Today’s featured game is the Ekstraklasa clash between Ruch Chorzow and Lechia Gdansk. I might have avoided this game had the horrific weather that hit south Poland a few days ago not moved on elsewhere – those were a joke! Did any of you watch Poland vs Slovakia? The game looked just like how I’d imagine a game in Greenland would look – lots of snow falling and virtually zero visibility of the ball. Anyway, with Poland’s disappointing and unfortunate defeat in the past, we now look at Ruch Chorzow’s chances of beating Lechia Gdansk, which I think are pretty high. Ruch Chorzow are now the only remaining side in the Ekstraklasa that has won all of their home games. Even more impressively, however, is the fact that they’ve done it without conceding a goal! I’ve yet to make up my mind whether this form of theirs is tempremental or if they’re actually pushing for a European place next year but regardless of that, Ruch Chorzow have the wind in their sails at the moment and look a force for just about any opponent in the Ekstraklasa. Visitors Lechia Gdansk have made an unprecedented good start to this campaign with limited resources in all areas of the field. However, they’ve suffered two defeats in their last four games and look to be struggling to maintain their good form, which is unfortunately something that has been expected by most people. Aside from encountering what is currently the best home side in the league, Lechia Gdansk enter this game without Captain Karol Piatek, midfielders Maciej Rogalski and Piotr Kasperkiewicz, defenders Jakub Kawa, Siergiejis Kozans, Arkadiusz Mysona, and striker Ivans Lukjanovs. To say that the already-stretched visitors are short on numbers is an understatement and their lack of their Captain could do them a lot of damage on the field. With the only definite absence for Ruch Chorzow being Martin Fabusz, the hosts have yet another advantage over Lechia Gdansk today. To put it bluntly, I’m expecting something of a comfortable home win today so odds of 3/4 are something of a gift. I’d even consider the -1.75 handicap for this game given the news above.

Friday’s Picks

My tips:

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

Ruch Chorzow vs Lechia Gdansk – home win at 3/4 – see introduction for full details.

Hartberg vs SCR Altach – away win at 3/4. Something funny is going on in Austria today with what looks to me like five away wins in the Liga 1! I’ll eat my hat if they all manage it but I can’t make a case for any of the home sides, I’m afraid! However, this one is one of my favourites because I rate SCR Altach as the best side in the division. After enduring some patchy form, SCR Altach have won three consecutive games and take their excellent momentum into this game with the additional bonus of knowing that they’re the better side out of these two. Three wins, one draw, and one defeat from their five away games this season says that they mean business and the tag of being the highest scoring side in the division is one that they are proud to bear. SCR Altach average over two goals per game and look a force for any side in this division currently. Hosts Hartberg enter the game with good momentum too, having won two consecutive games. Unimpressively, however, they have lost three of their five home games so far this season and are one of the highest conceding sides in the division currently. On paper, they’re not a match for SCR Altach and I think the above points to an away win so 3/4 looks good odds to me.

Salzburg II vs Wacker Innsbruck – away win at evens. Like most II teams that are in the division below their parent team, Salzburg II are struggling. They simply don’t have the quality to consistently challenge any side in the division and will be fortunate to avoid relegation this year, in my opinion. That said, Salzburg II are surprisingly one of the top goalscorers in the division – their downside is that only three sides have conceded more goals than they have. Salzburg II have lost three of their six home games and only won twice. Visitors Wacker Innsbruck aren’t always the most reliable of sides but three away wins from five games says they’ve got enough in the tank to do the job and three consecutive wins says they have the momentum to enforce it. For me, the away win looks good value at evens.

Liege vs Mons – away win at 10/11. Poor starters Liege enter this game with some momentum after claiming their first win of the campaign away to rapidly descending Brussels. Whereas this will have no doubt boosted them, you do have to bear in mind that they are where they are in the Tweede Klasse because they’ve lost six out of eight games i.e. they’re not really good enough to be in this division. Mons haven’t exactly set the division alight since relegation from the Eerste Klasse but they have been difficult to play against as is indicated by the fact that they’ve only lost two of the nine games they’ve played thus far. Mons’ problem so far has been drawing more games than they’re winning, which does concern me a little ahead of this game but not excessively. A win last game will give Mons the boost they need to overcome a much weaker Liege today so the away win at 10/11 looks inviting.

Deportivo Pasto vs Atletico Huila – home win at 5/6. Both of these sides have made very good starts to their respective campaigns. As with most Colombian sides, however, they’re both home sides. Deportivo Pasto are one of the best home sides in the league with five wins and one draw from six home games. They average nearly three goals per game at home and generally look very dangerous against most opponents. Visitors Atletico Huila boast a similar record but are slightly better away from home, hence them being a point ahead of Deportivo Pasto in the league. There’s really not very much between these two sides in terms of quality but the hosts do have the advantage of being at home, which counts for an awful lot in Colombia, as statistics have always indicated. For me, there could be value in the home win at 5/6 today.

