Tag Archives: playoff

Hammers eye play-off advantage

Posted on by
Reply

The Championship Play-Offs get underway on Thursday evening with West Ham looking to continue their strong away form from the run-in to secure a positive first leg result against Cardiff City in South Wales.

Sam Allardyce’s side were the pre-season automatic promotion favourites along with big-spending Leicester City, but Reading and Southampton upset the odds to secure their respective places in the Premier League next season.

The Hammers, who had to settle for third place, at least have another opportunity to return to the top-flight (13/8 – Promotion) at the first attempt via the lottery of the play-offs – but it will not be an easy mission.

First up is a trip to the Cardiff City Stadium to face Malky Mackay’s men, who only secured the sixth and final play-off spot on Saturday thanks to a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Crystal Palace.

The Bluebirds are in a decent run of form with just one defeat in 13 league games since, ironically, West Ham won 2-0 in South Wales in early March.

However, the majority of their points were picked up on the road with just one win, five draws and a 3-0 loss to Hull City in the last seven outings in front of their home fans.

Mackay will hope his players can find their feet in the Welsh capital at just the right time on Thursday as the Bluebirds have endured two successive seasons of play-off misery with a Wembley defeat against Blackpool in 2010 followed up by a semi-final loss at the hands of Reading 12 months ago.

It is a very familiar story for the Hammers, who will no doubt feel confident of securing a good result on Thursday having won three and drawn three of their final six away games of the domestic campaign in a 13-match run of form which, bizarrely, has been identical to Cardiff’s since their last meeting.

Allardyce, who should have a fully fit squad to choose from for the game, saw his team’s automatic promotion aspirations damaged by their home form in which they failed to win in five successive matches between February 4 and April 14.

Crucially, the Londoners looked to have found a remedy for their homesickness in the nick of time as they won their final two matches at Upton Park – 6-0 against Brighton and a final day 2-1 victory against Hull City on Saturday.

As far as the past season’s head-to-head record goes, both sides won on their travels with Cardiff securing a win at Upton Park on the opening weekend of the campaign and, as mentioned earlier, the Hammers won 2-0 in Wales.

Therefore it is a play-off encounter which could depend on which team does not fluff their lines on home soil.

Throw into the mix the fact Cardiff were one of the Championship’s draw specialists with 18 stalemates from 46 league games, while West Ham drew 14, and it all points to a very nervous and tense battle which just about sums up the play-offs.

Looking ahead to Thursday’s game, we would not be surprised if the Hammers exploited Cardiff’s home frailties and just edged the contest to take a lead, albeit a slender one, back to London for next week’s second leg.

Prediction: West Ham Away 90 Minutes @ 13/8
Value Bet: West Ham To Win 1-0 Correct Score @ 13/2.

Want £200 Free? Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Back Blues to continue play-off charge

Posted on by
Reply

Birmingham’s 54th game of a already jam-packed season sees them travel to Lancashire on Tuesday to take on Eddie Howe’s Burnley, who are hoping to end a disappointing season on a high.

Following last season’s relegation, this campaign has seen a period of rapid change at Birmingham, with a raft of players taking their Premier League wages elsewhere and even their manager, Alex McLeish, jumping ship to their near neighbours Aston Villa.

With last season’s Carling Cup success meaning Europa League football this season, new manager Chris Hughton has had to juggle a busy domestic and European schedule as well as rebuilding a squad dismantled following relegation.

It is to his credit then that the Blues are well in contention for a play-off place. Last weekend’s 3-1 win at Doncaster lifted them fourth, with race for a top six spot becoming increasingly frantic.

Burnley, meanwhile, will be disappointed not to have been competing at the top end of the Championship this year. They were in the Premier League only two years ago but have failed to re-adapt to the rigours of the second tier since relegation.

Manager Brian Laws was sacked in December 2010 after a poor start to that campaign and highly-rated boss Eddie Howe was brought in from Bournemouth to guide the Clarets up the table. An eventual 8th place finish raised hopes of a sustained promotion push this campaign.

