblak, and Garay will not feature.
Pacos de Ferreira – Tony, Rui Miguel, and Rafael are absent. Buval, Boaventura, and Rodrigo Antonio return.
Academica de Coimbra – Valente and Monteiro are absent.
Vitoria Setubal – Terroso and Cohene are absent.
Olhanense – Diakhite and Santana are absent.
Vitoria Guimaraes – Crivellano, Correia, and Amorim are absent. Bernard and Alex return.
Sporting Braga – No news.
Belenenses – Afonso is absent.
Arouca – No news.
Romanian Liga:
Sageata Navodari – S.Pana, Vezan, and Panagopoulos are absent.
Concordia Chiajna – Melinte is absent.
Gaz Metan Medias – Zaharia and D.Roman are absent.
Dinamo Bucharest – Durimel and Grecu are absent.
Russian Premier League:
Ural Sverdlovskaya Oblast – Gorbantec, Novikov, and Fidler are absent.
Kuban Krasnodar’ – Ignatiev, Kariukin, Hubulov, Tilsov, Balde, and Bugaev are absent.
Krylya Sovetov Samara – Knudson is absent.
Rubin Kazan’ – Azmun and Burlak are absent.
Spartak Moscow – Dikan and Glushakov are absent.
Amkar Perm’ – Zanev, Belorukov, Rebko, and Jakubko are absent.
Terek Grozny – Kudryashov, Gorodov, and Varken are absent.
Volga Nizhnyi Novgorod – Bulykin, Sarkisov, Bordiian, and Buyvolov are absent.
Spanish Primera Liga:
Villarreal CF – Dorado, Pablo Iniguez, Tomas Pina, and Perbet are absent.
Rayo Vallecano de Madrid – Nery Castillo, Jose Carlos, Jonathan Viera, and Ze Castro are absent.
Levante – No absentees.
Valencia CF – Oriol Romeu, Guaita, Mathieu are absent.
Turkish Super Lig:
Genclerbirligi – Kose, Ileri, and Calikan are absent.
Antalyaspor – Arikan, Senturk, Dagasan, Enoh, Sedef, and Insa are absent.