As the football league is coming ever closer to the busy festive period fans are growing in excitement and will be hoping for plenty of goals. This article is looking at the betting on the ‘Both teams to score’ coupon in the football league and I will be picking out five games that catch my eye.
1) Middlesborough vs Derby County – 8/11
First of all we go to the Lunchtime game live on sky and what a game it promises to be! Two teams who have impressed this season and have lived up to the hype that was built up in pre season. Both sides have exciting players going forward with the likes of Bamford and Vossen for Boro and Chris Martin and co for the Rams, this game screams goals. The Teeside club are coming into this game on the back of battering Millwall 5-1 away last week and you have to fancy them to score at home (Boro have only failed to score twice at the Riverside this season) whereas Derby got back into their groove with a comfortable 3-0 win at Pride Park against struggling Brighton, although Derby failed to score in their last away game against Leeds it was only their second time they have failed to score away from home all season in this league campaign. Hopefully this game will live up to the billing and produces a goalfest.
2) Brentford vs Blackburn Rovers – 6/10
In 8 out last 9 away games Blackburn have scored, and its not surprising to see why when they have the likes of Rudy Gestede, Jordan Rhodes and Ben Marshall in their ranks. Brentford have only lost one home game all season showing that they enjoy scoring at Griffin Park, Mark Warburton’s men have being particularly impressive in recent home games, beating the likes of Derby and Wolves and playing some exceptional football, their ball retention has particularly impressed me this season and the Championship November player of the month Andre Gray is such a threat with his pace to get in behind and prowess in front of goal. I would’nt put any one off having him as an anytime scorer at a nice 7/5. The stats point in the direction of goals galore for this encounter.
3) Chesterfield vs Bradford City – 8/11
The main reason I have picked this fixture out is because of the away form of Bradford this season, especially in their last few trips on the road. The Bantams have seen BTTS land in their last five away games in all competitions, if you pair this up with their inability to keep a clean sheet (Conceded in their last 10 games in all competitions) then this looks more than likely to land, and I think the 8/11 is generous.
4) Mansfield vs Cheltenham – 8/11
Since Paul Murray took charge of the Stags they have been more fruitful on the goals for column than earlier on in the season. On loan striker Rakish Bingham has done relatively well so far and scored in the recent game at Cambridge in the FA Cup, he could be one to look at as an external bet (7/4 to score anytime) as well as the physical presence of Vaidane Oliver and Matt Rhead I fully expect Mansfield to score against a leaky Cheltenham side who have conced 10 goals in their last three league games, however they did get on the scoresheet in all three so it proves the can get goals on the board.
5) Cambridge United vs Shrewsbury Town
These two sides are in the top three in league 2 for goals scored this season, any football league fan will be looking at this game with an expectation for goals to flow. A player I really like for Cambridge is Kwesi Appiah and he could go on to bigger things in the future, especially if he keeps up his red hot form. Whenever Appiah is playing I expect Cambridge to score and he has the chance to further his reputation against a very good Shrewsbury outfit. James Collins has scored in 4 out of their last 5 away games for the Shrews and will fancy his chances against United.
If you were to place these five games on an accumulator it would offer nice odds of 13.84/1 with William Hill.
£5 on this 5-fold returns just shy of £75 which I think is a great return for these selected games.
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