France v Wales
Six Nations Rugby – 8.00 pm
BBC
The opening fixture of the RBS Six Nations 2019 features France hosting Wales on Friday night and what a place to start for the best bets of the day! This is an important opener for both of them because there is nothing like getting a good bit of early momentum going in a campaign. France are still badly searching for that ‘missing something’ from their game, having struggled with inconsistencies and quality for the past several years. It feels like a long time ago that I was watching a France team put together a strong Six Nations title challenge.
But they were a little bit more consistent last season in the Championships. France did only win two games in the campaign but they pushed eventual Grand Slam champions Ireland close in Paris, losing by just two points. They collected a bonus point in a defeat at Murrayfield against Scotland, and of course, beat England. Last season’s campaign ended with a one-point defeat for the French in Wales.
Wales have won six of their last seven games against France and so should really be having nothing to fear in this one. The Dragons collected three wins in their RBS Six Nations 2017 campaign, but they were home victories over Scotland, Italy and the French. I can only see this being another excitingly close game between the two nations, and the leading bookmakers have France as the narrow favourites at 20/21 odds. But then Les Bleus have struggled recently to get a grip on the Welsh running game. More likely than not the visitors are going to be well in this game and can’t totally be written off as even money underdogs.
Hannover v Leipzig
Bundesliga – 7.30 pm
BT Sport
There is good action from the German top-flight look forward to on Friday night. In it, Hannover will continue to strive for a way to get away from their looming relegation issues. They start the game second from bottom in the Bundesliga, and they are out of form as well having lost their last three fixtures. They have only taken the two wins all season, but a positive is that those victories were on home soil. However, they have lost each of their last four home games in the Bundesliga without scoring. Hannover are big 9/2 underdogs to pull off three points in this game with the top bookmakers.
What makes this fixture interesting for me is the way that Hannover handled themselves on their trip to Leipzig earlier this season. They gave a really good account of themselves going down in a 3-2 reverse. Leipzig are sat in fourth place heading into the weekend of action. However, their push for a place in Europe next season is basically coming down to their home form. They have won just three times on their travels this season. The most recent one was a 4-0 victory at Düsseldorf in their last road game. Home and away combined they have alternated between a defeat and a win in their last eight league fixtures. Certainly, inconsistencies are there. Leipzig are the 8/15 odds-on favourites to get the victory in this game but could be in for a tricky night away from home.
Preston v Derby
Championship – 7.45 pm
Sky Sports
Friday night’s Championship action comes from Deepdale as Preston play host to the promotion-chasing Derby. It has been far from a great season from Preston who are simply floating around in the bottom half of the second tier. But there has been a bit of cheer for them lately. They snapped a five-match winless streak with back-to-back wins over Stoke and QPR. Despite their lowly league standing, they have actually done well at Deepdale. Preston have lost just one of their last nine league outings there. Will they be able to frustrate points out of Derby? It is Preston actually who are the 6/5 favourites at top bookmakers for this game.
That is largely because of their good form at Deepdale, and the fact that Derby have lost two of their last three away games. But that has to be put into context because those away defeats were at two of the current top three in the league. Derby have lost four away games this season against sides currently 15th or lower. However, they have shown time and time again away from home this season, that they can grind out results. Five of their six away wins have been by a one-goal margin only. The Rams are a general 11/5 to get the way win under their belt.
Mensur Suljovic v Simon Whitlock
Darts Masters – 8.15
ITV
Friday is a busy night of darts action as the first round of the 2019 Masters get underway. One of the best looking matches of the night features Mensur Suljovic taking on Simon Whitlock. It is Austria’s Suljovic who heads into the match as the 4/9 odds-on favourite. However the head-to-head between him and Australia’s Whitlock is pretty close. They have met 14 times before throughout their careers with Suljovic edging that 8-6.
This should be a really gripping contest and the two of them. They met five times during the 2018 calendar year. Again from that smaller head-to-head section, things were tight with Suljovic taking a 3-2 lead. It does perhaps make the 7/4 odds with the leading bookmakers on Whitlock a little inflated. Either way, whatever the outcome of the Masters dual, it would not be a huge surprise to see it go the distance.
