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I am also backing the draw in this match as Wolves are the draw specialists in the league from the last 2 seasons and there has not been one draw so far in this round. Sheffield are strong when playing on their own turf but Wolves are generally the better side.

Lazio vs Inter: 1:1 Lazio (18) and Inter (16) own the two current longest unbeaten runs in Serie A across the Top 5 European leagues, only Liverpool (42) are currently on a longer run without defeat. I do not expect either team to lose and the only 2 away games that Inter did not win this season ended 1:1. 28 out of 76 games between Lazio and Inter at Stadio Olimpico ended as ties making it the most frequent outcome of those matches. However, the last time they drew at Lazio's stadium in Serie A was more than 10 years ago - back in 2008 a 1:1 match. I think a draw is a risky bet but like the odds of +6 for correct score 1:1.

Burnley

Man City

Lazio vs Juventus: HT/FT Draw/Juve Inter lost points vs Roma and Juve now have the opportunity to go back at the top of the table with a win in Rome. Lazio are on a run of 9 games without a loss since the game vs Inter, winning 7 and the last 6. However, Lazio have lost 20 out of 31 Serie A games vs teams above them in the table since Inzaghi's appointment in 2016. Their habit of losing vs the best Italian teams was particularly evident last year when they lost 10 out of 14 games vs the top 7. Juve has the highest % of games half time/ full time draw/win in Europe with 8 such wins from 14 matches(4/7 away). Only the Egyptian Al Mokawloon Al Arab has higher % of such games in the whole world ?, according to stats from fctables.com. Juve has drawn 11 out of 14 games and 6 out of 7 away matches this season in the first 45 minutes - the highest number for both in Serie A. The last four matches between Lazio and Juve at Stadio Olimpico all ended as HT/FT Draw/Juve win. I like the odds around 6 for late Juve win.

Atalanta vs Dinamo Zagreb: Atalanta & BTTS This is a must win game for Atalanta if they want to progress in Europe. Atalanta's problem is that they concede too many goals. They have conceded a goal in 15 out of 17 games since start of the season & 13 of those matches saw both teams scoring. 5 out of 6 wins for Atalanta also had goals in both ends. Dinamo Zagreb had 2 thrilling high scoring draws in the last 2 rounds of the Champions League season vs Shakhtar (3:3 & 2:2). The team is more experienced than Atalanta in Europe after going to the round of 16 in Europa League last year. 2 of their 3 losses in Europa League last season had both teams scoring. Question is if Atalanta can beat Dinamo after losing 4:0 in Zagreb. If they do win, then most likely both teams are going to score and the odds near 3 seem worth it.

I am trying a 4 game combo Half time or full time draw in the Segunda Division games between Extremadura vs Deportivo, Elche vs Almeria, Numancia vs Rayo, Zaragoza vs Albacete. Odds of +6 Extremadura and Deportivo have both led at half time just 1 time out of 15 games so far. La Coruna also have 7 full time draws from 15 matches. Almeria have drawn 7 games so far and 5 out of 8 away matches. The appointment of Guti as manager resulted in another draw. Almeria are on a 3 away games streak of draws and 5 of their last 6 Segunda Division matches ended level. Rayo have drawn 8 games so far this season while 9 of Numancia's matches in the league were stalemates at half time. The last four matches between Numancia and Rayo were draws as well. Albacete have drawn at half time a league high of 11 times. They have just 1 full time draw, which is the lowest in the division. However, 7 out of 12 Segunda Division matches between Zaragoza and Albacete were level. Albacete's manager Luis Miguel Ramis has drawn all 3 games when he faced Zaragoza, including both matches between these teams last season

