Norwich v Swansea
Championship – 7.45 pm
Sky Sports
Championship leaders Norwich have the chance to open up a five-point lead at the top of the table on Friday night. The Canaries are 7/10 favourites with leading bookmakers to get the victory. They have been in some pretty strong form it is worth noting. Norwich have won five of their last six league games and three of their last four on home soil as well (D1).
For a team that are averaging over two goals per home game this season, of course the Canaries are likely to be a tremendous threat in this one. They have suffered just the four home defeats in seventeen games this season and three of those were against current top-seven sides. Friday’s opponents Swansea are down in the bottom half of the table.
Are Swansea likely to turn up and nullify the big threat that the Canaries carry in attack? It’s going to be a tough job for them, but Swansea have been fairly decent in defence away from home. They have only conceded an average of slightly over a goal per away game in the Championship. They don’t exactly carry away winning form though. The Swans have lost each of their last three on their travels. But they are not a side who gets blown out of the water, so can they churn out a big defensive effort to avoid defeat at the very least?
Juventus v Udinese
Serie A – 7.30 pm
Premier Sports
The Old Lady completed the league double for the season over Napoli last weekend. Napoli are the closest challengers to Juventus in the title race. How close, well sixteen points now separate the top two, which is just ridiculous. Juventus could switch off for the rest of the season and just coast to the finish line. But they aren’t going to do that of course and they are strong odds-on favourites to win on Friday night against Udinese.
Juventus remain undefeated for the league campaign with a W23 D3 record. Was this really a new challenge for Cristiano Ronaldo? It’s all been a bit of a stroll in the park for him really since his timely move away from Real Madrid. He has five goals in his last four home games for Juventus. Not bad going. Where do you look for betting options in games like this where the home side is such a strong favourite? It has be on markets like Both Teams To Score or To Win To Nil.
For example, Udinese haven’t scored in any of their last five away games in the Italian top flight. Juventus to win to nil sees an 11/10 option with leading bookmakers, whereas Juve are 4/11 in the match outright. It’s weighing up options like that. Are Udinese likely to cause an upset? With a W1 D4 L6 record away from home this season, and just eight goals scored in those games, probably not. The value may be on them not scoring and it’s alternative markets which can often lead to the best bets of the day.
Werder Breme v Schalke
Bundesliga – 7.45 pm
BT Sport
Action from the Bundesliga on Friday night features Werder Bremen playing host to Schalke. Bremen are sat in the middle of the table and they are doing pretty well lately actually. They are unbeaten in their last seven played. They have drawn a total of five of their last six league outings though. Each of their last three games have all ended in a 1-1 scoreline.
So it will be interesting to see the outcome here. Will they break out of their drawing habit? Will they have enough to stop the visitors? The leading bookmakers have Werder Bremen as even money favourites on home soil. Schalke are only the four places beneath them though. However, Schalke have been going through a tough sequence of results having lost four of their last five, picking up just the one point.
But it is another one of those games where it may not be all about the actual outcome for betting. 7 of Schalke’s last 9 league games, for example, have all ended over 2.5 goals. So that is a market that may be worth exploring as an alternative to the match outright. Schalke have only won twice away from home this season in the Bundesliga. Both were against sides currently in the bottom half of the table. Werder Bremen are right there on the line, sitting top of the bottom half of the Bundesliga.
