We have three fixtures available to watch on your screen this Friday evening, the first of them to preview comes from Bramall Lane where Sheffield Utd will welcome Coventry for a promotion battle encounter. This fixture earlier in the season resulted in a 2-2 draw and Sheffield Utd playing 45 minutes with just ten men on the field.
The homeside are joint top of the Championship with only goal difference keeping them below Leeds, Chris Wilder’s side got beat by Leeds here 1-3 but since that fixture they have won three and drawn one. They had victories away at QPR (1-2), win at home to Preston (1-0), draw at home to Bristol City (1-1) and then more recently a away win against Sheffield Wednesday (0-1). There’s just eight fixtures left of the season and with there only being two points separating the top three places they still remain in a battle for automatic promotion.
The visitors Coventry are in 5th currently, Frank Lampard’s team are in great form. Since their FA Cup exit on penalties to Sheffield Wednesday back in mid January they have won six and lost just once in the league. They beat QPR at home (1-0), Sheffield Wednesday away (1-2), Preston at home (2-1), Oxford away (2-3), Stoke at home (3-2), then lost away to Midlands rivals Derby (2-0) before getting back on track defeating top 4 side Sunderland at home (3-0). We expect the away side to start Haji Wright up front after his hat trick in their last game before the International break, the teams top scorer has scored ten goals so far this season.
We expect a tight game here with both teams looking for maximum points which could result in goals going in at both ends. We recommend betting both teams to score which is top priced at 19/20 with leading non UK casinos.
Match Betting: Sheffield Utd 11/10, Coventry 11/4 and the Draw 23/10. Kick off 20.00pm Live on Sky Sports.
The second fixture to look at is from the French Ligue 1 where Strasbourg will host Lyon at the Stade de la Meinau. When the two sides met back at the beginning of the season Strasbourg gave away a 3-1 lead with Lyon finishing the stronger winning the game 4-3. We could easily see that sort of end to end encounter here with both sides playing for a European position next season.
The homeside sit in 7th in the league and just a point out of the top six with eight games remaining, Liam Rosenior’s side arrive here unbeaten in their last six games. They won at home to Montpellier (2-0), away at Lens (0-2), drew at home to Brest (0-0), won away at Auxerre (0-1), won away against Nantes (0-1) and then more recently at home to Toulouse (2-1). We expect the homeside to have Emanuel Emegha leading the line and looking to add to his current 11 goal seasons tally.
The visitors Lyon are in 5th place and looking to push for a Champions League position next season. They remain in the Europa League with a quarter final two leg tie with Man United coming up, Paulo Fonseca’s side have won their last three league games beating Brest at home (2-1), Nice away (0-2) and more recently turning the game around in the second half to beat Le Havre at home (4-2). It looks likely the ex Arsenal forward Alexandre Lacazetter will start upfront looking to add to his 10 goals this season alongside Georges Mikautadze who has scored 7 goals so far. We expect this fixture could go either way but it’s likely that both sides will get on the scoresheet.
Match Betting: Strasbourg 9/5, Lyon 7/5 and the Draw 11/4 Kick off 19.45pm Live on Ligue 1 Pass
The other televised game of the evening comes from the Bundesliga where Leverkusen welcome Bochum to the BayArena. This fixture looks to be a one side fixture if you go on the table positions but it did end 1-1 when they met back at the start of the season. The homeside sit second in the table trying to chase down a six point deficit from Bayern Munich with eight games left of the season, Xabi Alonso’s side exited the Champions League to Bayern losing 5-0 on aggregate. They will arrive at this game on the back of a 4-3 victory away to Stuggart scoring in the 88th and 94th minute to grasp maximum points.
We expect Alsonso to start Czech striker Patrik Schick up top with this looking a great opportunity to add to his 17 goal tally for the season.
The visitors Bochum are in 16th and five points from safety heading into the later stages of the 2024/25 season, Dieter Hecking’s side have won one of their last three league fixtures and that came out of surprise beating leaders Bayern Munich 2-3 away after going 2-0 down after 28 minutes. The homeside did play the second half with ten men but this was still a massive upset. The other two fixtures ended in losses at home to Hoffenheim (0-1) and at home to Frankfurt (1-3). They caused a big upset against a team at the opposite position of the league so can they do it again here?
Match Betting: Leverkusen 2/7, Bochum 9/1 and the Draw 11/2 Kick off 19.30pm Live on Sky Sports Mix
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