Udinese vs SPAL: Udinese -1 Draw The new manager effect boosted Udine as they won away vs Genoa in the first game since Tudor got fired, which was a rather harsh decision but goes to show that Udine simply do not want to be in the relegation mix and have high standards. SPAL on the other hand seem to be destined for Serie B next season as they used to draw at home vs bottom side teams but now are losing those 6-pointers without the attacking threat of Lazzari that was sold to Lazio. Rodrigo de Paul scored his first goal of the season vs Genoa and should help the low scoring Udine snatch a narrow victory. Udinese have won 3 games at home from 6 and all were with 1 goal difference. 6 out of 8 wins for Udine last season at home were by 1 goal margin, including a 3:2 game vs SPAL. SPAL are the Serie A team with most games lost with 1 goal difference since start of last season 15 out of 49 and tied with Bologna for most away losses in a similar fashion 9 out of 24. It is worth noting that SPAL have played 2 less away games than Bologna so far this season and have also lost every single one of their 5 away matches. Odds above 3.5 seem a bit generous and should be closer to 3 in my opinion.

Athletic Bilbao vs Levante: Athletic Bilbao-1 Draw Only 3 rounds in the last two seasons there was not a La Liga match when at least one home team won by 1 goal difference. Already this season there were two rounds dominated by 0:0 stalemates without a home side winning with 1 goal margin. Out of the 5 remaining games Levante are the team with the highest % of away losses by just 1 goal margin last season (70% or 7 out of 10 away losses). 3 out of 4 their away losses this season were also by 1 goal difference. I know Levante won at home vs Barca in the last round but they lost the very next game even after the last time they won on their own turf vs Barcelona in a thrilling 5:4 game 2 seasons ago. Athletic Bilbao had the second highest % of home wins by just 1 goal difference last season(66% or 6 out of 9 home wins) from remaining home sides this round after Betis. They have just one such win out of 4 home wins so far this season and the coincidence is that it was against Barca in the first round.

Parma vs Torino: Draw Parma had 5 wins, 7 draws and 7 losses at home last season, but didn't manage to beat one of the top 10 sides at home - losing 6 games and 4 matches ended level. Parma lost all 4 matches at home vs top 4 teams(Juve, Napoli, Inter, Atalanta), so Gialloblu had 4 draws out of 6 games at home vs top half teams outside of top 4 like Torino. Meanwhile, Torino drew 13, won 4 and lost just 2 away games last season. That record will most probably not be repeated as Torino had its first away loss last season in mid January and the team already lost away vs Sampdoria 1:0. Anyway, it is worth noting that il Toro drew all 7 away games last season vs teams from 10th to 16th place, including a goalless tie vs Parma. Both Parma and Torino are coming off narrow home wins in last round and both teams are yet to have a single draw after 5 games. Expected goals data shows that Torino should have been second from bottom, but that just points out how difficult it is to score past Sirigu and how clinical il Toro are at the front. Torino lost their last 2 games vs not so open teams from bottom half of the table and I suspect they will be happy with a point from the visit to Parma.

Everton vs Sheffield United: HT/FT Draw/Everton Everton are the team with most Half Time/Full Time Draw/Wins at home in the each of the last 2 seasons 7 in 17/18 and 6 in 18/19. Everton had the most draws at half time at home (10) from all Premiership teams last season. They are on 6 games win streak at home in the league and none of their matches so far this season at home were half time/full time draw/win. Everton had 5 such games out of 6 home matches vs newly promoted sides in the last 2 seasons. Sheffield United have drawn both of their away games so far this season and seem to be tough to crack, so I like the odds above 4 and a late win for Everton.

I also fancy Parma to win vs Cagliari. Cagliari have lost 37 out of 57 away games since coming back in Serie A, winning 10 and drawing another 10 times. Pavolleti is out for 7 months and he is a huge miss for Cagliari as he was their top scorer with 16 Serie A goals and their second most prolific scorer Joao Pedro had 7. Pedro has scored the only goal for Cagliari so far this season. I also believe Barella's move to Inter and bringing Radja Nainggolan has not improved the team. I would be looking for a draw in the game between Brescia and Bologna. 7 out of 10 games between Brescia and Bologna since the start of new millennium when Brescia were hosts ended as draws and 4 out of 6 in Serie A. Bologna have not won away vs Brescia since 1998. Bologna already drew away vs one newly promoted team. They lost once and had 2 away ties vs newly promoted sides last season. Brescia have 1 win vs Cagliari and 1 loss vs Milan from the first 2 rounds that they played away from home. Bologna are unbeaten so far after late win vs Spal and 1 draw vs Verona. 16 out of 27 newly promoted teams had at least one draw after 3 Serie A matches since the Juve reign started in 2011/12 and 38 out of 64 since the start of new millennium. Bologna are on a 5 game unbeaten streak in Serie A but they have also not won in their last 5 Serie A away games, drawing last 2 matches.

