Eng. Championship
2006-03-13 - Stoke City vs Crystal Palace
A Sports Betting Pick by Michu
Difficult game to bet on in The Championship on monday evening. Lets see if we can find some value.Stoke CITY
They look safe in the middle of the table. Stoke played much better in last two games losing 2-1 to Norwich and getting good 0-0 draw at Molineux against Wolves. Still home record 6-4-8 with goals 20-25 is far from being impressive. Last four home games ended as follows:
Stoke - Hull 0:3
Stoke - Preston 0:0
Stoke - Plymouth 0:0
Stoke - Millwall 2:1
2 goals scored and 4 lost in 4 games, hmm... They have no major injuries so they should play with their best 11.
Crystal Palace
Still fighting for play-off place but in my opinion they dont deserve to play in Premiership. Their away record is good 6-5-6 with goals 23-22. But last four away games:
Southampton v Palace 0:0
Preston v Palace 2:0
Sheffield W v Palace 0:0
Millwall v Palace 1:1
They scored one goal in 4 away fixtures! Even tough they played against weak sides like Millwall and SW, thats significant. They expect to have Freedman, Watson and Reich back for that fixture but I dont think it will help them to win.
Previous results
Reverse fixture back in september ended with 2:0 Palace victory. The two sides also met in 2003/04 0:1 for Palace and 2002/03 1:1.
The Verdict
Stoke performed well in last few games. Unfortunately for them they were against much stronger opponnents and they didnt get to much from them.
Crystal Palace is probably better team but their recent form and obvious difficulties with scoring away goals makes me think that Stoke has a chance to get something from this game.
Probably only a draw but maybe 1-0 victory?
BEST BETTING TIP :
I expect a low scoring affair and under 2.5 goals @ 1.80 @ Bet365 looks good to me - medium bet.The Draw is a distinct possibility and i will go for it @ 3.25 @ PaddyPower with small bet
