Peruvian club Sporting Cristal have shown plenty of promise in front of goal to suggest they can record their first victory. Having scored the opening goal against Fluminense, as well as two away to River Plate last week, there’s plenty of attacking talent for them to net against their Wednesday night competition The Strongest.

Bolivian teams do not travel well in this competition when they are away from their high-altitude surroundings. Sporting Cristal are strong at home, and although Fluminense were only able to score one against The Strongest last time out; the Peruvians are strong from set pieces.

Brazilian centre back Ignacio scored from a free kick against River Plate, before Washington Corozo curled home a free kick from just outside the box. With The Strongest expected to sit deep and defend their box, Sporting Cristal know they are weak from set pieces, and that the Peruvians are strong.

It may take gritted determination and fight, but Sporting Cristal can register their first Libertadores group stage victory at 1.73.

Both of these two teams have featured in the top tier Eliteserien in recent years. Jerv have handled relegation reasonably well so far with 2 wins and 2 defeats. It is very noticeable that all of their matches have been BTTS and over 2.5 goals which is a theme continued on from last season. Their attacking prowess is strong but there are still plenty of holes defensively. They lost 2-1 away to newly promoted Moss at the weekend which is not a shocking defeat. Moss are playing some good football right now and it is a tough venue for anyone travelling there. Jerv rank 7th for expected goals (5.52) and have the joint top scorer in the league with Samuel Pedro who has netted four times.

This is a very winnable game for Jerv at home to a Mjøndalen outfit who are struggling mightily. MIF have lost their last three consecutive games and their underlying metrics are extremely worrying. They have been the worst team both for xG and xGA with their defence looking very poor. Their xGA of 9.42 from four matches is high and clearly
stands out as the worst of any team. Kevin Nicol has kept the managerial role after impressing as an interim towards the end of last season but is already under significant pressure. The Jerv defence isn’t reliable, but Mjøndalen have only scored one goal in four games. It’s a surprise to see the home team as big as 1.95 to win here. They are clearly playing better football and on paper they possess more quality.

Teams getting relegated from the Eliteserien usually have a good record in this division and Jerv are worth backing at this price to register their third victory of the season.

For those who followed the most recent over 2.5 goals tip in the Start vs Raufoss match, all seemed lost until a late glutton of goals. With the scoreline 0-0 Start opened the scoring in the 80th minute before Raufoss sensationally turned things around by scoring 3 times in the space of 8 mins! It was a shock result seeing Raufoss beat one of the favourites for promotion away from home, but this is as a team packed with attacking firepower this season. Andreas Helmersen has already bagged a couple of goals and in total Raufoss have netted 7 times. They have been strong with xG metrics of 5.58, which is the 6th best in the OBOS Ligaen.

Åsane have yet to win a match this season but have drawn 3 out of 4 contests. This could be their toughest test yet, because their fixture list has been relatively easy thus far. Åsane statistically have decent xG metrics; in four games their total xG has been 6.23 which is the 3rd most of any team in the league. So far, they have underachieved in front of goal so it might just be a matter of time before they find attacking form. At the other end of the field Åsane have yet to keep a clean sheet and are generally known for playing quite an attacking style under manager Morten Rossland. He has been in charge for over four seasons now, leading us to know what you’re going to get with Åsane and there are no surprises.

All things considered; I think we can expect this to be an attacking game of football. We know from the metrics that both teams should have goals in them, with Raufoss especially in a confident mood. The best bet is either both teams to score or over 2.5 goals. It is worth noting that the last two Åsane matches have both ended 1-1. However, I prefer to take the over 2.5 due to bigger odds and the sheer fact that Raufoss alone are scoring so freely.

The huge shock result in the previous round was Skeid beating Ranheim 4-0 away from home. They were a big underdog in that fixture but four second half goals sealed them a famous victory. They were perhaps lucky though, at least to keep a clean sheet because
Ranheim actually outgunned them 2.36 to 2.04 on xG. It is striking how poor Skeid’s defensive metrics are this season; they have an overall xGA of 8.02 which is the second worst in the entire OBOS. Let’s not forget, this is a semi-professional club who only secured their status in this division via the relegation playoff match last season. They were expected to struggle this year and the victory vs Ranheim almost feels freakish. They should fancy their chances of beating newly promoted Moss though. In fact, both of these teams should be eyeing up this fixture for a potential 3 points.

