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·16 January 2025
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·16 January 2025
Chris Wilders Sheff United are fancied to beat Norwich on Saturday
Having slugged it out in back-to-back 2-2 draws with Roma and Inter Milan, Bologna will hope to have a more comfortable time of it on Saturday when they welcome bottom club Monza to the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara.
The teams last met at that ground as recently as December 3rd, when a rampant Bologna put 4 goals without reply past Monza in the Coppa Italia. That was Bologna's biggest win of the campaign in any competition so far and they are priced attractively to topple the same opponents in Serie A.
Monza won for only the second time this season when they produced a shock 2-1 win over Fiorentina on Monday, however, they lost the expected goals battle by a distance (0.70 to 1.40) on that occasion and they are unlikely to be as fortunate against Bologna.
Bologna seemed to carve through the Monza defence with ease in December's cup tie, peppering their visitor's goal with 9 shots on target and buoyed by that one-sided performance, the Rossoblù can dominate again.
Stuttgart and Freiburg are separated by just three places and two points in the current Bundesliga standings, though home advantage is likely to be significant when the sides clash at the MHPArena on Saturday.
Freiburg have been hugely reliant on their home form this season and have collected 70.3% of their 27 points at the Europa-Park Stadion, though their poor results on the road continue to hamstring their overall progress.
Their 4-1 reverse at Eintracht Frankfurt in midweek was the latest in a string of brutal defeats pre and post-winter break. Freiburg were also taken apart by Borussia Dortmund (4-0) and Bayern Munich (5-1) in the run-up to Christmas before their similarly heavy loss in Frankfurt on Tuesday, and they could suffer on their travels again on Saturday.
Stuttgart meanwhile, secured a significant win over RB Leipzig (2-1) on Wednesday evening and have earned maximum points since the German campaign's restart.
Sebastien Hoeneß's side is a top-four performer for xGF (33.0) and for both shots (14.69) and shots on target per 90 minutes (5.24) in the Bundesliga this season, so it's no surprise to see them enjoying an uptick in results. Back them to win for the third time in a row at odds of [8/15/ here.
Sheffield United have been priced generously to beat Norwich at Bramall Lane on Saturday. The promotion-chasing Blades have been formidable on their own patch this season, winning 9 of their 12 Championships assignments there while conceding just 5 goals along the way. Indeed, only Burnley (4) have shipped fewer goals on home soil since the start of the campaign.
Norwich, who have personnel issues to contend with in the final third, could find it tough to breach Sheffield United's well-marshalled defence this weekend.
The Canaries have lost 15-goal top scorer Borja Sainz to a lengthy suspension following a spitting incident in a game against Sunderland last month, while USA international forward Josh Sargent is only feeling his way back to fitness after an injury layoff and will take time to get back up to speed.
Norwich have also failed to win 8 of their last 9 away games in the Championship and that dismal record coupled with the loss of Sainz makes them easy to oppose again here.
La Liga relegation candidates Leganes have been navigating a testing run of home games since mid-November and so far, the minnows have struggled badly in their games against some high-profile visitors to the Estadio Municipal de Butarque.
Leganes were beaten 3-0 by Real Madrid, 3-0 by Real Sociedad and 5-2 by Villarreal in successive home fixtures over the last 2 months and their lot is unlikely to improve when they host Diego Simeone's in-form Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
Atletico have won a sensational 15 of their last 15 matches in all competitions in a stunning sequence that stretches all the way back to October 27th, and they are favoured to win their fourth La Liga away assignment on the spin this weekend.
The La Liga leaders eased to a 3-1 win over Leganes in the clubs' reverse encounter in October and similar should be expected in Saturday's rematch.
Only Valencia (9) have collected fewer points from their home fixtures than Leganes (10) in La Liga this season, while only Villarreal (17) have conceded more goals on home turf than Los Pepineros (15). Bettors should side with Atletico in this one.
For even more expert football betting predictions for this weekend's action across Europe, plus a whole host of free betting tools, including my popular football cheat sheets, head over to Andy's Bet Club.