Spotlight - Mad Dog and the Bees, live on TV...
Wednesday 28th February 2018
In your Across the Leagues email today:
- Mad Dog and the Bees...
- Luton v Barnet – live on Sky Sports...
- Lower-league focus this weekend...
Friday night TV traffic jam...
There’s a selection of International Friendly matches to choose from on TV this Friday night.
ITV has got Netherlands v England, BT Sport is showing Germany v Spain and Sky Sports have Scotland v Costa Rica – all kicking off at 7.45pm. Take your pick.
Here at Across the Leagues we are – as the name suggests – most interested in league matches...
The International break means there are no Premier League, Championship or Scottish Premiership fixtures this weekend. But we have a good set of games to look at in League One and League Two...
Mad Dog and the Bees, live on TV...
Sky Sports are showing three lower-league games this weekend, so the Football League is well and truly in the spotlight this week:
- Luton v Barnet (Sat 5.15pm)
- Chesterfield v Notts County (Sun 1.30pm)
- Portsmouth v Oxford Utd (Sun 4pm)
In light of recent events, that Saturday teatime game between Luton and Barnet has become more interesting...
Barnet sacked their management team on Monday and brought in Martin Allen for a fifth (yes, fifth) spell in charge at the club. Read more about Barnet’s plight here.
The man they call Mad Dog has got a hell of a task on his hands; Barnet are currently bottom of League Two and 7 pts off safety.
From his previous four stints at Barnet, Allen has only once won his first game in charge – and that was at Home.
This weekend 24th place Barnet travel to 2nd place Luton and the bookies’ early Match Result prices make the Home Win the odds-on favourite:
Luton 4/7 (1.57)
Draw 3/1 (4.00)
Barnet 5/1 (6.00)
However, all is not lost...
Regardless of whether any so-called ‘New Manager Effect’ comes into play, recent form pitches this one more evenly than at it would at first glance seem...
- The League Two Form page on our site shows that Luton are without a win in their last 5 games (DDLDD = 4 pts)
- Barnet’s last 5 games record has them winning the same amount of points, with their recent results: LWLDL
Barnet fans may also take heart from the fact that the Bees beat Luton 1-0 in the reverse fixture back in August – and also drew 1-1 at Luton in the EFL Trophy in October (losing on Penalties).
Whether Mad Dog Allen can conjure up any magic remains to be seen, but the form stats certainly put a question mark next to those short prices for Luton this Saturday.
Lower-league focus this weekend...
We’ll take a closer look at the League One & League Two stats, prices and opportunities in our Weekend Picks & Analysis email on Friday.
These divisions feature as strong a set of trends as any – with plenty of strike-rates and streaks to be found on our site, including:
- Over 2.5 Goals – paid out in 79% of Swindon Away games
- Both Teams to Score – 74% of Wycombe Home games
- Blackburn Rovers – won 5 of their last 6, and unbeaten in 12
- Under 2.5 Goals – 76% of Shrewsbury Home games
- Under 10.5 Corners – 79% of Rochdale Away games
Those are just five of the stats on my radar, across the 21 games on the weekend’s lower-league schedule.
See you on Friday...
Best wishes,
Oliver Upstone
Across the Leagues |