Moss have equipped themselves well since coming back into the OBOS Ligaen. They have been strong offensively and won their first match of the season 2-1 vs Jerv in the previous round. They have faced some strong teams already such as Fredrikstad & Start. It is to Moss’s credit that they have the best overall xG of any team (7.24) but actually only converted that into 4 goals. They are clearly trending upwards though and there are some positive signs.

This should be an exciting end to end type game between two confident teams who have just won their first matches of the season. It’s the type of game in which neither team is likely to be defensive because they both fancy getting their hands on the victory. Over 2.5 goals stand out as a good price at 1.60.

Sampdoria are on their way to Serie B, make no mistake about it. Bottom of the table and 10 points adrift with six games to play, Samp welcome Torino to Marassi for what will be one of their last home games in the top flight for quite a while. With Genoa on the way back up, relegation will be all the more painful for the Blucerchiati.

What makes matters worse for Samp fans, beyond the fear of the club falling out of existence this summer, is that they’ve had to endure the worst football in Italy over the last ten months and that they’ve scored just 20 goals all season speaks volumes.

In Torino, they’re hosting a well-organised and well-drilled side under Ivan Juric, and Toro still have ambitions of finishing in the top half of the table. Currently 12th on 42 points, they’ll be eyeing eighth-placed Bologna who sit on 45 as a side they want to catch. Even they, though, have just 33 goals to their name in 32 Serie A games this season.

Sampdoria, with just one home win all season, are suffering. Torino will likely add to that this midweek, and it probably won’t be a thriller. One to give a miss if you can only watch a couple of games of this midweek round, but a low-scoring affair should be a safe bet.

Elfsborg’s season has improved steadily after not winning their first two matches and have now put together three wins in a row. Last weekend, they defeated the rugged Mjällby 1-0 away from home in a very even and lively encounter. Elfsborg did create the better chances though, slightly edging the game on xG (1.08 to 0.86), creating two big chances while Mjällby fashioned none.

Gustav Lagerbielke, coming back from a fruitful loan spell at Degerfors, has been in and out of the starting XI this season. He began on the bench versus Mjällby but came on at half-time and his aerial prowess proved the decider, rising high from a crossed free kick to score the only goal of the game. The young Swedish central defender has a bright future, having already made his debut for the national team. Jacob Ondrejka, replacing the injured Bernhardsson, was very lively too, and showed he is ready for the next step in his career this summer.

Halmstad’s return to the top flight has been a mixed bag, beating two big but struggling sides in AIK and Djurgården, while being defeated by Degerfors, Kalmar and most recently Brommapojkarna. Points against bigger teams are a nice bonus, but beating other teams likely to struggle at the wrong end of the table is more important to this team. Normally so strong at home, Brommapojkarna dominated them at Örjans Vall on Saturday, although Wallentin’s early red card and penalty conceded didn’t help.

The starting lineup for Hamstad is of decent quality, especially defensively, as we saw in Superettan last year. It remains to be seen, though, if there is enough firepower to maintain their Allsvenskan status. Viktor Granath, top scorer in the second division with 24 goals, only has bagged 1 in 5 this season. More varied goal threats, outside of Erik Ahlstrand who has started the season on fire, are needed to step up in order to survive.

Halmstad haven’t yet claimed any points away from home and have seen at least two goals in all games so far, and that is expected to continue against a strong Elfsborg side.

Häcken continued their fine start to the campaign last game, handily beating IFK Värnamo 3-1 at home and remaining second in the Allsvenskan table. Their only stumbling block has been a surprising loss to the impressive Kalmar, and the reigning champions look very capable of mounting a real title challenge this time around too.

