The Premier League hurtles inexorably towards its conclusion as the Football League playoffs begin this weekend and we’ve fallen only one Hatter short of a Hatter-Trick of nickname related tips with best bets including the clubs of those one-time twin bastions of the millinery trade, Luton and Stockport.
Weekend Football Betting Tips
Brentford to beat West Ham @ 1/1
Sunderland vs Luton – Draw @ 21/10
Stockport to beat Salford @ 29/20
View the latest football odds at Betzone
Bees will get Gtech buzzing again at the expense of Euro-zonked Irons
Brentford have assembled a sterling home resume in the Premier League this season, winning eight and drawing seven of 17 outings in front of their support.
This fixture likely represents their last serious chance of sending the faithful home happy in 2022/23, with treble chasing Manchester City their only remaining subsequent top-flight visitors.
Thomas Frank’s side triumphed 2-0 at the London Stadium earlier this season and showed they’re still a long way from the beach when scoring twice after the 80th minute to down relegation battling Nottingham Forest in their previous home game.
West Ham themselves came from behind to record a 2-1 win in the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night.
That should doubly benefit Brentford, who will be the better rested side taking on rivals with at least one eye on heading to the Netherlands next week to seal their passage to a first European final since the 1976 Cup Winners’ Cup showpiece.
Tip: Brentford to beat West Ham @ 1/1
Sunderland stalemates a speciality from the Drawsome Hatters
Luton finished a brilliant third in the Championship this season but could already be in the promised land had they converted a few of their joint-division-leading 17 draws into wins.
Those 17 stalemates included sharing the spoils 1-1 home and away with Sunderland, with the Hatters taking the lead in both encounters only to be pegged back. Little surprise to see 1-1 the 21/4 correct score betting favourite in this encounter.
The Black Cats were another of the second tier’s leading drawers. They shared the spoils 15 times in regular season, with nine of those 15 coming at the Stadium of Light.
Tip: Sunderland vs Luton – Draw @ 21/10
Stockport can take advantage of City’s poor Peninsula Stadium record
Salford host the first leg of this all-Greater-Manchester affair but whether they can really claim home advantage is questionable given they would have finished in the bottom half of a League Two based purely on home results.
Only four sides in the division lost more home games than Neil Wood’s side during the campaign just finished. Stockport are more than capable of inflicting another reverse here, having won four of their last six on the road and beaten Salford 2-0 at the Peninsula Stadium earlier this season.