Eibar vs Espanyol: Eibar to win Eibar’s performance since the start of the season has been gradually improving after 3 away games even though they only won 1 point so far. Eibar lost 2:1 the first game as they missed a lot of chances vs Mallorca, drew 0:0 vs Osasuna and the team almost managed to take a point from last season’s best home side - Atletico Madrid scoring twice in a thrilling 3:2 game. Meanwhile, Espanyol are yet to score a goal in La Liga this season losing twice at home 0:2 vs Sevilla/0:3 vs Granada in last game and drawing 0:0 away vs Alaves. Espanyol have a hard time replacing Borja Inglesias’s 17 goals from last season (35% of all their La Liga goals) as their second most prolific scorer last season scored just 4 goals. Eibar have won 5 out of 10 games vs Espanyol in La Liga and 3 out of 5 at home, including the most recent 3:0 win at the start of 2019. Eibar’s coach Jose Luis Mendilibar has won 10 out of 18 games vs Espanyol and 6 out of 9 at home. Espanyol is actually Mendilibar’s favorite team to play against as he has the most wins in his managerial career exactly against the Catalan team.

Brighton vs Burnley: Draw Burnley won both games vs Brighton last season after a run of 5 draws between the two teams. Burnley’s coach Sean Dyche has faced Brighton 11 times, drawing 6 games or more than 50%. Last season’s win at the AMEX stadium was actually Dyche’s first there after 3 draws and 2 losses. 2 out of 4 games between Brighton and Burnley in the Premiership ended as draws. Brighton have won 80 points in 80 Premiership games since coming back to the elite level of English football. Brighton are the only team in the last 2 seasons besides Southampton whose home matches are more likely to end as a draw than any other outcome. I generally see a little less than 50% chance for a draw in this game so odds above 3 look like value to me. P.s.: As a Manchester United fan I hope we win vs Leicester. Saw a graph showing that based on expected goals Manchester United should have been second after City this season but maybe this is because of those missed penalties. I just do not think we are as bad as 8-9 place as some say. May bet on Maguire to score anytime as often players score against their former teams.

Bologna always scores goals in the second half ? anyway, my pick from Serie A this weekend is a draw between Atalanta and Torino. The game is played at a neutral stadium of Parma as Atalanta is reconstructing its stadium, so there shouldn’t be huge home advantage. Atalanta has the best Serie A record in 2019(44 points), second is Juve(40) third is Torino(39). Atalanta was also the highest scoring Serie A side last season, but this all-out attack strategy doesn’t work against the top sides. Atalanta did not win 70% of their games vs top 8(Juve, Napoli, Inter, Roma, Lazio, Milan and Torino) and drew 50% of those games or 7 ties out of 14 matches last season. Even when you take out the two best sides Juve and Napoli out of top 8, Atalanta drew 5 out of 10 games vs rest of top 8. Torino won 4, drew 4 and lost only 2 games vs the best of the rest(Inter, Roma, Lazio, Milan and Atalanta). Torino conceded the least amount of goals in those games and did not let one goal in two games vs Atalanta last season(2:0 at home and 0:0 away). Torino had 2 draws and 2 losses vs Napoli and Juve fwiw. Torino drew 13 out of 19 away games last season and they are the team with the most draws in Serie A since they returned to the top tier in 2012. Their record is 92 wins, 94 draws, 82 losses in all Serie A games since 2012/13 season and 33 wins, 53 draws and 48 losses from the away games during that period. I understand that Torino may be a bit tired after losing vs Wolves in Europa League but odds above 4 are too high in my opinion.