Goal Rush Weekend

A 2-3 weekend but all five games saw at least two goals which at least gives us further reassurance that our system and analysis is picking good games to participate in. Thankfully the rest of Europe is waking up after its Winter slumber so the amount of games we have to pick from will only increase week on week. I'm wary of diving in too deep on leagues that are just returning so we will stick to the tried and trusted this weekend!

Stats to date are:

Over 0.5 goals 93-1
Over 1.5 goals 83-11
Over 2.5 goals 59-35
Over 3.5 goals 34-60
Yes on BTTS 56-38
Home wins 47 Draws 14 Away wins 33

Three games this weekend, all in different countries and all at different times allowing you Acca lovers to get the best market odds rolling up each game rather than placing a single Acca with just one provider. Well that's fingers crossed for an early cash in Belgium......!


Crewe v Rochdale @ 4/5 English League One, 3pm Kick Off UK Time
Lowly Crewe host just below mid table Rochdale in a game that the Railwaymen will believe they have an excellent chance of gaining a home win in. The stats and trends do seem to be against them achieving that victory though as they are 3-7-3 when taking on fellow bottom half placed sides. Those thirteen games have seen a total of forty one goals and they lost both games between the sides last season. Not only did they lose them, they were spanked in them! 5-2 in this game in Crewe and 4-0 in the return game at Spotland but Dale have only kept one clean sheet in their last nine league games so this match is primed for goals.  Crewe know that we are getting to the stage of the season where draws do not help their plight much and an early goal in this game should ensure this is an end to end affair.


Zulte Waregem v Charleroi @ 17/20 Belgian Pro League, 745pm Kick Off UK Time
Over 2.5 goals is a season long 18-6 overall in Zulte games but they did fail to score when the sides met in Charleroi back in early October. Fear not though as Charleroi netted three times to ensure the over 2.5 goal bet cashed in that game as it has in the four straight and in five of the last seven league meetings of the teams. Yes on BTTS is 7-1 in the last eight Zulte league games and for a side well placed in the league their current run of just two clean sheets in eighteen games is hardly impressive. Mid table Charleroi have scored in twelve of their last thirteen games and with the memory of those three goals in their first meeting I see no reason why they won't score here. I really like this bet in a league that is a reliable provider of goals, currently averaging 2.83 goals per game and I see this game only driving that average up!


Sporting Gijon v Deportivo La Coruna @ 6/5 Spanish La Liga, 905pm Kick Off UK Time
Hopefully we are 2-0 by about 64 minutes of that Belgian game so you can roll your winnings onto this odds against shot! La Liga matches average 2.69 goals per game but I think we can all agree that those stats are perhaps artificially inflated by the influence of Barcelona and Real Madrid. For those at the bottom of the table, without a Messi or Ronaldo, finding the back of the net is not always the easiest of tasks. However, those games are where we can sometimes find the value and no more so than here. Gijon won the first meeting of the teams this season 3-2 in an exciting high scoring game in the famous Riazor. Historically there have been goals when these teams met and although I accept that we are going back to between October 2008 and May 2011 often trends continue over many years. During that time each game saw either Yes on BTTS (5-1) or over 2.5 goals (4-2) so with Yes and over cashing back in September of this season that only strengthened that run. Gijon have conceded more than once in seven of their last ten matches and Deportivo have scored in eighteen of their last twenty one matches. At a price of odds against this looks a very decent risk/reward bet to take as a Saturday nightcap before we settle down to watch Match Of The Day.


There we have it, another Goal Rush Saturday in the book. Enjoy the EPL games, listen to the podcast with myself and the legend himself @petenordsted which can be listened to here  http://bit.ly/1S1Qide

I shall be back on Sunday morning with my extra special Super Bowl column with my thoughts and a couple of crazy bet thoughts for what is always a great nights entertainment.

All the best
Jimmy