Inter Zapresic vs Zadar – home win at 11/10. This is a very dubious call ineded when you consider that Inter Zapresic have now lost five consecutive games. However, all runs must end sometime and I think there’s a decent chance of that today. Zadar have played better than Inter Zapresic so far this season but they have one giant flaw; they’re very poor goalscorers, particularly on the road. In fact, in their four away games this season, they’ve lost three, drawn once and scored just one goal. Make no mistake, these two sides are as bad as each other. Whereas Inter Zapresic’s form of one win, one draw and three defeats at home this season far from inspires such a call, I am comforted by the fact that they’ve won this fixture for three seasons out of the last four, drawing the other.

Ilisiakos Zografou vs Kerkyra – away win at 7/5. Although having never been a convincing away side, Kerkyra’s form so far this season leads me to believe that this particular fact could change, even if only temporarily. Three wins and one draw from their opening four games says that they’re keen to atone for last season’s failure to reach the Super League. Averaging two goals per game currently, Kerkyra look their usual potent selves and will be hard to topple this season. Hosts Ilisiakos Zografou were as much a threat last season as Kerkyra were but how times change in the blink of an eye! The hosts are currently second bottom of the Ethniki B with two points from four games. Their goalscoring is a massive problem with just two goals scored in four games. Against an in-form Kerkyra, this could prove to be extremely harmful to the hosts so I think taking the away win at 7/5 holds some value today, particularly as the visitors have won this exact fixture for three seasons running without even conceding a goal…

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

Argentinian Primera Division:

San Lorenzo de Almagro vs Rosario Central (8) 2-1
Lanus vs Velez Sarsfeld (8) 1-1

Australian A-League:

Adelaide United vs Sydney FC (5) 1-2

Austrian Liga 1:

Austria Vienna II vs Austria Lustenau (7)
Hartberg vs SCR Altach (7)
Salzburg II vs Wacker Innsbruck (7)
First Vienna vs Gratkorn (6)
Dornbirn vs St.Polten (6)

Belgian Tweede Klasse:

Liege vs Mons (7)

Bulgarian A PFG:

Sliven vs Chernomorets Burgas (8) 1-3

Colombian Futbol Profesional:

Deportivo Pasto vs Atletico Huila (8) 2-1

Croatian Prva Liga:

Inter Zapresic vs Zadar (5) under 2.5 goals

Ecuadorian Primera A:

Liga de Quito vs Manta (8) 3-1

English League Two:

Cheltenham Town vs Macclesfield Town (6)

French Ligue 2:

AC Ajaccio vs Brest (7)
Angers SCO vs Istres (7)
Arles vs Bastia (6)
Chateauroux vs Nimes (7)
Guingamp vs Dijon FCO (5)
Sedan-Ardennes vs Tours (6) draw no bet
Clermont Foot vs Stade Malherbe de Caen (6)
Le Havre vs Laval (8)
Strasbourg vs Vannes OC (5)

German Bundesliga 2:

Arminia Bielefeld vs Alemannia Aachen (8)
Rot-Weiss Oberhausen vs St.Pauli (6)
Energie Cottbus vs Kaiserslautern (7)

Greek B Ethniki:

Ilisiakos Zografou vs Kerkyra (7)

Hungarian Soproni Liga:

Vasas Budapest vs Debreceni VSC (8) 1-2
Ferencvaros vs Gyori ETO FC (5) 1-1

Irish Premier League:

Cork City vs Bohemians (6) 1-2
St Patrick’s Athletic vs Bray Wanderers (7) 2-0
Galway United vs Derry City (5) 1-1
Dundalk vs Sligo Rovers (6) 1-1

Italian Serie B:

Lecce vs Salernitana (8)

Dutch Eerste Divisie:

Go Ahead Eagles vs Cambuur Leeuwarden (6)
AGOVV Appeldoorn vs FC Eindhoven (7)
Veendam vs De Graafschap (6) draw no bet
Excelsior vs Zwolle (5)
Omniworld vs RBC Roosendaal (6)
Top Oss vs Haarlem (6)
Fortuna Sittard vs Dordrecht ’90 (5)
MVV Maastricht vs Helmond Sport (5) draw no bet
Stormvogels Telstar vs FC Den Bosch (5)

Polish Ekstraklasa:

GKS Belchatow vs Slask Wroclaw (6) 0-0
Ruch Chorzow vs Lechia Gdansk (8) 2-0

Romanian Liga:

Unirea Alba Iulia vs International (5) 1-1
Unirea Urziceni vs Vaslui (8) 1-0

Singaporean S-League:

Sengkang Punggol vs Armed Forces (9) over 2.5 goals

Welsh Premier League:

Aberystwyth Town vs Newtown (6) 1-0
Carmarthen Town vs Port Talbot Town (6) 1-1
Prestatyn Town vs Connah’s Quay Nomads (7) 2-1

Enjoy your free betting tips!