Prospect Benie Traore didn’t see much playing time last season with a settled lineup, but has slotted in at striker in place of last season’s top scorer Jeremejeff. Traore is a different type of striker to Jeremejeff, but could follow in his footsteps and has six goals already, only topped by Kiese Thelin in the whole division.

The team is incredibly versatile and has bags of both creavitity and goal threat from a number of positions. Lars Olden Larsen was not a starter last season but has been on fire this year, already beating his assist figures for 2022. Rygaard provides a real goal threat from midfield, and the excellent Simon Gustafson is still to come back into the side too, although that will take some time. There are virtually no weaknesses in this team and it looks like a two-horse race between Malmö and Häcken is on the cards.

Djurgården, on the other hand, have had real struggles to start off 2023. The loss of their two best players last year really hurt them and the replacements have not stepped up. Pushing hard for the title in 2022, eventually trumped by Häcken, they look nowhere near as strong this time around and have only mustered 7 points in 5 matches. Their attacking play is not working as well as it should yet, with the managerial duo still attempting to find the right comination up front.

They have tinkered with Oliver Berg as a false 9 and Victor Edvardsen as a more traditional striker, but neither have shown to improve
performances massively. They are underperforming on their xG, having only scored 5 goals from 7.5 xG, but there are deeper issues within this squad than meets the eye. The rebuild may take a bit longer than was expected, or at least patience will be needed until the right combination is found for the starting XI.

Rasmus Schuller, who shields the defence well but came off injured at the weekend, misses this game, and his absence will be felt. They’ve been too open defensively and Häcken are experts at exposing that, with all but one of their games seeing over 2.5 goals. Their last meeting, in the cup, ended in a 3-0 victory for Häcken.

Despite recording 17 goal attempts on the road against Panathinaikos, AEK Athens were unlucky to hit the woodwork twice and ended up with a 0-0 draw against their title rivals. The two teams sit top of the Greek Super League table, level on points, but Panathinaikos have the advantage after finishing top in the regular season and avoiding defeat to AEK in the playoffs. This means that should Panathinaikos win all of  their remaining three games, AEK will miss out on the title. However, there is still hope at the OPAP Arena, as Panathinaikos have two tough duels home against PAOK and away at fierce rivals Olympiacos.

After suffering a damaging 3-1 defeat on home soil against Olympiacos just before the playoffs kicked off, AEK bounced back with a 3-1 win of their own, away at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium to end Olympiacos’ title hopes last week. In a must-win game for Olympiacos, AEK were the better team and were clinical enough to clinch all three points. No team have managed more home wins than AEK (13) this season and the hosts have picked up more home points (40) than any other Greek side in 2022/23.

They will face an Olympiacos side which has nothing to play for. Jose Anigo’s men may have put five past a poor Volos side, but they are the most inconsistent Big-4 side this season. Their ego received a major blow with their defeat to AEK on home soil, but even this may not be enough to break down Matias Almeyda’s solid side. AEK’s schedule is easier than that of Panathinaikos, which means that a win over Olympiacos will help them pile the pressure on their title rivals, with this being their toughest fixture for the remainder of the season.

Aris played well in the derby away at city rivals PAOK on Sunday, but they failed to hold firm and recorded a 3-2 loss at the Toumba Stadium. PAOK demonstrated that they are superior and wanted the win more than the visitors, as Aris have all but secured Europa League qualification for next season. To mathematically clinch a European spot, Aris need one point against Volos, who have long given up their hopes for a top-5 spot.

Volos have lost six of their seven playoff games, including a 3-0 home defeat to Aris last week. For Volos, this season is already considered more than successful, as they managed to make the top-6 of the Championship Group, this being their best finish ever in the competition. Their poor performance away at Olympiacos on Sunday led to a 5-0 defeat to the reigning Greek Super League champions.

This was the fourth time they conceded three or more goals in a playoff game this season. In fact, no Greek side have conceded more goals than Volos (56 in 33 games) this season. This means that Wednesday’s clash will be a duel between the worst defence and the fourth-best attack in the league. Only three teams have scored more home goals than Aris (29 in 16 games) thus far. Aris are very solid on home soil, where they have managed 10 wins in 16 matches. A draw could also help them clinch European football, but the ever-increasing feud between the two clubs that saw Aris fans attack Volos president in the past will give the team an extra motivation to push for all three points.

