Looking to continue a strong season of Championship winners, Joe Rindl has two best bets as out-of-form Huddersfield take on high-flying Cardiff.
Football betting tips: Huddersfield v Cardiff
2pts Cardiff to win at 23/20 (General)
0.5pt Cardiff -1 handicap at 16/5 (General)
Well Mick McCarthy, I think the footballing world owes you an apology.
I - like so many other journalists, tipsters and fans - thought your appointment to Cardiff City at the start of January was a backward, uninspired and quite frankly boring step.
You hadn’t managed in England since walking away from the Ipswich job in 2018.
You’d just been sacked by Cypriot First Division club APOEL after five defeats in your eight games in charge.
And The Bluebirds sat 15th in the Sky Bet Championship table on the back of six successive defeats when you took control. Ten points separated your new side and Bournemouth in 6th.
But you've proved me wrong Mick. What's followed has been a meteoric McCarthy masterclass.
Cardiff soar as Huddersfield sink
Cardiff are the Championship’s in-form team, collecting 24 points from the 10 games McCarthy's took the helm. They now occupy the final play-off spot with 12 matches remaining this term.
Oh, and they’ve also scored 24 goals in that stretch and conceded just seven. Their promotion odds have been slashed from 50/1 a few weeks ago to 7/1 after their 4-0 thrashing of tricky Derby last time out.
Basically, McCarthy has made Cardiff rather good.
And that’s a complete contrast to lowly Huddersfield Town. In all competitions, their record in 2021 looks like this: Loss, Loss, Loss, Loss, Loss, Draw, Draw, Loss, Loss, Win, Loss, Loss, Loss, Draw.
That one 4-1 win over Swansea is very much a blip, with Huddersfield winning by three clear goals despite only mustering 0.95 expected goals (xG) according to Infogol.
The Terriers have been awful since New Year’s Day and are nervously looking over their shoulders in 19th. Only Rotherham and bottom side Wycombe have lost more games than the West Yorkshire side this season.
Who should I back?
So you’d expect a Cardiff win to be priced at something like 1/10 then right?
Well boys and girls, I’ve got a treat for you. High-flying CARDIFF TO BEAT HUDDERSFIELD is odds against at a general price of 23/20.
There must be a catch!
Well yes, there is one. The Bluebirds will be without Joe Bennet who suffered a horrific ACL injury against Derby in the week.
The 30-year-old has been sensational at left-wing-back and his knock did look to visibly disturb his teammates.
But I think likely replacement Joel Bagan will do a fine job down the left and I still feel the Bluebirds, with seven wins from their last eight, will cruise past Huddersfield who have suffered 10 losses in 14 games.
In fact, given that the home side were so poor in their 3-0 defeat to midtable Preston last weekend and were very nearly beaten by Birmingham City on Tuesday - a team in even worse form than them - I’m happy to back a handicap bet.
CARDIFF AT -1 HANDICAP is generally available at 16/5. This means that we get a winner if the Bluebirds win by two clear goals, so a 2-0 or 3-1 would suffice.
It’s not very often that punters can win big backing the favourite, but Friday could represent such an opportunity.
Cardiff v Huddersfield score prediction and best bets
- 2pts Cardiff to win at 23/20 (General)
- 0.5pt Cardiff -1 Handicap at 16/5 (General)
Score prediction: Huddersfield 0-3 Cardiff (Sky Bet odds: 18/1)
Odds correct at 0910 GMT on 04/03/21
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