Football betting analyst Mark O’Haire returns to share a couple of his favourite fancies across the globe with a focus on Serie A and the final Premier League Matchday this weekend.
Napoli boss Antonio Conte has urged his players to ‘go and get the Scudetto’ ahead of Friday night’s finale. The Partenopei lead the Serie A standings by a solitary point over Inter and are now just one victory away from securing their second title in three years.
The Naples outfit were held 0-0 at Parma last weekend, hitting the woodwork twice and seeing a stoppage-time penalty overturned by VAR, with Conte’s charges now dropping points in back-to-back matches. However, the table-toppers should be well capable of sealing top honours when Cagliari arrive at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
Cagliari are safe from Serie A relegation following their impressive win over fellow strugglers Venezia last weekend, a result that’s propelled the islanders up to 14th. The Sardinians have been rock-solid against their fellow basement battlers, yet tended to fall short against elite opposition, posting W1-D8-L16 when meeting teams above them in the table this term.
Having suffered eight losses in 11 trips to the top-12, scoring only five goals in the process, the visitors should make for obliging guests with little left to play for and so Napoli are well-favoured here. We can back the home side to win alongside Under 3.5 Goals at 2.16 – an attractive boost on the price of Napoli on the nose, trading at sub 1.20.
A tasty 20 of Napoli’s 23 league victories this season have arrived alongside Under 3.5 Goals, including all bar one at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium. Overall, just six of the Partenopei’s Serie A dates delivered fewer than four goals, whilst Conte’s troops have tabled 11 triumphs in 13 when welcoming clubs in seventh and below to Campania.
The race to qualify for the Champions League promises plenty on the final day of the Premier League season as Nottingham Forest and Chelsea meet in what could be considered an all-or-nothing encounter. The Reds would still require Newcastle or Aston Villa to slip up in the battle for the top-five, though the Tricky Trees will still be aiming for top honours.
Considering the circumstances, a card-heavy contest could be in the offing. Anthony Taylor isn’t the most eye-catching of refereeing appointments when chasing a flurry of bookings, though the experienced arbiter has shown he’s capable of producing punishment when required, delivering Over 4.5 Cards in 10 of his 30 EPL fixtures already this season.
A repeat should go close at the City Ground. Forest’s top-flight fixtures are averaging 5.14 cards with 69% of those overall outings producing at least five cautions, whilst Chelsea’s away days have seen a huge 5.83 cards on average with 67% of road trips hitting the 5+ card mark. The Blues have been booked at least twice in 89% of those 18 away games.
Over 4.5 Cards is a little too short to support as a single, yet we can back it at a much more palatable 1.83 by including Under 4.5 Goals to the equation. Just 10 of the duos combined 74 EPL showdowns have seen five goals or more, only two of which arrived at the City Ground.
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