Two And a Half Goals: Back goals at the Emirates and St James Park

 

The Inside Man is back with his Two And a Half Goals column and thinks there'll be goals in north London and in the Tyne-Wear derby...

 

Newcastle v Sunderland

 

What a wonderful scenario for the latest Tyne-Wear derby, with both sides still in danger of the drop, and knowing that victory here might drive a significant nail  into the relegation coffin of their close rivals.

 

If recent games at St James' Park are anything to go by, then we should expect a flurry of goals. Of Newcastle's last five home games, four were high-scoring,  producing 18 goals in all. And out of those games, Southampton, Stoke and Reading all found the net on Tyneside, which suggests Sunderland have a strong chance of  doing the same.

 

December 22nd was the last time Sunderland managed to keep a clean sheet on their Premier League travels, so it's very hard to see them managing it this weekend  against such motivated opponents. But they do carry a significant goal-threat themselves, having scored in each of their last five away games. And given that they now  face the 3rd weakest defence in the division, I have to believe there's a big chance the Mackems will find the net once again.

 

Recommended Bet

Back Over 2.5 goals @ 2.04

 

 

Stoke v Manchester United

 

This might look like a one-sided fixture to some, but I expect nothing of the sort. Man Utd come into this game in what, for them, is relatively poor goalscoring form.  Only once in their last ten matches have they scored more than two goals. As a result, six of those ten games have been low-scoring.

 

Importantly though for United, their defence has been holding firm, and that's enabled them to rack up a series of low-scoring victories, including two 1-0 wins in  just the last three weeks.

 

As for Stoke, they might be lower down the table than they'd have wanted, but that isn't down to any problems in defence. In fact, the Potters defence stands out as  having conceded by far the fewest goals of any side in the bottom half of the table, including 20 goals less than the team directly below them, Aston Villa.

 

Stoke's defence is as good as ever, but statistically they have the worst attack in the division., which leads me to expect yet another low-scoring, hard-fought  encounter at the Britannia Stadium.

 

Recommended Bet

Back Under 2.5 goals @ 1.86

 

Bet HERE

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