Stoke favourites ahead of Brittania clash

Burnley play nine Premier League games between Saturday and January 1st, and that is almost a quarter of the season’s fixtures condensed into the next five and a half weeks.

The Potters are odds on 8/11 favourites to pick up all three points, with Burnley 9/2 at BetVictor, and the draw at 11/4.

Stoke’s best results so far this season have, rather surprisingly, come on the road, winning at the Etihad and White Hart Lan,e but they have already lost at the Britannia to Villa and Leicester already this season and I don’t see many goals on Saturday.

Note there have been only 11 goals scored in the last nine league games between the clubs and I can see that trend continuing at the weekend with the recommendation the 5/6 for there to be two or fewer goals in the game.

You normally associate Stoke with their own threat at set pieces but 46% of the goals the Potters have conceded in the PL this term have come from set plays, and Dyche will be well aware of this, apparent, weakness.

That said Mark Hughes will consider the Clarets vulnerable in the air given Burnley have thus far conceded more headed goals (8) than any other side in the PL.

Ashley Barnes scored the only goal of the game against the Tigers and another 1-0 Clarets win is priced at 14/1 with Barnes to grab the only goal at 70/1.Could lightning strike twice? Danny Ings remains 2/5 to be the club’s top PL goalscorer this term, with Barnes now into 8/1.

Burnley are 3/1 (from 7/2) to maintain their PL status at the end of the season, but that win against Hull must have given the whole club a lift.

The Clarets won’t be 3/1 to stay up if they win at the Britannia, that’s for sure.

The bottom three in the table are the trio of newly promoted clubs, and punters have been out backing the 8/1 for the same three teams to fill the relegation places at the end of the season. Note that is in any order.

Who says dreams can’t come true? We had a 23-year-old postgraduate student from Sheffield have a £5 bet on 10 results on the international friendlies midweek and she won £50,045.

All was riding on the game of the night between Panama and Canada ending in a draw.

Few football fans will remember the goalless draw between Panama and Canada with quite the same affection as one lucky Sheffield student.