Today’s featured game is the Serie B encounter between Ancona and Piacenza. Having just managed to stay in Serie B last year, Ancona have set about making their home ground a fortress once more in an attempt to prolong their life in Serie B yet again. Only four Serie B sides won more home games than Ancona last year and two of those sides were promoted to Serie A! Ancona have also been working on winning away from home, which was their Achilles heel last season. This season, however, they’ve won two away games already, which is impressive when you consider that they only won three away games in the entirety of last season. Nobody lost more away games than Ancona last season so it was more than apparent that they needed to address it instantaneously – and they have. In this campaign, Ancona have actually been one of the more impressive sides thus far, winning six games in ten. They’re unbeaten in their last four games and have won three of those games too. Ancona are one of just two sides in Serie B that have won every home game so far this season, along with Empoli. Ancona average over two goals per game and have conceded just once at home all season. To put it bluntly; Ancona have looked very good this year, almost a changed side from last year. Visitors Piacenza are having a torrid campaign thus far, however. They’ve won just two games from the ten they’ve competed in so far and have lost four in their last three games. Piacenza are without a win in their past five games now so morale is low and they’re severely lacking in momentum. Although Piacenza’s away form isn’t amongst the worst in the league (played five, won one, drawn two, lost two), their recent form suggests that they’re going to play right into in-form Ancona’s hands, particularly as Piacenza are finding goals hard to come by themselves. To be frank, the odds of 5/6 on this game are something of a gift so I had to delve further and assitain just why those odds were available. The only reasoning I’ve managed to locate is that Ancona didn’t manage to score against or even take a point off Piacenza last season. Whereas it’s worth taking note of that statistic, I still feel everything points to a home win tonight so 5/6 on the home win is my undisputed pick of the day!

Tuesday’s Picks

My tips:

As ever, below are my recommended value tips for today in no particular order:

Ancona vs Piacenza – home win at 5/6 – see introduction for full details.

Barnsley vs Manchester United - lay Manchester United at 17/10.  I don’t like betting against my side but this game is competed in the shitty Carling Cup, a trophy that isn’t widely sought after by…well, anyone, really! Manchester United will undoubtedly be fielding their impressive youngsters and a few first-team players needing match fitness i.e. Fletcher, Brown. Manchester United’s kids are very talented, there’s no doubt about that. However, this is a rather large test for them for various reasons. This trip is to Yorkshire on an Autumn night with the hosts boasting tenacious and rejuvenated football under former Manchester United striker Mark Robins. Robins has guided Barnsley to five vicories in all competitions since taking over in September, an impressive amount considering the prediacment the club were in when he took over. Within that list of victories lies wins against Burnley in this competition and West Bromwich Albion in the Championship, two very impressive results indeed. Barnsley are a very resilient side, as indeed are most Yorkshire outfits, and this game will not be easy for Manchester United’s youngsters. Barnsley have a history of being a hard side to play against as Chelsea can testify after they exited the FA Cup against Barnsley last season, a game which like tonight’s game was also played at Oakwell. Barnsley also won at Anfield 2-1 in the same competition and were only prevented from reaching the FA Cup final by a plucky Cardiff City. Suffice to say that Barnsley enjoy their cup games! Mark Robins will have a point to prove against his former club, as all former Manchester United players do, such is their desire to win trophies. I’m expecting a close and low-scoring game and although it could go either way, I think a draw is on the cards so laying Manchester United at 17/10 could prove to be good value tonight.

Strasbourg vs Tours – home win at evens. Now unbeaten in four games, Strasbourg are finally beginning to get their season back on track. They’ve only one won of those four games but their general performances are getting better too. I’d argue the case that there’s not many other sides in Ligue 2 that are better to play against at home than Tours at the moment given that they’ve not won in four games and are generally poor travellers, something that has been proven over the past few years rather convincingly. Tours haven’t won any of their five away games yet this season, to further my point, and generally struggle to score goals away from home. Strasbourg boast a better side; it’s simply a matter of time as to when they start winning games consistently. For me, that time could be tonight against a Tours side that are unable to do anything but draw and lose currently. Although I expect a close game, there could well be some good value in the home win at evens.

