Today’s featured game is the Primera Division match between Argentinos Juniors and River Plate. In-form Argentinos Juniors have won three of their last five games, losing just once. They’re unbeaten in five home games so far this season, winning three times and drawing twice. Only four sides this season have conceded less goals than Argentinos Juniors, although nobody in the division has conceded less goals at home than Argentinos Juniors, although a couple of sides can match them. With the visitors in such atrocious form at the moment, Argentinos Juniors couldn’t be better placed to spring a shock here. River Plate claimed a 1-1 draw at home to bitter rivals Boca Juniors last match but that merely prolongs their extensive run of winless games. River Plate haven’t won at Argentinos Juniors since 2001, which is worthwhile to note as the hosts have won three out of their five meetings in that time. Considering that River Plate are playing in such a poor fashion lately, it seems unlikely that this particular record is likely to change. River Plate have played five away games this season, losing four times, drawing once and managed to score just twice. There’s a reason that doesn’t sound like the older River Plate and that’s because it’s not them at all. I can’t really fathom why the bookies are still giving good odds on sides to beat a disjointed River Plate side with no chance of escaping their current issues but I’m prepared to flog it until it comes to a halt! For me, the home win at 11/10 shows unbelievable value at the current time due to the above information.

Thursday’s Picks

My tips:

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

Argentinos Juniors vs River Plate – home win at 11/10 – see introduction for full details.

Zaglebie Lubin vs Polonia Bytom – away win at 8/5. Polonia Bytom have started their Ekstraklasa campaign a lot better than most people anticipated, including myself. Not only have they won four out of six home games but they’ve also only lost two away games out of five. For me, that’s more impressive than their home wins because it’s very difficult to be an organised and efficient side on the road but Polonia Bytom are doing it well, winning twice already. You have to really fancy them to further their rather impressive away record here today too as they take on bottom-placed Zaglebie Lubin. The hosts are one of only two Ekstraklasa sides yet to win a home game, losing three of the five games they’ve played, amassing just two goals in those five games, thus indicating the main problem that they have. They also concede nearly two goals per game on average, which spells disaster when they can barely manage to score a goal. Zaglebie Lubin have been playing better lately than they did at the start of the campaign but still find themselves without a win in their last five games, drawing three times and losing twice. However, to throw yet another spanner in the works, their manager Smuda is being tipped as Poland’s next national team boss, which is likely to happen, to be honest. This has caused mass disruption in an already tentative Zaglebie Lubin camp. If you add that to the fact that they’re struggling to stay in this division already and add the missing players due to poor performances – Stasiak, Kocot, and Kedziora – and also Pawlowski due to long-term injury then you have to feel that the away win at 8/5 bears significant value today. There’s no doubt Polonia Bytom are the better side and have a great chance to maintain their excellent start to the season here today.

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:

Boca Juniors vs Chacarita Juniors (8) -1.75 handicap
Lanus vs Tigre (8) 2-1
Argentinos Juniors vs River Plate (7) 2-1

Brazilian Serie A:

Fluminense vs Atletico Mineiro (4) 1-1
Sport Recife vs Coritiba (7) 2-1
Palmeiras vs Goias (6) 2-1

Italian Serie A:

Internazionale vs Palermo (8) 2-1

Polish Ekstraklasa:

Zaglebie Lubin vs Polonia Bytom (7) 1-2

Swiss Super League:

Neuchatel Xamax vs Luzern (8) 2-1
Bellinzona vs Young Boys Bern (8) 2-3

Venezuelan Primera Division:

Zulia vs Mineros de Guayana (6) 1-0

Enjoy your free betting tips!