Betting.Betfair.com
·28 November 2024
Betting.Betfair.com
·28 November 2024
Middlesbrough's surprise slip-up at home to Blackburn (0-1) in midweek was preceded by a trio of convincing victories over QPR, Luton, and Oxford, and Michael Carrick's play-off chasers are backed to bounce straight back at Hull's expense at the Riverside Stadium.
Boro had played some of their best football of the campaign so far in their meaty hat-trick of victories over QPR (4-1), Luton (5-1) and Oxford (6-2), making Wednesday's loss to Rovers all the more inexplicable. However, Boro can bite back here.
Managerless Hull axed coach Tim Werner in midweek after their 2-0 reverse at home to Sheffield Wednesday, leaving them in a state of flux ahead of another tough test. The Tigers are in the midst of an eight-game winless run over all, while their loss to the Owls was their fourth defeat on the spin.
Andy Dawson will be in temporary charge of City this weekend but a resurrection of fortunes under the caretake boss isn't expected. Hull are best opposed here.
Rock-bottom Bochum are the Bundesliga's prime crisis club at present and they have already replaced their summer hire, Peter Zeidler, with a new Head Coach in Dieter Hecking following a dismal start to the new German campaign.
Hecking oversaw an unexpected draw with champions Bayer Leverkusen (1-1) in his first game in charge. However, Bochum promptly lost for the ninth time in 11 assignments when they were toppled by Stuttgart (2-0) in their very next fixture, suggesting Hecking's brief honeymoon period had already ended.
Augsburg, meanwhile, are also hovering near the relegation zone. But their form has been on the up and last weekend's loss at Bayern Munich was only their second defeat in seven matches.
Die Fuggerstädter have found a way to harness home advantage this term. In seven competitive tests at the WWK Arena since August, Augsburg have won four, drawn two and lost only once, taking the scalps of Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach along the way.
Look for a keenly-priced Augsburg to enhance their home record against a Bochum outfit that conceded 16 goals combined in their last four away games.
The recent international break seemed to come at a good time for Almere City following a three-game losing blip. However, the Eredivisie relegation favourites looked just as abject on their return to domestic action last weekend when they were swatted aside by Go Ahead Eagles (0-3).
NAC Breda look well-equipped to inflict a 10th Eredivisie defeat of the campaign on Almere and at close to even money, the hosts represent superb value in the match result stakes.
Carl Hoefkens's side threw away a two-goal lead and had to settle for a share of the spoils at Willem II (2-2) in their last outing. NAC, however, claimed maximum points in three of their last four games at the Rat Verlegh Stadion and they can deliver on home turf again on Saturday.
Despite playing a string of the division's lesser lights, Almere remain winless on their travels this season and failed to score in five of their first six away fixtures of the new Eredivisie campaign. City played four of the league's current bottom five in their last four away games and earned just one point. Expect them to struggle again.
Draw specialists Empoli have lost only three times in 13 Serie A fixtures this season, but those defeats were against big-name trio Lazio, Napoli, and Inter Milan. So look for the Azzurri Empolesi to come unstuck against another Italian giant on Saturday.
AC Milan edged out Slovan Bratislava (3-2) in the Champions League in midweek, scoring three goals for the fourth time in seven fixtures along the way and the Rossoneri's firepower should come in handy again when they face an Empoli outfit that has been averaging just 0.76 goals per game in Serie A.
Milan also hold all the aces defensively and of the five clean sheets they've kept in Serie A this term, four were secured at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. Toothless Empoli, meanwhile, rank last in the Italian top tier for expected goals this season (8.80) and the visitors could struggle to lay a glove on their hosts.
In addition, Empoli have lost six of their last seven meetings with Milan and they managed to score only once in the last five iterations of this fixture. Expect a similar outcome in Saturday's showdown.
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