English League One
2012-08-25 - Notts County vs Walsall
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football – England – League One
Saturday 25th August 2012 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Notts County take on Walsall at Meadow Lane on Saturday afternoon with the hosts looking to maintain their 100% winning start to the new League One season.
Notts County
The Magpies beat Hartlepool United 2-0 in midweek with goals from Frank Zoko and Neal Bishop to give manager Keith Curle a second win in four days having previously beaten Crewe Alexandra 2-1 away from home on the opening day of the season. New signing Zoko has hit 2 goals in 2 games and has a reliable goal-getter partner in Lee Hughes up front.
With Alan Sheehan and Jeff Hughes delivering from wide and attacking midfielder Alan Judge who is able to score and provide in equal measure, they have a strong attacking set up, particularly now with the introduction of Andre Boucaud who recently signed from Luton Town.
In the last four meetings between these two sides, Notts County have come out on top with three wins and a draw, with County winning home and away last season 2-1 and 1-0 respectively.
Walsall
Visitors Walsall will need to re-build again after numerous comings and goings in the transfer market during the summer; seven first team players departed most notably Kevan Hurst, Matthew Sadler, Darryl Westlake, Emanuele Ledesma and Alex Nicholls while the notable inductees were James Chambers, ex-Swansea City forward Fabian Brandy and Dean Holden.
Manager Dean Smith has been given the directive from up above to offer one-year contracts only, so the pressure is on to start performing almost immediately, otherwise more wholesale changes are likely to follow at the Bescot Stadium.
Only two games have been played but The Saddlers find themselves second from bottom with just one point thanks to a 0-3 reverse first match of the season at home to Doncaster Rovers, but they did fight for a point at Paul Dickov’s Oldham Athletic in midweek drawing 1-1.
I sense that goals are likely to be hard to come by for Walsall this season unless William Grigg has an outstanding campaign and receives back-up from the younger ex-Premiership signings like Paul Downing and Ashley Hemmings.
The Betting Verdict :
This looks on paper like it should be another comfortable home win for The Magpies who with early momentum behind them and a quality squad should be too strong for a nervous Walsall.
It looks like another season around the bottom quarter of League One for Walsall while the hosts today are gunning for automatic promotion this term and this is a match that Notts County have to put to bed if they are serious contenders; I’ll go for a 2-1 home win for Notts County in this one.
The Pick :
Notts County 2-1 Walsall
BEST BETTING TIP :
Main Pick:Take Notts County to win @ 1.78
Value Pick :
Consider a bet on Lee Hughes to score anytime @ 2.20 at bet365
