Our Saturday treble on the both teams to score coupon takes one match from each of England’s top three divisions, and will hopefully turn our £10 stake into just under £50.
All we need is each of our six teams to find the net at some stage during the afternoon, and we’ll be celebrating by 5PM. Here are our selections.
West Ham United v Crystal Palace
Sam Allardyce takes his new club to the new home of his former employers, and will be determined to register a first win as Palace boss as the Eagles attempt to pull away from the Premier League’s bottom three. While they can afford to be optimistic, they shouldn’t expect to have things all their own way at the London Stadium.
West Ham’s defensive problems are no secret, and were highlighted once more as Manchester City fired in five during last Friday’s dismal cup performance. This is something that the visitors will look to capitalise on, especially as goals haven’t been a problem. In fact, the Eagles enter this match having scored more often than any team outside of the top six.
Unfortunately, they do tend to concede goals while the Hammers have found the net in six of their last seven home league games. With Andy Carroll and Andre Ayew fit, Slaven Bilic’s men should at least score in this derby.
Both teams will be out for a big result in this one, and attack will probably be the best form of defence in both camps. Let’s hope that leads to a game of goals in the capital.
Fulham v Barnsley
Goals have been a regular theme for Championship rivals Fulham and Barnsley this term, and there’s absolutely no reason to think the trend will end as the sides meet at Craven Cottage.
Fulham’s 13 home games have produced 41 goals, with Slavia Jokanovic’s men scoring 23, whilst four of the last five have ended in BTTS winners. With Chris Martin and Lucas Piazon more than capable of finding the target too, the hosts will be fancied to get themselves on the scoreboard once more, particularly as the Tykes have shipped 16 on the road.
Paul Heckingbottom’s men do boast 20 away goals too, however, and will be looking to Sam Winnall and co. to fire them to a third successive Championship away win. Given Fulham’s poor defensive record, that will almost certainly be their chief target.
October’s reverse clash ended in a 4-2 win for the Cottagers. We wouldn’t be overly confident about backing a winner as they are so closely matched. Despite that almost equal quality, though, goals should be on the cards once more.
Charlton Athletic v Millwall
We’re looking to a second London derby to complete a hat-trick of London based selections as Millwall make the short trip to an improving Charlton. It promises to be one of the more fascinating matches of the weekend’s League One schedule, but we just hope it will bring goals.
Millwall are in great form having won four of their last five competitive matches, including a 3-0 hammering of Bournemouth in the FA Cup, and Neil Harris’ side head to the Valley having scored at least twice in each of those games. But while they have notched a total of 19 in 12 League One away games, they have also conceded 27.
Charlton, meanwhile, are quickly improving under Karl Robinson and are now just five points off the play-off zone. Like their opponents, the Addicks will also take confidence from last week’s cup excursion, where they picked up a 4-1 win over Bristol Rovers. Nicholas Ajose and co. have fired the hosts to 18 goals in 12 home games too, so they should expect to increase that tally here.
But while the home side’s defensive record is pretty solid, the Lions should find the net too. This is a huge match for both teams, and we’re backing them both to score.
