West Brom v Birmingham
Championship – 8.00 pm
Sky Sports
A Midlands derby seems like a good place to start for the best bets of the day. This should be very interesting at the Hawthorns too. West Brom are on a push for promotion, and they have rolled their sleeves up in their last two matches to record back to back wins. That’s been a big boost after they only took one point from their previous three. They are shaping up well for a top four finish now.
Three points against Birmingham would help that even further and they are 5/6 odds-on favourite with leading bookmakers to earn them. The Baggies though have only managed one win in their last seven at the Hawthorns. They are at W8 D7 L4 for the season there now. With them having scored over two goals per home game on average, that record perhaps should have been higher.
But their defence has made just three home clean sheets all season. So will that allow Birmingham to get some crucial points on the board? A month ago they were pushing towards the play-off places. However, a tank in form (having lost their last four straight), combined with a 9-point deduction for breach of Financial Fair Play has left them just five points above the drop zone. Things like that can destroy morale or it can be something to rally around for better things. Which will it be for Birmingham who are 15/4 underdogs on Friday?
Hoffenheim v Bayer Leverkusen
Bundesliga – 7.30 pm
BT Sport
Leverkusen’s push for a top six finish continues on Friday night as they make the trip to Hoffenheim. Leverkusen have won six of their last eight league games so should show up and be a threat in this one. They have actually only won six times on the road this season. The fact that half of them have been earned in their last four away games shows where they are currently at. They have also tallied up an average of two goals per game this season on their travels. Their current away form combined with 7/4 odds for the match win will offer appeal to punters.
They did, however, take a hammering on home soil when they met Hoffenheim back at the start of November. It was a 4-1 win that Hoffenheim produced on the day over them. Die Kraichgau have been a tough side to beat this season. They have only lost two games since the middle of October last year in the Bundesliga. Their winning form isn’t hot though with only three in their last fifteen. They have drawn 10 of their last 15 matches. Hoffenheim’s home record is W5 D5 L3 and they are 13/10 favourites with leading bookies to win this fixture. Doing so would pull them to within one point of Friday’s opponents.
Sale v Connacht
European Challenge Cup Rugby – 7.45 pm
BT Sport
The knockout bracket in the European Challenge Cup starts on Friday night with this fixture at the AJ Bell Stadium, with Sale Sharks hosting Irish side Connacht. What makes this matchup interesting is that the two of them were together in the Pool Stage of the competition. There they both recorded 22 points from their six games. Sale topped the group in the head to head though.
Sale only actually posted a W4 L2 record in their six games, which wasn’t as good of a record as Connacht’s W5 L1. But Sale picked up a bonus point in each of their games which was the difference maker in the final standings. So what happened between the two in the Pool Stage? The first meeting was at the AJ Bell stadium with Sale taking a 34-14 win, only letting the visitors over for the one try in the fixture.
The Irish side did get the better of things back on home soil though, posting a narrow 20-18 victory over the Sharks. Sale are the 4/11 odds-on favourites to win this one. But given that they lost at home in the Pool Stage to Bordeaux while Connacht did win their other two away games, suggests that it could be a really close duel. As a nod towards that, the top bookmakers have a +7 handicap on Connacht to defend at 10/11.
