Leeds v West Brom
Championship – 7.45 pm
Sky Sports
This is a game of huge importance in the Championship promotion race from Elland Road. Leeds are starting the game in third place in the league, just the two points off the leaders Norwich. So automatic promotion is still well within their grasp. In this Friday night fixture, they are taking on West Brom who are one place beneath them. Because the Baggies are four points adrift of Leeds, then a home win for the Whites would give them a fantastic cushion inside the top three.
So that is what Leeds will be striving for. They had an upset last time out though as they suffered a defeat against the struggling QPR away from home. That was a big blow because a win there would have left them sitting top of the pile. Anyway, they have to deal with what is in front of them. Leeds have won three of their last four games at Elland Road, part of a good overall W11 D3 L3 home record this season there in the Championship. They have been solid in defence with just 15 goals conceded in those 17 games.
Leeds are favourites but at a general odds-against price of 5/4 with leading bookmakers. West Brom needs to show up and land a result to keep themselves in the hunt for automatic promotion. They too suffered a setback in their last game as they lost a top-four clash against Sheffield United at home. But they have got away form going, do West Brom. They are on a four-match winning streak away from the Hawthorns and have won eight of their last nine on their travels. They are 12/5 underdogs for this Friday night clash, but that away form fully suggests that they are going to give as good as they get. This is the real highlight of the Friday best bets of the day preview. It really could swing either way.
Augsburg v Borussia Dortmund
Bundesliga – 7.30 pm
BT Sport
Well then, momentum has so much to do with how seasons can turn out. Borussia Dortmund just got a bit of wind back last time out with a victory over Bayer Leverkusen. It was a tight 3-2 success as well. But regardless of how the game was won, it snapped a three-match sequence of drawn games that they were on in the top flight. Last weekend’s result leaves them as they were, three points ahead of Bayern Munich in the title challenge. They have to head out on the road on Friday night to try and get some bigger winning momentum going and they are 4/6 odds-on to win outright.
Augsburg are going through a tough grind at the moment. They have lost six of their last seven Bundesliga games, the only bright moment in that run being a home win over Mainz. This is a side who have only won twice at home this season. They have lost three of their last four on home turf. But what makes this a great-looking game is that they threw down a great challenge to Bayern Munich in their last home fixture. Twice they took the lead in that game but still ended up losing 3-2. But it hinted that they could give BVB a tricky game on Friday and the over/under market could be very interesting.
Leeds v Wakefield
Super League Rugby – 7.45 pm
Sky Sports
Leeds Rhinos once again are having a tough season with just the one win in and three defeats on the board so far. It hasn’t been the great recovery that they will have wanted to throw down this season. Two years ago they were Super League champions, now they are fighting to regain some status. But this will be their season opener at Headingley after having played their first four games of the new season on the road because of construction.
So that is something that should give them a lift. There hasn’t been much consistency from their performances this season at all, having lost against Warrington, St Helens and Wigan. To be fair that was a really tough opening run of fixtures. Wakefield though haven’t been setting the league alight either with a W1 D2 record from just three played. Their lone success came against the Catalans Dragons, arguably their best performance of the season. Wakefield Trinity will show up at Headingley as big underdogs with Leeds holding 4/9 favouritism in the match outright. But it’s not a bad time to be catching the Rhinos at the moment as they have been far from their best.