Empoli vs Triestina – home win at 3/4. Unbeaten in four games now, Empoli are looking very promising ahead of this game with Triestina, particularly as Empoli have won five out of five home games so far this season. Empoli average scoring three goals per game at home and generally tend to blow any opponents away when playing at home. Although Triestina are unbeaten in their last two games, the fact remains that they’ve lost three from five away games and have only managed to score two goals away from home all season. If you’re poor at goalscoring and you’re going away to play against a side that have virtually mastered the art of goalscoring then you have to feel that a home win is looking very likely indeed. Empoli won this game 4-0 last season and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that scoreline again, to be honest. Not only is 3/4 great odds on the home win but it may also be worth taking a -1.75 handicap in light of the above information.

Lecce vs Reggina - home win at 5/4. Although having started life in Serie B somewhat slowly, Lecce have since won four from their last five games. They’ve won three from five home games and although they’re not scoring goals in a free-flowing manner, they’re still looking ruthlessly efficient in their bid to regain their Serie A status. Although both of these two sides were in Serie A last season, only Lecce are looking likely to be back in it next season. Indeed, given Reggina’s current problems, it looks more likely that they’ll be in Serie C rather than Serie A if they indeed do leave Serie B. Reggina have lost three consecutive games now, which takes their tally of defeats to five from ten games. They’ve won just two games out of those ten and are looking woeful in front of goal with just seven goals scored along the way. Although there’s not an awful lot of quality difference between these two sides, home advantage and momentum should be key here so I expect Lecce to win this game at surprising odds of 5/4.

Lastly, I don’t often recommend combinations because generally it’s up to yourselves to generate your own luck. However, I do really like the look of a 4-team Serie B accumulator of home wins containing Empoli, Ancona, Lecce, and Brescia at impressive odds of 11/1 – give it some thought!

As ever, any questions/explanations required, feel free to email me at thefootytipster@gmail.com. For the complete picks listing, see below!

Baltic League:

Levadia Tallinn vs FK Taurus Taurage (7) 2-1
Ekranas Panevezys vs FK Jurmala (8) 3-1
Flora Tallinn vs FK Siauliai (5) 1-1

Argentinian Primera Division:

Newell’s Old Boys vs Racing Club Avellaneda (8) 2-0
Atletico Tucuman vs Velez Sarsfeld (6) 0-1

English League One:

Bristol Rovers vs Leeds United (7)

English League Cup:

Barnsley vs Manchester United (4) 1-1
Sunderland vs Aston Villa (6) 0-0
Portsmouth vs Stoke City (5) 1-2
Blackburn Rovers vs Peterborough United (6) 1-1
Tottenham Hotspur vs Everton (7) 2-0

French Ligue 2:

AC Ajaccio vs Nimes (6)
Angers SCO vs Brest (5)
Arles vs Dijon FCO (6)
Chateauroux vs Metz (8)
Clermont Foot vs Istres (7)
Sedan-Ardennes vs Bastia (7)
Stade Malherbe de Caen vs Vannes OC (9)
Nantes vs Laval (8)
Strasbourg vs Tours (6)

Italian Serie B:

Ancona vs Piacenza (8)
Brescia vs Gallipoli (8)
Empoli vs Triestina (8)
Lecce vs Reggina (7)

Portuguese Liga Sagres:

Vitoria Guimaraes vs Sporting Clube de Lisboa (7) under 2.5 goals

Singaporean S-League:

Balestier Khalsa vs Gombak United (7) 1-2
Tampines Rovers vs Albirex Niigate (8) 2-0

Swedish Allsvenskan:

IFK Goteborg vs Halmstads (9) 2-0
Kalmar vs Malmo (6) 2-1

Uruguayan Primera Division:

Cerro Largo vs Racing Club Montevideo (5) 1-1
Danubio vs Atenas (8) 2-0
Tacuarembo vs Defensor Sporting (6) 1-2
Penarol vs Rampla Juniors (8) 2-1

Enjoy your free betting tips!