However, they find themselves well out of the play-off picture down in 16th place – well clear of relegation trouble but 10 points off the top six.

They will go into this game full of confidence after a 5-1 hammering of relegation-threatened Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Saturday – their first win in eight games – as Howe aims for a strong finish to a below par year.

Their form at Turf Moor is a concern and a principal reason for their lowly league position. Only four sides have won less games on their home ground the Burnley this season. They have, however, only conceded 22 goals on home turf, with only two sides in the bottom half conceding less.

Those stats therefore would point to a narrow Birmingham victory but it pays to note that the Midlanders have built their promotion challenge on solid home form rather than away results; with 11 wins, eight draws and just one defeat at St Andrew’s this season. On the road they have already lost nine games – more than any other side in the top ten.

With poor home form meeting poor away form, making an accurate forecast is tricky, but with the season reaching its conclusion, City’s push for the play-offs could prove decisive.

Their spot in the play-off places is only secured by goal difference, with Blackpool, Brighton and Middlesbrough all joining the Blues on 63 points. Therefore the chance to move three points clear is one City will be loathed to turn down.

Therefore our tip is a narrow 1-0 to the Blues priced at 6/1, with the draw/Birmingham HT/FT forecast also worth considering at 9/2.

Want £200 Free? Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Teams await Euros play-off fate

Posted on by
Reply

Giovanni Trapattoni’s Republic of Ireland are among eight sides who, after competing in qualifiers spread across two years, have nudged one step closer towards next summer’s European Championships by finishing second in their respective groups to enter the play-offs.

The draw to will take place in Krakow on Tuesday, with the four winners joining co-hosts Poland and Ukraine, holders Spain, Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Holland, Greece, England, Denmark and Sweden at next summer’s football showpiece.

The draw will be seeded, meaning those with the four best national team coefficients will not play against each other. Here is a closer look at the teams involved:

The seeded sides:

Portugal

Cristiano Ronaldo and co will be disappointed to be in the play-offs after losing a ‘winner-takes-all’ contest with Denmark at the top of Group H. Nicklas Bendtner grabbed the winner in Copenhagen to send Denmark through automatically, meaning Paulo Bento’s men (33/1 World Cup 2014 outright) had to be satisfied with second spot.

They have a fine record, though, at European Championships with one semi-final and two quarter-final appearances in the last four tournaments, as well as being runners-up when hosting the tournament in 2004. Definitely one for the others to avoid in Thursday’s draw.

Republic Of Ireland

Trapattoni’s men (80/1 Euro 2012 outright) beat Armenia 2-1 in a nervy encounter in Dublin this week to ensure they took second place behind winners Russia in Group B.

They received a pre-draw boost by being named as seeds, meaning they avoid the likes of Portugal and Croatia. Irish hearts still carry with them a burning sense of injustice after Thierry Henry’s handball helped France knock the Irish out of the World Cup play-offs two years ago.

That determination to right the wrongs of that night in the Stade De France should see them home – just.

Croatia

Four years ago Croatia (50/1 Euro 2012 outright) revelled in being the masters of Steve McClaren’s downfall at a soggy Wembley.

However, after losing in the quarter-finals at Euro 2008 on penalties to Turkey, Slaven Bilic’s men didn’t even make the 2010 World Cup, with England gaining revenge by beating them twice in qualifying. Bilic was expected to resign after that disappointment but he has stayed on and guided them to second place in Group F, behind shock winners Greece.

Czech Republic

Michal Bilek’s men broke Scottish hearts by beating Lithuania 4-1 on Tuesday and ensuring it was they and not Craig Levein’s side who went through to the play-offs.

They will be hoping to continue their record of qualifying for every European Championships since gaining independence in 1992. They were memorable runners-up in England in 1996 and reached the semi-finals in 2004 – losing to the eventual winners on both occasions – but are perhaps considered the weakest of the four seeded teams (66/1 Euro 2012 outright).

