Tom Carnduff takes a look at Friday's game in the Sky Bet Championship, where corners are expected in Coventry v Bournemouth
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Coventry v Bournemouth
- 19:45 BST on Sky Sports Football
Coventry were the Friday night feature a couple of weeks ago which landed us a successful 16/5 tip, but rather than going for goals this time around, the corners market provides some great value given the track record of the teams so far this season.
Only one of the six Sky Bet Championship fixtures involving these two sides has failed to see the corner count hit double figures, and at a price of 8/5, it's worth saying that there will be at least 12 here.
Coventry have taken seven corners in each of their three games so far; that being a 0-0 draw at Barnsley, a 3-2 victory over QPR and 2-1 defeat to Bristol City. That shows that whatever the result, they have been consistent with their corner count.
For the Cherries, who have made a great start to life back in England's second tier, they conceded eight in the recent 1-0 win over Norwich. Against Middlesbrough, both teams took seven while they had five in the season opener against Blackburn; that being the only game that fell short of the double figure target.
The high corner count is somewhat explained by the high number of shots both teams take. Coventry and Bournemouth both sit in the top-half of the table for average shots per game while the Cherries concede 15.3 shots per contest; that puts them third in the division in this area.
While both teams seem happy to be out of possession, Coventry could actually end up enjoying the better of the chances. It's perhaps not enough to convince me to take the 5/2 price on offer for a win, but they could upset the odds in the most corners market with 13/8 available on the home team.
If the outright result is the preferred option then sitting on the fence with the 12/5 seems reasonable enough but it looks an area to avoid altogether given how there's only been one loss between these two so far this season. It's a game that seems too unpredictable to pin an outright prediction too.
Instead, the better value comes in playing to the corner numbers and betting on a high count in Friday's fixture.
Score prediction: Coventry 1-1 Bournemouth (Sky Bet odds: 11/2)
Best bet: Over 11.5 corners at 8/5
Opta facts
- This is the first league meeting between Coventry and Bournemouth since February 2013 in League One, a 2-0 win for the Sky Blues.
- Bournemouth are looking for their first away league win against Coventry since April 1963, when they won 2-1 at Highfield Road with a Charlie Crickmore brace.
- Coventry are unbeaten in their last 15 home matches in all competitions (W9 D6), their best run since a 16-game run between March 1978 and January 1979.
- Bournemouth are unbeaten in the Championship this season (W2 D1), last avoiding defeat in their opening four league matches of a season back in 1998-99, with current boss Jason Tindall featuring in all four matches in the third tier.
- Coventry didn’t manage a shot on target in their last league game against Barnsley, the first time they’d failed to land one on target in a league match since August 2018 against Blackpool in League One.
Odds correct at 1645 BST (01/10/20)
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