THERE'S more Nations League action to come on Monday night and Tom Love (@TomLove_18) is in the hot-seat to shares his thoughts on the best angles of attack.
Liechtenstein v Armenia | Monday 19th November 2018, 19:45 | Sky Sports
I was delighted to see Armenia play their part in a feisty game on Friday night against Gibraltar. That landed us a delightful 11/4 winner with both sides picking up 20+ Bookings Points.
And considering the card records of both Liechtenstein and Armenia, I’m inclined to go in on the same bet again as the Havaqakan travel to the banks of the Rhine to for this showdown in Vaduz.
I went over a lot of the groups disciplinary data in that previous piece so I’m not going to divulge too heavily here. The hosts have picked up 15 yellows and two reds in their five Nations League games, comfortably averaging over 20 Bookings Points per-game. It’s a similar story for Armenia – they’ve seen 15 yellows dished out, but no reds in their campaign.
It’s commonplace for cards to be dished out frequently in Group D and specifically in this pool. Sky Bet seemed to have caught on to that though – there’s no more 11/4 but 15/8 is still available for the same selection and I still think there’s some juice in that price.
Back 20+ Bookings Points for both sides on Monday night.
Czech Republic v Slovakia | Monday 19th November 2018, 19:45 | Sky Sports
It’s another case of déjà vu here as I’m backing both sides to notch in Group B1 when Slovakia make the short journey to neighbours Czech Republic at even-money (Sportingbet).
Ukraine have sealed their spot in Group A with three wins out of four. Therefore, this game is a big one for the two remaining sides – a draw will be enough for the hosts to stay in Group B and relegate their opponents. Only a win will do for Slovakia, who gave themselves a fighting chance with an impressive victory over Ukraine on Friday night.
Pavel Hapel is the new man at the helm for the Slovaks and he’d have been delighted with the response from his players in his opening game. Four goals did flatter them though and they could’ve conceded more; in fact they were out-shot in that encounter 13-12 so they were fairly charitable with their chances conceded.
Having said that, Slovakia had to go into the game with a win-at-all-costs mentality, a style that worked and they must continue in that vain here. The Czechs have home advantage here and if their opponents bag first then the tables are turned and they must go for it.
BTTS has copped in two of the Czechs' three Nations League games – the same record applies for Slovakia too. Meanwhile, the meeting between the pair in Bratislava saw Jaroslav Silhavy’s side come back with all three points courtesy of a 2-1 win. Viktoria Plzen frontman Martin Krmencik was a scorer in that fixture but he’s since been ruled out for a number of months with a knee ligament injury.
Still, the hosts have a decent enough attacking artillery with the likes of Patrick Schick, Matej Vydra and Jakub Jantko, not to mention the experienced Borek Dockal pulling the strings in the centre of the park. They’ve enough to get on the scoresheet and are still favourites to win.
Games like this can start off cagey but at some point risks have to be taken and that can leave gaps to exploit on the break. With that in mind, I’m also going to have a play on the Highest Scoring Half to be the second. This bet is best-priced 119/100 with Marathon.
Best Bets
Lichtenstein v Armenia – 20+ Booking Points for each team (15/8 SkyBet)
Czech Republic v Slovakia – Both Teams To Score (1/1 Sportingbet)
Czech Republic v Slovakia – Second-Half to be the Highest Scoring Half (119/100 Marathon)