The unseeded sides:

Turkey

Irish fans will be nervously hoping they are not paired with Guus Hiddink’s Turkey (80/1 World Cup 2014 outright).

Unpredictable and volatile – especially at home – their recent performances in major tournaments suggest you can never be quite sure what you are going to get.

After failing to qualify for Euro 2004 they went all the way to the semi-finals in 2008. They also reached the last four at World Cup 2002, but have failed to even reach the finals since.

Montenegro

England fans will be familiar with Branko Branovic’s men after seeing their side fail to beat them in both meetings in qualifying Group G.

A water-tight defence proved to be the backbone of their success as Montenegro (125/1 Euro 2012 outright) conceded just seven goals in seven qualifying games.

However, they only scored seven too, meaning the pressure will be on the likes of Fiorentina’s Stevan Jovetic and Juventus’ Mirko Vucinic to score the goals required to see them through.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

The eastern European theme continues with Bosnia (80/1 Euro 2012 outright) looking to reach their first-ever major tournament.

They have gone agonisingly close on previous occasions, just one goal prevented them from nudging past Denmark to qualify for Euro 2004, before losing to Portugal 2-0 on aggregate in the play-offs for World Cup 2010.

You get the impression that it will not be too long before they go one better and make a major finals for the first time. They certainly shouldn’t be discounted here.

Estonia

When Estonia were drawn with Italy, Serbia and Slovenia in Euro 2012 qualifying Group C, few would have predicted their presence in Thursday’s play-off draw.

But while Tarmo Rüütli’s men were beating Northern Ireland 2-1 in their final qualifying match, Serbia were losing in Slovenia, meaning the small Baltic nation had reached their first ever qualification play-off. You get the impression they are just happy to be there, meaning they should not provide too much opposition for the seeded sides.

However, the pressure of expectation can do strange things, meaning Estonia (400-1 Euro 2012 outright) can play with a freedom knowing they have nothing to lose.

Want £200 Free? Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Race heats up for play-off places

Posted on by
Reply

A resurgent Hull City welcome Burnley to the KC Stadium on Tuesday night in a clash between two sides gunning for Championship play-off places (Hull 11/8, draw 9/4, Burnley 9/5 – match betting).

The Yorkshire-Lancashire battle between seventh and eighth place should be an exciting contest between two sides desperate to get back into the Premier League.

Hull will be full of confidence going into this game off the back of a gutsy 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Not many teams pick up away wins against Forest and Nigel Pearson’s side are pushing the top six clubs hard for the play-off places.

Burnley are in an excellent position and could leapfrog both Leeds United and Forest if they can win their two games in hand and other results go their way.

Both these teams are in good form but Hull might just edge this one in front of their home fans.

Norwich City travel to the Walkers Stadium to take on Leicester City in another big game in and around the playoff positions (Leicester 10/11, draw 12/5, Norwich 11/4 – match betting).

The Canaries were left frustrated at Carrow Road in their last outing, as they were held to a 1-1 draw against bottom of the table Preston.

Goal-machine Grant Holt admitted after the game that Preston were hard to break down because they put bodies behind the ball to battle out a crucial point in terms of their Championship survival.

The Foxes on the other hand will play a much more open game and will believe they can pick up all three points.

There should be plenty of goals in this game between two attacking sides but the Canaries could just get one over on the Foxes.

Sheffield United are having a torrid time in the Championship this season and are without a win in their last 14 games.

Manager Micky Adams is still looking for his first win with the South Yorkshire side but he might have to wait a bit longer, as they take on Forest at Bramall Lane on Tuesday (United 23/10, draw 23/10, Forest 11/10 – match betting).

Forest could go into the automatic positions if they can compound United’s misery and other results go for them and Billy Davies’ players will want to keep the pressure on QPR and Swansea at the top of the table.

With the type of form the Blades are in, it’s hard to see them winning this game and they may have to wait longer still for that elusive victory, with games against Watford and Leeds to come.

Want £200 Free? Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.