ENGLISH LEAGUE ONE BETTING PICK - PRESTON NE V TRANMERE ROVERS

English League One

2013-04-20 - Preston NE vs Tranmere Rovers

A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter

PRESTON NE v TRANMERE ROVERS
Football – England – League One
Saturday 20th April 2013 – Kickoff: 1500hrs

PRESTON NE

Preston North End take on a dispirited Tranmere Rovers outfit in their last home match of the season at Deepdale on Saturday afternoon as they look to finish the stronger out of the two teams on show here today.

Ironically, Preston have been struggling in the bottom half of the division for most of the season, but they’ve clicked into gear at the right time to avoid any nasty last-minute relegation concerns with recent wins over Scunthorpe United 3-0 and Oldham Athletic 2-0 in two ‘six-pointers’ along with taking points off Leyton Orient and Carlisle United which helped them to escape being drawn into a relegation dog-fight.

Preston’s home form has been the main catalyst behind their survival and they’ve put together a six match unbeaten run at Deepdale going into this match winning four of them (all to nil); Bournemouth 2-0, Stevenage 2-0, Scunthorpe 3-0 and Oldham 2-0 and they’ve also kept five clean sheets from their last six. Preston’s home record stands at 7-9-6 30/22 and I’m sure they’ll be keen to add to the wins tally against a Tranmere side low on confidence...

TRANMERE ROVERS

Onto the visitors then, and earlier in the season it was all looking rosy at Prenton Park with Tranmere Rovers sitting pretty on top of League One, seemingly heading in the right direction for promotion back up to the Championship having lost just four matches in total heading into the Christmas period.

However, after the New Year, the wheels well and truly came off as they slipped off the top to one of the play-off places and then dropping out of the top six altogether. They now sit in 10th place five points behind sixth placed Swindon Town and needing quite a few teams above them to slip up in their last two matches which, to be frank, just aint gonna happen.

Since New Years Day, Tranmere have won just five league matches and to be now sat outside of the play-off pack having lost their last four matches all to nil (v Sheffield United, Portsmouth, Doncaster Rovers and second from bottom Hartlepool United), they look a deflated unit and shadows of their former selves. For the record, Tranmere’s away record stands at 9-4-9 27/26.

THE BETTING VERDICT:

As mentioned previously, Preston have the momentum going into this match (a positive one) while Tranmere have a negative one going into this match, so I can only see one winner here this afternoon. Preston could take it 2-1 but I advise the handicap just in case.

The Pick :