Football betting analyst Mark O’Haire returns to share a couple of his favourite fancies across the globe with a focus on Ligue 1 and the Scottish Premiership.
Lens missed out on the opportunity to go top of Ligue 1 following a shock loss at struggling Metz in midweek. Riding the wave of three consecutive victories, Les Sang et Or took the match to their rock-bottom opposition in the opening exchanges with Odsonne Edouard twice fluffing his lines when well-placed, misses that Lens were later made to rue.
With the match meandering towards a goalless draw, the hosts won a late penalty and subsequently added a second to inflict a third Ligue 1 loss on Pierre Sage’s side, a result that saw Lens drop from second to sixth ahead of the weekend action. However, a return to their atmospheric Stade Bollaert-Delelis on Sunday should invoke a response from Les Sang et Or.
Many expected the club to undergo a period of transition following another summer of high-profile sales. Lens lost the likes of Facundo Medina, Neil El-Aynaoui, and Andy Diouf with club president Jospeh Oughourlian implementing a more austere regime – the funds were not there to go big in the transfer window to replace those big-name departures.
Yet Sage’s overseen an eye-catching revival and repurposing of the squad and Wednesday night’s reverse should be considered a mere blip for a team that’s already taken down Marseille and Lille in front of their own supporters, posting four straight home victories since MD1, scoring 10 goals across those four fixtures.
A repeat therefore appeals when Lorient (W2-D3-L5) arrive. The visitors picked up a deserved point at home to PSG in midweek, though Les Merlus have tended to toil on their travels since sealing promotion back to the top-flight. Olivier Pantaloni’s troops have suffered four defeats in five away days, scoring just once and shipping 10 goals.
With that in-mind, the 1.87 available on Lens to win and Under 4.5 Goals stands-out on Sunday. We’ll be paid should the home side win by a 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 2-1 or 3-1 scoreline and only two of the duos combined 20 Ligue 1 showdowns this season have featured five goals or more, whilst nine of Lens’ dates have delivered a maximum of three strikes.
Falkirk suffered a heavy 4-0 reverse at Celtic on Wednesday night, though the newly-promoted outfit have made a positive impression on their return to the Scottish Premiership, posting W3-D3-L4. The Bairns have an excellent opportunity to bounce-back this weekend when they welcome Kilmarnock to Stirlingshire on Saturday.
The midweek match was only the second occasion this season that Falkirk have failed to find the back of the net. The newcomers have managed a solitary shutout in those 10 tussles with seven seeing both sides score and eight covering the Over 2.5 Goals line – that’s the angle of attack I’m taking here with a reasonable 1.80 on offer for a repeat.
Falkirk’s fixtures are avergaing 3.10 goals per-game and in front of their own supporters, the hosts have seen Over 2.5 Goals and BTTS bank in four of five outings. Those figures should come under threat when facing a Kilmarnock outfit that don’t travel well away from Rugby Park, returning W4-D5-L14 in league action since the beginning of last term.
Crucially for our selection, Killie have conceded in 21 of those 23 road trips, whilst grabbing a goal themselves in 15/23 0 that’s lead to 14 (61%) winning Over 2.5 Goals selections, including three of their four games as guests in 2025/26. The visitors have notched 2+ goals in 3/4 away days thus far, whilst also shipping multiple strikes in 3/4 on their travels.
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