Football betting analyst Mark O’Haire returns to share a couple of his favourite fancies across the globe with a focus on MLS and Sweden this weekend.
The Matchbook Football Podcast returns to preview:
– Man Utd vs Liverpool
– Newcastle vs Tottenham
– Arsenal vs Brighton
– West Ham vs Man City @MarkOHaire | @adrianjclarke | @DanielHussey2Live on YouTube tomorrow at 12pm:https://t.co/k5XGsakM2q 🎥 pic.twitter.com/ckVdTr6mPe
— Matchbook Betting Exchange (@TeamMatchbook) August 28, 2024
Major League Soccer returned from its mid-season break with a bang last weekend – 38 goals were plundered across the 11 matches with Portland involved in another extraordinarily high-scoring shootout. The Timbers played out a memorable 4-4 draw with St Louis City, enhancing the entertainment factor further at Providence Park this season.
Incredibly, Portland’s 13 fixtures in front of their home supporters have seen an enormous 4.31 goals per-game with 12 of those tussles breaking the Over 2.5 Goals barrier and nine covering the Over 3.5 Goals mark. A tasty 11 of those showdowns have delivered successful Both Teams To Score selections with the Timbers striking twice or more on 11 occasions.
Across all venues, Phil Neville’s outfit have provided profit in the Over 2.5 Goals and BTTS market in 19 (73%) of 26 games, and so I’m more than happy to support a repeat at 1.80 quotes when Seattle arrive in the early hours of Sunday. The Sounders have fired a solitary blank in 13, notching multiple goals in seven of their most recent nine outings.
The visitors have landed the Over 2.5 Goals bounty in nine (69%) of their 13 away days, with the same hit-rate occurring for Both Teams To Score hunters – Seattle have only twice managed to keep their sheets clean on their travels with last week’s trip to Minnesota seeing our proposed play pay-out before the half-time whistle.
Newly-promoted GAIS are enjoying a memorable first season back in the Allsvenskan. The Gothenburg club begin the weekend just four points off third and potential European qualification, thanks largely due to their excellent record at their Gamla Ullevi base (W7-D1-L2). The Mackerels have scored at least twice in all seven of their home victories.
This weekend GAIS welcome rock-bottom Kalmar to Gamla Ullevi. The strugglers have picked up a solitary point from their past five fixtures, conceding multiple goals in each. What’s more, Kalmar have been beaten in seven of 10 away days, leaked twice or more in seven of 10 road trips, giving up an average of 2.30 goals per-game on their travels.
Kalmar have lost the Expected Goals (xG) battle in eight of 10 games as guests, returning a rotten -0.90 xG per-game across those 10 tussles. Exclude penalties and GAIS are delivering a much more impressive +0.49 xG per-game when hosting Allsvenskan opposition in 2024, suggesting the 2.00 available on GAIS to win and Over 1.5 Goals is well worth a look.
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