Saturday 26th November 2022

In Across the Leagues – World Cup 2022 today:

• 4 games today – first kick-off 10am…
• Correct Scores and Half Time draws…
• Picks and prices…

World Cup, Day 7:

Corners and Cards picks for today…

Welcome to Day 7 of your Across the Leagues World Cup 2022 daily service…

Also available on our website…

I’ve heard from a few people saying that yesterday’s email didn’t reach them until the afternoon. I’m not sure what happened there; the Day 6 email was sent out at 8.03am according to our system. Hopefully this was just one-off. We’re looking into it. Maybe increased email traffic for Black Friday? Also, BTinternet email addresses seemed to be the issue yesterday.

Another way to get the daily email is via the email archive, which you can access here, by logging-in to the Across the Leagues website. This gets updated within 20 minutes of the email being sent out.

• As of Tuesday, the match kick-off times move to 3pm and 7pm, and your daily email will be sent out by 12 noon

Correct Scores and Half Time draws…

We’ve seen exactly 20 games now, with last night’s dire 0-0 draw between England & USA being the latest Qatar 2022 match to fall short on goalmouth action…

• 5 out of 20 games so far have paid out on the 0-0 Correct Score (25%). That’s been the most common scoreline, followed by 2-0 (4 of those = 20%)

And on the same goal-shy theme:

• 13 games have paid out on Under 2.5 Goals (65%)
• 10 games have been goalless at Half Time (50%), paying out on the Half Time draw

0-0 v No Goalscorer…

A note on backing 0-0 Correct Scores. It can actually prove slightly more beneficial to back a goalless draw by betting ‘No Goalscorer’ in the First Goalscorer market. As this option still pays out if the only goal/s in the game are Own Goals, which don’t count for the purposes of settling Scorer bets…

The trade-off is that you might get shorter odds. For example, for the 0-0 between England & USA last night, William Hill paid 9/1 (10.0) for the Correct Score, and 13/2 (7.5) for No Goalscorer.

With the drama set to rise as round two of the Group stage continues today through to Monday, let’s see if we start to get a few more goals over the weekend…

Tunisia v Australia

10am, BBC

Match odds: Tunisia 11/10 (2.1), Draw 9/4 (3.25), Australia 14/5 (3.8)

My prediction: 0-0
Chris Sutton at the BBC: Tunisia 1-0

Tunisia got 9 corners in their opening 0-0 draw with Denmark, a match in which the African team impressed many onlookers. I’m expecting them to have the stronger attacking presence in today’s game - the question will be whether they have the quality to turn chances into goals. Tunisia for the Most Corners is the bet. (Some bookies call this the ‘Corners Match Bet’ or ‘Full Time Corners Win.’)

Poland v Saudi Arabia

1pm, ITV

Match odds: Poland 5/6 (1.83), Draw 12/5 (3.4), Saudi Arabia 4/1 (5.0)

My prediction: 1-1
Chris Sutton at the BBC: 1-1

Poland received the Most Cards in just 2 of their 10 games in World Cup Qualifying, and in game one this week, Mexico landed that bet in their 0-0 draw. Saudi Arabia on the other hand were a physical presence in their shock win over Argentina, racking up 6 Yellow Cards to zero. Saudi Arabia for the Most Cards (or ‘Most Booking Points’) is the call here. At Bet365 this bet is called ‘0 Card Handicap.’

France v Denmark

4pm, ITV

Match odds: France 5/6 (1.83), Draw 5/2 (3.5), Denmark 15/4 (4.75)

My prediction: France 2-1
Chris Sutton at the BBC: France 1-0

Argentina v Mexico

7pm, ITV

Match odds: Argentina 8/15 (1.53), Draw 3/1 (4.0), Mexico 13/2 (7.5)

My prediction: Argentina 2-1
Chris Sutton at the BBC: Argentina 2-1

For the two later matches today, I’m taking the popcorn approach - potentially very good on the eye, but hard to call from a betting/ value perspective for me. Kylian Mbappe is the man to follow for France, with Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martinez the two key men up front for Argentina. For Denmark, we’re looking for our 100/1+ Top Goalscorer outside chance Kasper Dolberg to open his account.

TODAY’S PICKS

World Cup 2022

TUNISIA v AUSTRALIA

• Most Corners: Tunisia @ 5/6 (1.83) Betway, Paddy Power & Betfair Sportsbook, 4/5 (1.8) Skybet, 8/11 (1.73) Bet365, BetVictor, Unibet

POLAND v SAUDI ARABIA

• Most Booking Points: Saudi Arabia @ 4/5 (1.8) William Hill, 0 Card Handicap with Bet365, Most Cards with Betway. Other bookies include Skybet, Unibet, Paddy Power & Betfair Sportsbook

I’ll see you tomorrow, with four games on the Sunday schedule, and the first kick-off at 10am. Lookout for your email at 8am, and on the email archive just after.

P.S
Want to get in touch? You can email me direct at:

oliver@acrosstheleagues.co.uk

Enjoy the football…

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Across the Leagues