Jones Knows has been on fire lately, nailing World Cup winners, and the last two games of this exciting tournament offer him more more betting opportunities.
Third-place matchup: Saturday at 3pm, Crotia vs. Morocco
Not everyone enjoys watching these games, but I find that my punting heart rate increases significantly before this matchup since both teams like to let off the gas a little bit and make it a high-scoring affair. This is shown by the fact that just one of the 19 World Cup third-place playoff matches has ended in a tie after 90 minutes. Obviously, every team wants to win.
This should be the case, since there are two teams with high hopes for a third-place finish at the World Cup.
Goals and shots both have betting markets.
The average goals per 90 minutes skyrockets to 3.7 in the preceding 19 third-place playoffs for the World Cup, implying that if you had blindly backed that goals line across the years, you would have done rather well at the rates.
Sky Bet offers odds of 4/5 that the match will include over 2.5 goals, a wager that has paid off in 10 of the past 11 third-place playoffs.
That’s a wager worth thinking about, but I’ll be putting my cash on the shots markets, where the odds-against to attack are really enticing. More shots are taken during these exhibition games when the goal differential is higher.
In the previous 14 years of playoffs for third place, an average of 31.2 shots have been recorded every 90 minutes of play. Having a shots line of 25 or more with 4/5 available from Sky Bet means a lot of opportunities in different markets. The Morocco player shooting markets, especially Hakim Ziyech’s lines, are my go-to weapon.
The Chelsea player is ideal for a shots bet since he has a lot of room to approach the goal while playing on the ‘wrong’ side of the field; as a result, he often attempts long-range swerving efforts with his stronger left foot.
The 3.07 shots per 90 minutes he has averaged in 51 Premier League games for Chelsea is a very respectable figure. Despite playing for a team that prioritises defence, he has taken more shots per 90 minutes than any other Moroccan player in the World Cup (1.3). This time around, they’ll have a lot more leeway, and Ziyech may even start shooting on sight. Sky Bet offers odds of 13/8 for me to wager that he will take three or more shots, 4/1 if he takes four or more, and 100/30 if he takes two or less shots on goal.