Eng. Championship
2012-08-25 - Middlesbrough vs Crystal Palace
A Sports Betting Pick by Lamps
Football : England : Championship
Saturday 25th August - Kickoff 3:00pm
Middlesbrough
Boro have started the season with a win and a defeat in their 2 games played this season. Mowbray's side current sit in 12th place and a win at home to Palace on Saturday will put them right into the top half of the table.
Boro started the season with a shock 1-0 defeat at relegation candidates Barnsley. The visitors on the day were very poor and had to rely on keeper Steele to save them on several occasions throughout the game. Whilst not playing well at all, Boro did threaten the Barnsley goal with 12 shots, unfortunately they conceded a worrying 16 from Barnsley.
Thankfully whatever Mowbray said inbetween games worked as Boro scored 3 world class goals to defeat Burnley at the Riverside. With new signing McEachran in the lineup Boro dominated the game despite going a goal behind. They had 10 shots at goal and had 60% of the ball, the only negative is that despite controlling the game 2 goals were still conceded.
Crystal Palace
Freedman's Palace have made an awful start with 2 losses from 2 and they sit bottom of the pile because of their -4 goal difference. Saturday's visit to Boro will not be an easy one and a point would be a decent result for the South Londoners.
The home game to Watford looked a decent game on paper to register a win but despite leading twice, Palace lost the game with the last kick of the game. A few worrying things to come from the game are that the home side had just 4 shots at goal as well as the manager's post game comments. Freedman was saying some players need time and his side isn't settled at the moment which can only inspire other sides playing Palace.
Up next at Bristol City, Palace were dominated in a poor 4-1 loss. The home side were 2 up inside 10 minutes and then coasted to victory as Palace struggled throughout the game. All is not well at Selhurst Park at the minute and this looks a tough game to change all that.
Palace always struggle away from home and I envisage a similar tale this season. 2 years ago, Palace had the worst away record in the league and last year they were ranked 18th with just 6 wins from 23 games. The only bonus is that in this game last year they were able to hold Boro in a 0-0 draw with a repeat performance very much needed this time around.
Betting Verdict
Boro are favourites for this one and they look well set up to win. Boro have some real gems in their lineup with Bailey, Woodgate and McEachran whilst Palace rely too heavily on Zaha.
The Palace away form and manager comments worry me a little and I think if Boro play solidly they have this in the bag. Another worry for the visitors is that Captain McCarthy may miss the game and he's a big player for Palace.
With Palace conceding already 7 goals in 2 games I just think it's too soon to expect them to just tighten up at the back. A strange stat of there's not being more than one goal between the teams in the last 10 league meetings predicts that this one will be a close affair.
However, the lineups and stats say Boro win this and because I respect that last stat I wont take the home side to win by more than 1. I will stick to the fixed market and hope to see Boro coast to victory.
Good Luck
The Pick :
Middlesbrough 2-1 Crystal Palace
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Middlesbrough to win at 1.80
