Monday 6th February 2023

In Across the Leagues today:

• 33/1 Brighton now 8/1 for the cup…
• Gillingham at it again…
• Service Announcement: I’m going away for a week…

Info for this week – and a decent effort at 80/1…

In many ways your recent World Cup 2022 daily service was Across the Leagues in microcosm…

I spent hours (and hours) poring over the stats and markets, day after day. With a long wait required before we hit the jackpot: a dramatic 45/1 winning Bet Builder in the final.

The point being, betting the way we do here at Across the Leagues, patience is often required. Or in other words, losing runs must be endured. They are part and parcel of the betting game. As are near misses…

The latter was the case at the weekend. With Brighton & Hove Albion the classic ‘just one corner away’ from covering the -4 Corner Handicap against Bournemouth (corners score: 7-3).

And in the big Super Sunday game between Tottenham and Manchester City on Sky Sports, a valiant effort from our giant 80/1 Bet Builder. With four of the six lines clicking quite early in the match. Leaving us with the tantalising thought of Kevin De Bruyne teeing-up Erling Haaland for a goal in the final half-hour…

It wasn’t to be, but if the excitement factor counts for anything – which if we’re going to bet on televised football matches at massive odds, I’d say it does. Then having an 80/1 shot still very much live & kicking right until the last moment of the game is a situation to feel positive about.

Here’s that Bet Builder result:

Haaland to Score – lost
Kane to Score – won
De Bruyne to get an Assist – lost
Tottenham to receive the Most Cards – won
Cristian Romero to get a Card – won
Rodrigo Bentancur to get a Card – won

Rest assured, we’ll be going in again soon with another big-odds, stats-based Bet Builder.

33/1 Brighton going well…

Talking of patience, our season-long, ante post picks also of course require long-haul thinking. And again, at big Each Way prices, we’re going to be more miss than hit. Which is okay, as long as one or two go in the right direction for us…

In the FA Cup, we’re on Brighton at a top-price 33/1 Each Way. The Seagulls are through to the 5th Round of the cup, where they’ll travel to Championship side Stoke.

Brighton are now 8/1 for the trophy.

• After beating Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday, Brighton have won 5 of their last 6 games in all competitions (and 9 out of 13)

• Stoke v Brighton in the FA Cup 5th Round is live on ITV4 on Tuesday 28th February. The winner goes through to the quarter finals

On a similar topic, our 20/1 Each Way top scorer bet in the Scottish Premiership this season, Lawrence Shankland, scored again for Hearts at the weekend. He’s currently a firm 2nd place in the scorer charts, and now 7/2 (4.5) at best to finish in top spot.

And our 33/1 EW pick, Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes of Aberdeen, also scored over the weekend. And Duk isn’t far off the Top 3 places, either…

Gills ranked No.1…

Your members-only Across the Leagues website carries stats for 17 leagues across England, Scotland and Europe. Of all those dozens and dozens of teams, English League Two side Gillingham are ranked no.1 for Under 2.5 Goals payouts this season…

The Gills have landed that bet in 85% of games.

And after a 1-0 home win against Crawley on Saturday, the Gills’ low-goals record at the Priestfield Stadium is even more prolific...

• Under 2.5 Goals bets have paid out in 12 out of 13 Gillingham home games (92%)

Log-in to view all our stats at:

www.acrosstheleagues.co.uk

Service Announcement…

I’ll be back on Wednesday with your next stats update. I’m then going to be away for a week. I’m going on holiday – my first time on a plane since before the pandemic.

• Your next Weekend Preview email with my personal takes on the stats & prices will be a week on Friday – so that’s Friday 17th February

In the meantime, your Across the Leagues website won’t be going anywhere. The stats will continue to update automatically, after every round of games. The site is packed with tables and Head-2-Head comparisons to help you identify top trends and highly-rated bets, across 17 leagues.

See you on Wednesday, when I’ll be highlighting some standouts stats for you to keep an eye out for while I’m away.

Enjoy the football…

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Across the Leagues