Port Vale v Coventry City – from a betting perspective, possibly the best game in England this Saturday afternoon.
Here we see two sides who, in terms of form, have looked a world apart so far this season. Having started very strongly, Port Vale suffered an ever so slight blip recently before bouncing back with a 3-1 win over Millwall in midweek. The hosts sit inside the top four and remain one of the strongest sides in this division. On the other hand, the now manager-less Coventry City find themselves looking up at the other 23 teams as they sit bottom of the pile.
Having accrued just six points, Coventry don’t exactly look the worst team you’ll ever see bottom of this division, but they certainly haven’t been good. Scoring goals when it matters is up there with the visitors biggest problems – something that certainly can’t be said about today’s hosts. With just six goals to their name, the visitors are the second lowest scorers in the league, with only Oldham below them in the table for this statistic.
Scoring goals hasn’t been a problem for Port Vale, especially at home. In fact, come to think of it, winning games hasn’t been much of a problem either, again, particularly when playing in front of a home crowd. The hosts’ record in their own backyard is their for all to see. Five league games played = five wins, 11 goals scored and just three conceded. Impressive stats indeed from The Valiants. And If ever there was a gilt-edged opportunity to make it six home league wins in a row then this is it.
Given that the home team have looked a much better side than their opponents in general, never mind at home, the fact that they’re available at odds of 13/10 is quite staggering. At such a price, given their exploits so far, ‘Port Vale to Win’ is an absolute must.
In addition, ‘Port Vale to Score Over 1.5 Goals’, at 5/4, is another cracking looking bet ahead of this fixture.
The hosts have scored two more goals in all but one of their home matches this season, putting multiple goals past better looking sides than today’s opponents too. The fact that Coventry have conceded in each of their five away games, conceding two or more in three of those, also bodes well. They’ve also conceded two or more each time they’ve faced a side from the top half of the table away from home (3).
It’s fancied that Port Vale won’t get many better opportunities to improve their home record all season and, against a bottom of the league side who’ve just sacked their manager, they look a good bet to make it six home wins from six home matches.
See all of today’s tips here.