Aris score 1.5 and concede more than one goal per game, while Volos average one goal scored and 1.7 goals conceded this season. Both teams are expected to rotate due to the congested calendar, but only one side will actually have the motivation to push for a win here.

Panathinaikos held firm and were lucky to see AEK hit the woodwork twice on Sunday, as they managed to secure a 0-0 draw which gives them the advantage in the title race. Should they win all of their last three games, Panathinaikos will celebrate their first league title since 2010. Apostolos Nikolaidis was buzzing on Sunday evening and it will be even more tense on Wednesday, as Panathinaikos need to bounce back from a poor display against AEK and secure all three points
against PAOK.

The two teams have faced each other three times in the league this season. Panathinaikos came out victorious on two occasions and PAOK managed a home win back in January. Yet, in the last game between the two sides, a spirited Panathinaikos demonstrated again their die-hard mentality and secured a 2-1 win courtesy of a Fotis Ioannidis penalty kick one minute into the second half’s stoppage time. Panathinaikos will be in desperate need of a victory, as they want to head into Sunday’s derby away at Olympiacos as leaders.

The hosts have showed on several occasions this season that they know how to handle pressure and secure wins. Their last three games of the season, including this one, are the most important duels in their recent history and Panathinaikos are expected to throw everything they have at PAOK. Meanwhile, the visitors have nothing to play for. Their most important league game in the remainder of the season took place on Sunday, when they defeated Aris 3-2 in the Thessaloniki derby. Razvan Lucescu should be expected to rotate his team in his bid to avoid injuries and the team’s intensity levels will likely drop ahead of the Greek Cup final in late May.

Winning the Cup is PAOK’s only objective now and they are expected to focus all their efforts on doing so. Meanwhile, Panathinaikos are aware that a win on Wednesday will bring them one step closer to putting an end to a 13-year drought and finally winning the league title.

Burton Albion, who guaranteed safety in League One with victory at Lincoln City this time last week, have a big external influence on the relegation battle. The Brewers end the season with two home games where the pressure is low for them, but the stakes are very high for first Cambridge United and then Milton Keynes Dons. Dino Maamria’s side have built their successful survival on a number of impressive home results, being beaten just twice at the Pirelli Stadium this calendar year. With their season done however, might this be an opportunity for the Tunisian to assess the health and future of his squad, at the same time bleeding in youngsters like wing-back Thierry Latty-Fairweather?

The only team who needs all the points at the Pirelli Stadium are Cambridge United who, following a crucial 2-1 victory at Accrington Stanley at the weekend, are now in the prime position to secure safety. The U’s looked dead and buried as April rolled around but since have picked up four wins and 15 points from the last 21 available to them. Bulgarian Dimitar Mitov has been impressive across the season in goal. Club legend Harrison Dunk has made key contributions recently from left-back.

Charlton Athletic loanee Conor McGrandles has been an under-appreciated star in deeper midfield. Cambridge have most often been able to turn to striker Sam Smith. The 25-year-old has six goals across this last seven matches, and has shown in the past to particularly love facing Burton Albion. Since Cambridge United won promotion to League One back in 2021, the U’s have picked up two wins and a draw in their three meetings with Burton. Bonners’ side have netted nine goals across those three games against the Brewers, and Sam Smith has five of those goals including a hat-trick when the pair met at the Abbey Stadium back in August.

Wednesday night is hugely significant in the League One relegation battle. Cambridge, knowing that they host rock bottom Forest Green Rovers on the final day, have a golden opportunity to climb out of the bottom four against a Burton Albion they have a good recent history with and who have nothing left to play for. The rest of the relegation battlers will be praying for the Brewers to take at least a point off them, ideally all three, but they could well be left disappointed. It’s time for the U’s to leaves themselves one step away from a miracle survival.

