allyhibs

Barcelona vs Bayern Munich
The Champions League Quarter-Final action continues for another night here when La Liga runners up Barcelona host Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich in an 8pm BST kick-off on Friday night at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon. European ties don't get much bigger than this and we'll see one of the favourites for this competition go out here. The winners will play the victors of the Manchester City versus Lyon clash.
Barcelona have had a season to forget simply because they lost out to Real Madrid in the battle for the league title. Quique Setien managed to avoid a potential banana skin in the last round with a 4-2 aggregate win over Napoli. This is a whole new proposition though. Defensive issues continue to plague this Barcelona side with the Catalan team only managing to keep two clean sheets in their 8 Champions League matches so far. If Barcelona win this and reach the Semi-Finals then it will be the first time they have reached that stage of the competition in two consecutive seasons since their 2012/13 run.
Bayern Munich are looking very strong right now. Hans-Dieter Flick's side humiliated Chelsea in the previous round by a 7-1 score-line. The Bavarian side now look to continue an 18-game winning run against the Spanish team. It's a Bayern team that is full of goal scoring potential with an average of 3.9 goals scored per game in the Champions League this season and boast a 100% record in this competition. The Germans haven't won this competition since their success in the 2012/13 season but they are arguably in their strongest position yet to break that duck.
This will be the first meeting between these two sides in this competition since the 2014/15 season. On that occasion, it was Barcelona who prevailed victorious but it is Bayern Munich that Barcelona have lost more Champions League matches against than any other team having lost 5 of their 8 encounters. I am expecting that bad record to get even worse with a solid Bayern Munich win here.
Bayern Munich to Win @ 2.05 with BetVictor
Total Goals Scored Over 3.5 @ 2.10 with Betfair

Polish ref Marciniak is in charge tonight. To simplify things he "likes a pen" and is nothing exceptional in terms of cards. I was a bit surprised at the low spread quotes for tonight's game (you can buy bookings at 48 when I was expecting low to mid 50s) and, despite low totals in his 4 games this season, I still think there's some upside when you consider his overall stats in UEFA competitions.
I've backed a penalty taken at 12/5 with Hills and bought penalty goal minutes at 14 with SPIN. I've also backed >40 booking points at 10/11 with PP.

Well in mate
He scored a penalty against Hibs on Saturday, other than that, I thought he was hopeless.

Livingston v Hibernian.
As @StevieDay1983 points out, the artificial pitch gives Livingston a bit of an advantage at home (Tony Macaroni is a chain of Italian restaurants up here, the stadium's been nicknamed The Spaghettihad by fans). They have, however lost a couple of key men from last season and were very poor away to St Mirren last week, looking lethargic and not looking up to match speed yet.
Hibs have clearly got the better squad and started the season with a good win over Kilmarnock, going 2 nil up after 30 minutes in a decent first half display, I think they tired a little bit in the second half and sat in and defended their lead quite comfortably, the Hibs goalie not really having a save to make.
Hibs will play with a different formation than last week, Christian Doidge coming back in to be the central focus up front with Boyle back on the right wing. The frankly disgraceful pitch means you have to alter your style of play and Hibs have the players to do that when required, going long for Doidge to hold up or for Boyle to run onto could unlock the Livi back 4 and I've got a feeling the game could go the same way as last week with Hibs racing into an early lead. I think the bookies have overpriced the away win here, I'd have Hibs as favourites.
Hibs @ 3.00 - 2pts.
Hibs Half Time @ 3.60 - 1pt.
Martin Boyle Anytime Scorer @ 3.25 - 0.5pt.
 

Livingston v Hibernian.
As @StevieDay1983 points out, the artificial pitch gives Livingston a bit of an advantage at home (Tony Macaroni is a chain of Italian restaurants up here, the stadium's been nicknamed The Spaghettihad by fans). They have, however lost a couple of key men from last season and were very poor away to St Mirren last week, looking lethargic and not looking up to match speed yet.
Hibs have clearly got the better squad and started the season with a good win over Kilmarnock, going 2 nil up after 30 minutes in a decent first half display, I think they tired a little bit in the second half and sat in and defended their lead quite comfortably, the Hibs goalie not really having a save to make.
Hibs will play with a different formation than last week, Christian Doidge coming back in to be the central focus up front with Boyle back on the right wing. The frankly disgraceful pitch means you have to alter your style of play and Hibs have the players to do that when required, going long for Doidge to hold up or for Boyle to run onto could unlock the Livi back 4 and I've got a feeling the game could go the same way as last week with Hibs racing into an early lead. I think the bookies have overpriced the away win here, I'd have Hibs as favourites.
Hibs @ 3.00 - 2pts.
Hibs Half Time @ 3.60 - 1pt.
Martin Boyle Anytime Scorer @ 3.25 - 0.5pt.
 

Livingston v Hibernian.
As @StevieDay1983 points out, the artificial pitch gives Livingston a bit of an advantage at home (Tony Macaroni is a chain of Italian restaurants up here, the stadium's been nicknamed The Spaghettihad by fans). They have, however lost a couple of key men from last season and were very poor away to St Mirren last week, looking lethargic and not looking up to match speed yet.
Hibs have clearly got the better squad and started the season with a good win over Kilmarnock, going 2 nil up after 30 minutes in a decent first half display, I think they tired a little bit in the second half and sat in and defended their lead quite comfortably, the Hibs goalie not really having a save to make.
Hibs will play with a different formation than last week, Christian Doidge coming back in to be the central focus up front with Boyle back on the right wing. The frankly disgraceful pitch means you have to alter your style of play and Hibs have the players to do that when required, going long for Doidge to hold up or for Boyle to run onto could unlock the Livi back 4 and I've got a feeling the game could go the same way as last week with Hibs racing into an early lead. I think the bookies have overpriced the away win here, I'd have Hibs as favourites.
Hibs @ 3.00 - 2pts.
Hibs Half Time @ 3.60 - 1pt.
Martin Boyle Anytime Scorer @ 3.25 - 0.5pt.
 

Good start to the season but it wasn't a great performance from Hibs, there were long spells when Killie were on top but Hibs defended well and hung on for the win, Martin Boyle being the difference between the sides, plenty room for improvement though. Betting wise it's 1 win from 1 so can't complain too much.
Can only see a convincing Celtic win today, only question is by how many, as usual in Glasgow, if they score early it can get messy, so i've had a little punt on an early goal.
Celtic winning at 15 minutes @ 3.00 - 0.5pt.

Good start to the season but it wasn't a great performance from Hibs, there were long spells when Killie were on top but Hibs defended well and hung on for the win, Martin Boyle being the difference between the sides, plenty room for improvement though. Betting wise it's 1 win from 1 so can't complain too much.
Can only see a convincing Celtic win today, only question is by how many, as usual in Glasgow, if they score early it can get messy, so i've had a little punt on an early goal.
Celtic winning at 15 minutes @ 3.00 - 0.5pt.

Hibs go into the new season looking in better shape than a few other clubs, the new signings so far look like we've addressed the obvious weaknesses last season and with 1 or 2 more additions before the transfer window closes, a challenge for European places look on the cards.
For once, Hibs made their main signings early and have had the whole squad in training for quite a while now, reports are they've settled in well and everything seems positive ahead of the new season. Reports from Kilmarnock suggest the opposite, they lost a lot of players and were short of numbers a couple of weeks ago, they also have a couple of key players missing due to injuries.
I think a straightforward home win looks the outcome here in an empty Easter Road and there looks a little bit of value to be had.
Hibernian @ 2.10 - 2pts.
 

Aberdeen looked awful without Cosgrove, Rangers didn't have to get out of first gear.
Hibs have striker Christian Doidge out injured, Wide man Martin Boyle moves into the middle with new boy Drey Wright taking over out wide, that is serious pace for Hibs up front, Boyle and Wright are rapid, don't think Killies defence can handle that.

Heidenheim vs Werder Bremen
The second leg of the Bundesliga relegation play-off is scheduled to take place on Monday night at 7:30pm BST between second tier Heidenheim and top flight Werder Bremen at the Voith-Arena. The tie is finely balanced after a 0-0 draw in the first leg so which team will seize the initiative and secure the win to either earn promotion or achieve survival depending on who earns the victory?
Heidenheim stand on the brink of earning promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time in their history. Head coach Frank Schmidt will be pleased with his side's efforts in the first leg but their inability to get that decisive goal will have left him frustrated. Even more so because it was against an opponent that has been vulnerable at home this season and was reduced to 10-men on 76 minutes after the sending off of Niklas Moisander. That draw now meant it's just 3 wins from their last 7 matches in all competitions. Still, they come into this match with home advantage and the opportunity is there for this set of players to create history for this small club from Baden-Wurttemburg.
Werder Bremen know that they need a big performance in this game. Head coach Florian Kohfeldt will surely see his job under threat if the giants of German football suffer a humiliating relegation to Bundesliga II by failing to win this tie. The team were fortunate enough to get away with that 0-0 draw despite having a men sent off with 14 minutes remaining. The team has won 3 of their last 4 leagues matches on the road so they'll be quietly confident they can seal the win. The absence of Moisander for this game could be an issue but we'll see.
I am torn for this game. There is so much pressure on the Werder Bremen players to deliver a result here. Relegation is almost unfathomable for a club the size of Werder but that's the grim reality facing them. Heidenheim had their opportunity to put this tie to bed last week but they failed. I think that could come back to haunt them. A narrow Werder Bremen win is on the cards here.
Werder Bremen to Win @ 2.00 with 888Sport
Total Goals Scored Under 2.5 @ 1.75 with VBet

Man Utd ht/ft looks the bet of the day to me Stevie, clear improvement from them recently, Bournemouth look hopeless at the moment.

@allyhibs
No var on this match + ref Marciniak... He like to be a "star". Also i dont see value here on Legia but of course Legia is much better than Górnik. 
I dont trust Legia here (as a Legia fan) ?

yeah, I read @Teodore 
How come no bet for Legia Warsaw? I was considering them for an acca.

Sevilla vs Real Betis
La Liga is officially back! In an effort to help us remember where all the teams stand heading into this restart of the league I'm going to offer a preview for every game in the Spanish top flight this weekend. First up, it's the El Gran Derbi between Sevilla and Real Betis in a 9pm BST kick-off on Thursday night at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Who will take the points and the bragging rights?
Sevilla entered the suspension of the league in 3rd place and firmly locked in an intense battle to qualify for next season's Champions League with rival sides Real Sociedad, Getafe, Atletico Madrid, and Valencia. Former Spain head coach Julen Lopetegui was appointed as the manager back last summer and his influence has been felt immediately. The team is only 10 points off the pace of the league title. That might seem like a big gap but when you consider how frequently Barcelona and Real Madrid run away with the league and the fact that 28 points off the title pace last season, it's a marked improvement in a short space of time. Home form has been a huge positive for Los Nervionenses having only lost 2 of their 13 home league matches. They were also one of the in-form teams before the break having lost just 2 of their previous 11 matches in all competitions.
Real Betis face a tough first game back with this derby match against their Seville-based arch rivals. Head coach Rubi has led his team to a mid-table position of 12th after 27 league games. Los Verdiblancos are 8 points above the relegation zone but 12 points adrift of the current European qualification places. It seems another season of mediocrity awaits this group of players. However, to show progress, the team will be keen to at least match last season's 10th placed finish. Away form has been a problem for Real Betis with the club having only managed 1 victory in their 13 away league games this season.
The old saying goes, and it's oft repeated on these forums, that form goes out of the window in a derby game. Unfortunately, on this occasion, it seems backing anything other than a Sevilla win is utter madness. Sevilla have won both of their last two meetings with Real Betis and are superior in every department heading into this game. Unless something drastically changes I can see a business-like win for the home team.
Sevilla to Win @ 1.88 with VBet
BTTS @ 1.80 with William Hill

Frankfurt v Mainz.
My only single of the day just has to be the home side here. A couple of good wins in a row makes them very much the form team against a Mainz side who look to be really struggling, I'm a little surprised the home win isn't slight odds on.
Frankfurt @ 2.00 - 2pts.

Eintracht Frankfurt v Mainz
Betting suggestion:
both to score & over 2,5 goals @1,85 Pinnacle Frankfurt team totals over 1,5 @1,73 Pinnacle Short preview: I’ve been on the “Frankfurt train” for a whole, and I will keep with them as they simply look like a team that found the way how to get the things done after the break. Yes, they lost against Bayern in the first match with 5-2, but I think it’s really unnecessary to speak about Bayern and compare it to the rest of the league at the moment.  Frankfurt have won their last two matches, and neither of them was against an easy opponent. Firstly, they won against Wolfsburg away, then against Werder. Two teams in different zones, first fighting for European spots, while second fighting to avoid the relegation. This time, they will face another team that is fighting to avoid the relegation, but at least at the moment seems to be pretty weak and even though they somehow found the way in past years to avoid to be relegated, it seems more and more possible, that they will find themselves on positions that are leading to the “Zweite Bundesliga”, or at least to qualifications with the 3rd best team of the second league. They drew against Union Berlin, they lost against Leipzig and Hoffenheim at home, and they will be pretty much under pressure today against Frankfurt. As I’ve said in the past two rounds, Frankfurt isn’t a bad team and they deserve to be at least in the top 10 if not higher. With Andre Silva and Dost keeping up in form, always dangerous Kostić and Kamada, this team of Hütter especially now, playing “relaxed” as they made an 8 points gap with the 16th Fortuna, will be simply too much at least offensively. They conceded some easy goals anyways, especially against Freiburg (3-3), but their offensive part have delivered so far, therefore I think taking their goals is the safest option. Interesting option is also Frankfurt & over 2,5 goals at 2,75!

Eintracht Frankfurt vs Mainz 05
The second of our 2:30pm BST previews in the Bundesliga is the fascinating clash between Eintracht Frankfurt and Mainz 05 at the Commerzbank-Arena. Both of these teams are probably a little bit too close to the relegation zone for comfort and their form hasn't exactly set the world alight since they returned from their break. Can either side add a much-needed win to their league record here?
Eintracht Frankfurt are positioned in 11th and 8 points above the relegation zone. Adi Hutter's men will still be looking above them with the Europa League qualification places only 7 points ahead of them. Back-to-back defeats saw the team experience a slow start to their campaign after the suspension for coronavirus but it's now 3 league games undefeated including back-to-back away wins in their previous two league matches. One thing you can be sure of in Frankfurt games is goals. All of their last 9 league games have seen at least 3 goals scored.
Mainz 05 come into this game in a slightly worse position than their opponents. Achim Beierlorzer's side are in 15th place and just 1 point outside the relegation zone. It's 4 league matches without a win since their return to action and with teams behind them starting to pick up points it's a nervous time for the club. Just 1 goal scored in the last 288 minutes of league action is a big concern. Once again, we can expect goals because 86% of Mainz 05's away games have seen over 2.5 goals scored. It's just a shame for them that it's usually the opposition scoring them with just 1 win from their last 5 away league matches.
You get the feeling that Eintracht Frankfurt are starting to click again. The performances have still been lacking but they're turning those underwhelming displays into wins and that's key in recovering from a poor run of form. Mainz 05 have the spectre of relegation creeping over their shoulder and with the goals drying up in the final third it's a worrying time. They need a win here but I can't see them getting it. Home win all the way for me.
Eintracht Frankfurt to Win @ 2.05 with BetVictor
Total Goals Scored Under 3.5 @ 1.62 with Betfred

Nice one Stevie, followed you with both of these, 1pt on each, my only bets of the day 

I was sure flashscores had him as scoring the second goal, then when he scored the third just after half time I thought the bet had won. Ah well.
A wise man once said, 'sometimes, not losing is the same as winning'
 

I was sure flashscores had him as scoring the second goal, then when he scored the third just after half time I thought the bet had won. Ah well.
A wise man once said, 'sometimes, not losing is the same as winning'
 

Did they both come in @allyhibs I thought Lewandowski only scored one 

Bayern Munich vs Eintracht Frankfurt
The evening kick-off in the Bundesliga today is a 5:30pm BST start when league leaders Bayern Munich welcome a struggling Eintracht Frankfurt to hell... I mean, the Allianz Arena. It won't take you long to guess that we're going to be backing a convincing home win in this one. Do the statistics suggest that we should be backing this game to end any other way?
Bayern Munich are sitting proudly top of the league with 58 points from their 26 league games so far. It's been far from a vintage season by Die Bayern but they've somehow pulled themselves back into the mix and are now situated 4 points clear of 2nd placed Borussia Dortmund. Manager Hans Dieter-Flick saw his side overcome a resilient Union Berlin with a 2-0 victory last week. That victory made it 11 wins and 1 draw from their last 12 league games. It was way back on 30th November, 2019 when this side last tasted defeat at home in the league.
Eintracht Frankfurt had been looking like they could take the next step in their modern day evolution to break into the Champions League spots but player sales have halted that progress. Adi Hutter's side are now wallowing down in 13th place and after their disappointing 3-1 loss at home to Borussia Monchengladbach last week only sit 5 points above the relegation play-off place. It's now 4 defeats in a row in the league with 13 goals conceded during that run. These are worrying times for fans of Die Adler.
It goes without saying that everyone is backing the home win here. It's simply more a question of by how many and how quickly will the Frankfurt defences crumble? Bayern are simply irresistible at home right now and are storming their way to another Bundesliga title. Only something special and miraculous can prevent a one-way affair in this game and I can't see it.
Bayern Munich -2 @ 2.00 with Betfair
Robert Lewandowski to Score 2 Goals or More @ 2.50 with SpreadEx

I'll keep an eye on it for a few weeks then maybe get involved, maybe do a bit of research.

Nice one @StevieDay1983, followed you on both last night