MARSEILLE were top of the French table at Christmas but it's not been a happy start to the new year with three defeats in their four games in all competitions.
However, Marcelo Bielsa's men are strong at home and can get their title bid back on track with a historic victory. Marseille have won all 10 of their league matches at the Velodrome this season and if they make it 11 in a row it will break a 67-year club record.
They welcome back Benjamin Mendy and Rod Fanni from suspension plus Nicolas N'Koulou from the African Cup of Nations and are 2-5 at Stan James to beat an Evian side two points off the drop zone and whose win over Toulouse last week was their first in seven Ligue Un matches.
Marseille have scored at least two goals in all but one of their home league games and are 4-9 at Betfair for over 1.5 team goals.
In Holland, leaders PSV host a side they've beaten an incredible 18 times on the bounce. Willem II will be dreading the trip to the Philips Stadion and I'm backing PSV to win -1 at 8-13 with Skybet.
To complete the treble it's on to the first weekend of Bundesliga action after the winter break. Struggling Stuttgart have failed to score in their last four home league matches, losing three of them. They entertain fourth-placed Borussia Monchengladbach whose only away Bundesliga defeats this season came at Wolfsburg and Dortmund.
Gladbach's pacy, counter-attacking style should serve them well against Huub Stevens' side and they're 4-5 in the draw no bet market at BetVictor.
Scott Allott's Euro treble
Marseille (3.30pm)
PSV -1 (5.30pm)
Gladbach draw no bet (2.30pm)
(2.8-1, BetVictor)
CC DOUBLE
BENFICA
PSV
GL LADS
Who is Scott Allott ?
nexus, Scott’s been working on the site about 3 months – mainly putting up racing and sports, checking contests and moderating comments as well as doing some European tips.
Thanks I just wondered who he was.
Man Utd / Real Madrid / Atletico Madrid
I’ve had a look at the European this weekend some amazing prices, best treble I’ve found is
Carpi 8/11
Standard liege 8/11
AZ Alkmaar 8/11
4.15/1 on coral
liverpool + draw
carpi + draw
ipswich
palace score
Marseille
Posted this on other thread. My banker bets for today.
France, Ligue 1
3:30 pm Marseille v Evian
Bet: Marseille win
Best odds: 1.36 @ sportbet, 5Dimes
Average odds: 1.34
Marseille sit third in League 1 but are just 4 points out of first and should keep the pressure on Lyon and PSG with another home win today against 16th place Evian, who they already beat 3-1 away earlier this season.
Marseille are used to collecting all 3 points at home, having gone 10-0-1 so far this season with 25 goals scored and only 8 conceded.
As mentioned Evian are 16th and bad away form is mostly to blame as they’re 2-0-9 on their travels with 11 goals scored and 25 conceded, the only wins coming against 14th place Bastia and 15th place Lorient.
Playing away at teams in the top half of the table Evian are 0-0-6 with 5 goals scored and 19 conceded, while most recently they’ve lost 4 straight road games by a combined score of 11-4, so it’s hard to see them coming away from Marseille with any points.
Portugal, Primeira
5:00 pm Benfica v Boavista
Bet: Benfica win
Best odds: 1.17 @ Bet365
Average odds: 1.15
Benfica’s nine match winning run came to an end with a loss at Pacos Ferreira last time out but it was really just one of those nights where every bounce went against them.
That result still leaves them with a dominant 15-1-2 record for the season, while at home they’re 7-1-0 with 18 goals scored and just 2 conceded, and I’d be very surprised if they don’t extend their home winning streak to 7 tonight.
Boavista are 13th in the 18 team Primeira, and though they’ve won 6 games this season 5 of those came against the 5 sides sitting below them in the table, and 4 of those were at home.
Playing away they’re 1-1-7 with just 3 goals scored and 20 conceded, and overall against any side in 12th place or higher they’re 1-1-11, so it looks like this one could get ugly.
Note: For those of you looking for decent value bets outside of the Bankers, the fact that Benfica have kept 6 clean sheets in their 8 home matches while Boavista have been held scoreless in 6 of 9 away matches makes a Benfica win to nil bet look good value at odds a little over 1.5
Scotland, Championship
5:00 pm Alloa v Hearts
Bet: Hearts win
Best odds: 1.48 @ William Hill
Average odds: 1.4
A first versus worst matchup here as Hearts are running away with the Championship and though they suffered their first loss of the season last week no one can win them all and that did come against a very in form Falkirk, who are 6-2-1 in their last 9 games.
For the season Hearts are now 17-3-1 with 54 goals scored and only 13 conceded, while playing away they’re 8-2-0, having scored 21 goals and conceded only 4.
Alloa Athletic will be fighting to avoid relegation all season long and at this point sit in last place, having only managed to collect 14 points from their first 21 games with a record of 3-5-13.
And when you consider 2 of those wins came back in August, that means they’ve only won once in their last 17 games.
Alloa are currently on a 9 match winless run with 3 draws and 6 losses and have already lost twice to Hearts this season without managing to score a goal, so it’s difficult to see them turning the tables today.
Netherlands, Eredivisie
5:30 pm PSV v Willem II
Bet: PSV win
Best odds: 1.23 @ sportbet, 5Dimes
Average odds: 1.2
Dutch leaders PSV are 15-1-2 on the season, while at home they’re a perfect 9-0-0, scoring 30 goals while conceding just 4.
Willem II are having an average year and currently sit in 10th.
Playing away they’re 3-1-6, but the draw and 2 of those wins came against the bottom 3 teams in the league.
They already lost to PSV 3-1 at home and last month were walloped 5-0 at Ajax, so PSV extending their perfect home record look