West Brom v Aston Villa
Championship – 8.00 pm
Sky Sports
A Midlands derby is a pretty good way to warm up a December night. We have one coming on Friday as Aston Villa make the trip to the Hawthorns to face West Brom. It should a fascinating showdown between the two rivals as well. They have drawn three of the last four meetings at the Hawthorns. The Baggies have been in the potential-promotion picture all season long and they are current top scorers in the Championship. After a little slump of one point in four games, Darren Moore’s men have hit back superbly. WBA have a W3 D1 record in their last four games. West Brom are 6/5 to take the home win with Villa at 21/10 in what could well be a high-scoring, high-stakes thriller. There’s going to be no love lost and no quarter given.
I couldn’t pass up this one for the Bets of the Day because of the scoring power of them both. That just adds an extra dimension to this Second City derby. Aston Villa never looked like being anywhere near a promotion push earlier this season. They won just four of their opening fifteen league fixtures. But the change of manager, in having brought in Dean Smith back in October is now starting to pay dividends. The Villains are W4 D1 in their last five games and their goalscoring has gone through the roof. They have netted 17 goals in their last five games and it leaves only the Baggies having scored more than they have done this season in the Championship. It’s a game which appeals for the over/under goals market.
Edinburgh v Newcastle
European Champions Cup Rugby – 7.45 pm
BT Sport
European Champions Cup rugby returns this weekend. This is the halfway stage of proceedings in the group stage. Action from Pool 5 will be in focus on Friday night as section leaders Newcastle try and strengthen their position at the top when they take on Edinburgh. The Newcastle Falcons have beaten both Montpellier and Toulon so far, but without having added any bonus points. They are holding a two-point advantage over their Scottish counterparts so this is a huge game for both of them.
Edinburgh lost their opener against Montpellier but collected a bonus point in the game. They then ran up a massive 40-14 win over Toulon in their second game. There was another bonus point for them too in that match and they are odds-on favourites to win this one on home soil. With not much to choose between them, the handicap holds a narrow line at +6 for Newcastle at even money. This should be a fascinating clash between two sides both flourishing in a rejuvenated mode. The chance at the top spot in the Pool is the prize. It’s not bad considering they were both expected to play second-fiddle to the French group participants.
Monaco v Nice
Ligue 1 – 7.45 pm
BT Sport
This is a game which really caught my eye from the French top flight. Monaco has started to see an upturn in fortunes having won two of their last three games. That is one more win than they managed in their previous thirteen league games. So that’s the positive that Thierry Henry’s men are going to take from that. After having had a horrible season from a defensive perspective, it is perhaps even more remarkable that those two wins have both been with a clean sheet as well. So there’s another positive which suggests that they are heading in the right direction. Namely away from relegation threats.
Monaco starts the weekend out of the drop zone on goal difference only. The negative is that all three of their league wins this season have been away from home. They have only scored four goals in their last five league games (Radamel Falcao with three of those four). They are home in the Principality on Friday night as they face Nice. Nice are on a six-match unbeaten streak of form at the moment. They haven’t conceded a single goal in that fantastic run of form. So that really raises the question as to whether or not Monaco are going to pass the extraordinarily tough test of breaking down the defence of their opponents.
Will punters see more value in backing the road team at 2/1 odds or lean towards the odds-against quote of 11/8 on Monaco to get their first home win of the term? It should be an intriguing battle.
