Aston Villa v Sheffield United
Championship – 7.45pm
Sky Sports
The Championship action this weekend kicks off with a bang and the first feature of our best bets of the day is Aston Villa v Sheffield United. The Villains have drawn four of their last six league outings now and seven of their last twelve. On Friday at Villa Park they will be looking for three points to move up on the top seven. They are starting four points outside of the play off places.
Villa have only lost two league games since the start of last November, so haven’t been in bad form. It’s those drawn games which has been holding them back. Villa have also suffered at the hands of the Blades this season, losing 4-1 at Bramall Lane in September. Actually Villa have lost all three games played against the current top three this season. So they have fallen a bit short there, but they are such a free-scoring side they can trouble anyone.
Villa go as 9/5 underdogs on home soil though with the leading bookies here. The Blades have been in terrific form with five wins in their last seven. The big incentive for them is that they could go back to the top of the table with three points from this game and they are 8/5 to get the victory. Each of Sheffield United’s last four wins in the league have been with a clean sheet. But with a chance to go top, even temporarily until Saturday, a win of any nature will do for Chris Wilder’s men.
Mainz v Bayer Leverkusen
Bundesliga – 7.30 pm
BT Sport
It never seems to matter what Bundesliga game I tune into, there is always a fantastic atmosphere happening. It’s a big feature of the league so we’ll take a peek at this one from the Opel Arena for our next feature of best bets of the day. There’s some good Friday night action here with Mainz looking to improve on some decent form. They are W3 D3 L2 in their last eight games in the German top flight, winning two of their last three. They will be defending an unbeaten run of three matches on home soil as well in the fixture. Mainz may be starting down in eleventh but are actually only four points off sixth-place, the European entry zone for next term.
Bayer Leverkusen have been backed as 10/11 odds-on favourites at leading bookmakers for this one. That is because they have shown a pretty hot hand of form lately with wins in five of their last seven. That’s a healthy return but they have only won the four games on their travels this season. That’s perhaps the things which may cast a little shadow of doubt on the short price. Leverkusen have won their last two on the road, scoring in each of their last four top flight away games. Leverkusen are looking for the league double over Mainz this season having taken a 1-0 home win over them earlier this term.
Wigan v Leeds
Super League – 7.45 pm
Sky Sports
It is the second round of Super League action and both Wigan and Leeds will be looking for their respective first wins of this season. Wigan, last season’s Grand Final winners, stepped out against their old rivals St Helens in the season opener. The Warriors went down heavily 22-12 against the Merseysiders. That wasn’t the start that they would have wanted. But it is back to the DW Stadium for them where they will be keen to make home advantage count. Wigan took a 9-8 away win and then a 46-8 home win over the Rhinos last season.
Leeds went down heavily against Warrington last weekend, losing 26-6 against last year’s Grand Final runners-up. After such a terrible 2018 campaign, in which they started as defending champions but failed to make the Super 8’s, the Rhinos would have been hoping to have put a bit of early cheer on the board. But they couldn’t. Not even close. It was a top opponent that they were facing and it be will interesting to see how they handle another, in the form of Wigan this weekend. Giving the hiding that they took last weekend, the leading bookmakers have placed Leeds as 13/5 underdogs against the odds-on strong favouritism of 3/10 of the Warriors.