2022-23 has been a forgettable season for Crewe Alexandra, but they are at least enjoying a positive end to it. Recovery from a horrific 2021-22 season has led to the Alex spending the majority of the campaign in the bottom of the half of the table, struggling with consistency and seeing a transition from Alex Morris to Lee Bell with the former stepping down from his duties as manager due to personal reasons.

Saturday’s 2-1 win over Swindon Town on Saturday was a fourth win in a row at Gresty Road and a 5th win in 6 unbeaten games on home soil. Bell has made the switch to a 4-3-3 where young breakout midfielder Joel Tabiner is among the standouts. Rod McDonald and Connor O’Riordan have established themselves in the centre of the back four, Conor Thomas adds value in a disciplined midfield role, whilst up top the strong attacking threat of top scorer Dan Agyei and the now fit Courtney Baker-Richardson can cause major problems.

Results at the weekend mean that Bradford City are not yet out of the automatic conversation just yet. The Bantams sit seventh on 75 points, but possess a valuable game in hand. If they win this match at Gresty Road they move level on points with fourth place Stockport County and just two points behind third place Northampton Town with one game to play. Mark Hughes’ side will take confidence from being one of the best sides on the road in League Two this season. Their total of 39 points from 22 away matches is only bettered by Salford City. Bradford also have the division’s top scorer in Andy Cook, who notched his 27th league goal on Saturday at Northampton Town. Scott Banks is an exciting player, playing inverted on the right flank. Jamie Walker can provide moments of individual quality, but would like to have more to his name than he currently does.

Wednesday in Cheshire decides if the final day dogfight is between three teams or two. Bradford City simply need to win and will relish being on the road with a prolific striker leading the line, but face a tough challenge away to a Crewe who are unbeaten in six on home soil, and have failed to score in all but three home games since the turn of the year. Northampton Town and Stockport County fans will be watching on keenly…

With three wins on the bounce and a four-game unbeaten run, Monza are one of Serie A’s form teams as they prepare to welcome Europa League semi-finalists Roma on Wednesday. Jose Mourinho will want to spoil their party though.

Although wins against Inter and a high-flying Fiorentina recently will fill the hosts with confidence, nobody knows how to burst a bubble quite like Mourinho does. The hosts have scored at least twice in three of their last four – failing to do so as they beat Inter 1-0 and their good run started after a 2-0 loss at home to another Roman side in Lazio.

Mourinho will travel north with a clear plan of stopping Monza, and their 3-0 win over the then-newcomers back in August shows that they’re more than capable of swatting the Lombard side off without too much fuss.

Aside from a recent three-match run against Feyenoord (albeit with extra time), Atalanta, and Udinese, Roma games don’t tend to be goal-filled. It’s not uncommon to see a 1-0 scoreline either way when they play, and a result of that nature wouldn’t be a great shock whoever the winner here.

Roma will be seeking to shut Monza down first and foremost, and another low-scoring affair should await just north of Milan.

José Bordalás has returned to Getafe which brings his defensive style of football back. During his previous stint as coach of Los Azulones between 2016 and 2021, Getafe became known for their rough and tough style of play, prioritising defence and sneaking victories wherever they could.

Already in Bordalás’ re-debut on Sunday, a 1-0 loss away at Espanyol in which the only goal was a penalty, we saw this style employed and it wasn’t too hard for the players to embrace since they’d already been playing quite defensively under Quique Sánchez Flores, scoring 0.94 goals per game on average, and conceding 1.32.

On Wednesday night, in the coach’s home re-debut, his return to the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez, we can expect Getafe to give up possession to a Celta Vigo side that like to have the ball, but aren’t the most clinical in the final third. The return from suspension of Djené, the team’s captain and leading centre-back, is timely and he’ll be looking to lead Getafe to a clean sheet.

Getafe matches this season have produced just 2.22 goals on average. Considering their matches produced just 1.87 on average during Bordalás’ last season in charge of the club in 2020/21, and his re-debut on Sunday was a 1-0, we are likely to experience some truly defensive football at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez.