Lions And Boro To Score At The Den

Backing both Millwall and Middlesbrough to score in their English Championship game at The Den is the best bet when there is nothing of interest in the English Premier League.

High-street king, BetVictor are offering odds of 1.78 that neither Millwall nor Middlesbrough keeps a clean sheet and that looks like a decent play given this term’s English Championship statistics. For starters, Millwall matches in the division have featured 65 goals at an average of 3.25 goals per game. Only Derby games have higher mean, while Middlesbrough matches rank fourth at an average of 3.05 goals per game. And neither Millwall nor Middlesbrough has taken part in a single goalless match in the competition.

As far both-teams-to-score numbers, both sides have netted in 12 of Millwall’s 20 English Championship games and both teams have got on the scoresheet in 14 of Middlesbrough’s 20 matches in the league. Twenty-six out of 40 equates to 65 per cent and 65% equates to odds of 1.54. Punish BetVictor for their generosity at odds of 1.78.

With regards to head-to-head bets, the pick of the bunch is Queens Park Rangers at odds of 2.20 with BetVictor to beat Leicester in the English Championship top-of-the-table clash. Queens Park Rangers has not been a side on the lips of value punters for much of the season because bookmakers have gone out of their way to make backing the Super Hoops unattractive. And understandably since Queens Park Rangers has made it to the top of the ladder without playing to its full potential on a regular basis. There is a feeling that, if Queens Park Rangers hit its straps, no teams in England’s second tier would be able to live with Harry Redknapp’s men.

Odds of 2.20 imply that BetVictor rates Leicester on a par with Queens Park Rangers and that does not make any sense. Queens Park Rangers is three points ahead of Leicester after 20 English Championship rounds and the Super Hoops have a league home record of eight wins, two draws and no losses, with 14 goals scored and only two goals conceded. Leicester has gone four games without a win and that run includes away defeats at eighth-placed Brighton and 22nd-placed Sheffield Wednesday. Also, Leicester had a midweek fixture against Manchester City so the Foxes have had very little rest.

Staying in the English Championship and Derby has gone to another level since Steve McClaren walked through the door and the Rams look banker material at odds of 1.50 with Coral to defeat Doncaster. Derby has strung together six consecutive victories and, since McClaren took charge of the Rams, they have accrued 13 home points out of a possible 15, with their only slip being 1-1 draw with Birmingham. One can forgive that since it is a local argument. Doncaster is slowly sliding down the ladder and Rovers are in 20th place with the league’s second worst goal difference. Doncaster’s read form is lamentable, with Rovers drawing two and losing four of its last half a dozen away matches, failing to score in four of those games. Derby will be a popular inclusion in millions of multiples at odds of 1.50 and one can see why.

Finally, Newport has made a top return to English League Two and it is attractively priced at odds of 2.05 with BetVictor to improve on what is already the division’s premier home record by beating Wimbledon. Newport has dropped only five points at its Rodney Parade base and County’s only home league defeat came against Morecambe when on-loan defender Tom Naylor scored not one but two own goals in their 2-3 loss after they had led 2-1 with 24 minutes gone. Wimbledon started the season in a blaze of glory but the Dons are going backwards at a rapid rate with their form in recent months being that of a relegation candidate. Wimbledon has taken only 11 points from its last dozen matches, results that are causing alarm bells to go off in south London.