TFT Issue 259!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Viktoria Plzen vs Bohemians 1905 – home win with -1.5 handicap at 4/5.
Today’s featured game is the Gambrinus Liga game between reigning champions Viktoria Plzen and battling Bohemians 1905.
Plzen lost 2-1 at Pribram in their last game. After a tiring 0-1 win in Belarus against BATE Borisov, I suppose it wasn’t unexpected, especially as Pribram love to attack. However, they’re back on home turf, refreshed and raring to go and I think they’ll deliver here. They know Jablonec host Sparta Prague tomorrow and a win for the hosts could see Plzen finally begin to make up ground on runaway league leaders Sparta Prague. Five wins from eight home games and the fact that only Sparta Prague have won here should tell you how good the hosts are and if you needed further proof then simply consider that they’ve bagged an average of nearly three goals per home game. If this Plzen side turns it on at home then there’s only one side in this division that can match them and that isn’t today’s opponents!
Visitors Bohemians 1905 are a side that I have a lot of respect for but only in ther right context. What you have to understand about this side’s vastly contradictory statistics is that they’re very much the atypical home side. They’ve got some of the best fans in the league and playing them away from home is a trip that no side in the Czech Republic likes to make. They play physical football with vigour on a small pitch and it’s not easy to play against whatsoever. However, take them away from home and all of the advantages that turn them into a decent side from a shit side are then gone, which is why their away form is so horrendous. This side cannot score goals away from home and they just ship goals so, so easily! Five losses in seven away games and an average of two goals conceded per away game gives you an idea of what we’re looking at here. They’re in horrendous form too, which helps – they’ve not won in six games and they’ve lost four out of their last five, scoring in just one of those five games whilst conceding twelve goals along the way. What’s worse for the visitors is that they’re missing a whole host of essential players and this squad is very small – they have no depth! The experience of Zitka at the back is absent, as are fellow defender Nikl and Ruzicka. Essential attacking midfielder Bartek sits this one out too, which basically denies Bohemians 1905 the whole core to their team.
Look, guys – if it wasn’t a friday then I’d go really heavily into this one. However, I loathe fridays as stupid results frequent such days. However, I really, really like this one today. The hosts are a few classes above the handicapped visitors. Bohemians 1905 make a habit of shipping at least two goals per away game and they’ve already been destroyed 5-0 by Jablonec this season and Plzen can match that scoreline today. I’ve got a scoreline of 4-1 in my head but my main bet is definitely Plzen to beat the -1.5 handicap at 4/5. However, I am also quite keen on a cheeky bet on Viktoria Plzen to score over 3.5 goals at 10/3.
Verdict: Viktoria Plzen to beat the -1.5 handicap at 4/5.
Team news
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Germinal Beerschot – Stijnen, Angeli, and Dayan are absent.
Racing Genk – Hubert and Simaeys are absent.
Cypriot Division 1:
APOEL Nicosia – Almeida is absent.
Anagennisi Deryneia – Tofas, Giannakou, and Gonzalez are absent. Kotsonis and Kolokoudias are doubts.
Czech Republic Gambrinus Liga:
Viktoria Plzen – Pilar is a doubt.
Bohemians 1905 – Nikl, Zizka, Kaufman, Bartek, and Ruzicka are absent.
French Ligue 1:
Stade Malherbe de Caen – Leca is absent. Heurtaux and Proment return.
OIympique de Marseille – Remy and Morel are absent.
Italian Serie A:
Genoa – Antonelli and Palacio are absent. Bovo and Birsa are doubts.
AC Milan – Gattuso, Flamini, Cassano, Nesta, and Van Bommel are absent. Abbiati is a doubt.
Polish Ekstraklasa:
GKS Belchatow – Bocian and Bozok are absent.
Ruch Chorzow – Grodzicki (captain) is absent.
Lechia Gdansk – Machaj, Sazankov, and Malkowski are absent. Dawidowski, Deleu, and Lukjanovs are doubts.
Polonia Warsaw – Bonin, Mynar, and Przybecki are absent. Rumours are that Polonia’s crazy owner Wojciechowski wants to buy today’s opponents – maybe a backlash from the hosts with that in mind.