GW 7 – Ones to Watch

Ally: After a disastrous couple of weeks for me personally on the Ones to Watch, with successive failures for Lincoln and Gateshead, I’m feeling the need to rebuild my credibility on this blog! To help with that I’m looking close to home, to my own team Nottingham Forest in fact, who face a tie against Rotherham United at the City Ground. The Reds spent big in the summer but have so far flattered to deceive, as manager Aitor Karanka is still trying to find his best team and some consistent performances. He has also faced criticism in some quarters for keeping the shackles on and not unleashing some of the abundant attacking talent at his disposal more frequently. However, there were signs in the impressive midweek win over Sheffield Wednesday that the team is starting to find its feet and that a visiting team could get a real hiding if the players could convert some of the many chances that are coming their way. Forest have scored in every home game this season, while Rotherham have lost every away match so far, so I fancy a few goals in Nottingham.

My next tip is the Scottish League One, game where second placed Raith Rovers have a home match against bottom side Montrose. The hosts narrowly missed out on promotion last season and were imperious at home, while visitors Montrose were only promoted in the summer, but despite winning two of their opening three matches have slumped to the bottom of the league following three straight defeats. Rovers meanwhile have had a good start to the season, winning two and drawing their other home league match and scoring 8 goals in the process. They have also scored in both home cup games too and I fancy them to continue this goal-scoring run on Saturday afternoon.

 Steve: This is one of those weekends where none of the Premier League’s so-called ‘Big Six’ face each other and all will be clear favourites to take three points from their respective fixtures. No doubt all will also be heavily backed in this weekends world of TUG, so finding the hidden gems in the lower leagues could be the key to success in gameweek 7.

Scottish League Two has seen a decent goal return in the last few weeks, thanks largely to joint top scorers Peterhead FC. The Blue Toon host Berwick Rangers on Saturday afternoon and will be looking to build upon last weekends 4-2 win at Cowdenbeath. This, on paper, looks like it should be a routine victory against a Berwick side who have conceded 13 goals in their last four outings.  Peterhead have scored 12 in six matches this season, but only 2 of those have been scored in home fixtures. So…..proceed with caution!

Sticking with the same division for a bit of a risky ‘One to Watch’ now. The current bottom two face one another on Saturday; Cowdenbeath v Albion Rovers. This one has some potential I reckon. Whilst Cowdenbeath aren’t picking up too many points, they are still scoring goals. Whereas, I think it’s fair to say, Albion are stuggling having lost every game so far.  There’s certainly no guarantees here but, I’d expect a victory for the home side.

Matt: A very enjoyable GW 6 (following on from a thoroughly miserable GW 5!), with a visit to Club 100 and another bucket-full of goals from my two tips in this section. If only it were that simple every week!

As i alluded to in the ‘GW 6 Review’, the English Premier League stands out even more than usual this weekend – it’s common for players to make it their ‘go to’ league when hunting for potential selections, but i wouldn’t be at all surprised to see entries that consist of almost entirely Prem teams here. With Manchester City and Liverpool in particular almost certainly going to be top of many player’s shortlists, there’s very little point in me recommending them to you, but i’ll have to go with at least one Prem side on the basis that there’s so many options there this weekend! Arsenal had a poor start to the season with a couple of defeats, albeit against extremely tough opposition, but since then Unai Emery has got The Gunners firing on all cylinders with four consecutive victories, scoring 12 goals in the process. They also banged 5 past Sunday’s opponents Everton in both the home and away fixtures last season and haven’t failed to score past the Toffees in their last nine meetings. I’m predicting form man Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and co. to make that ten in a row and quite possibly further Everton’s misery following last weekend’s surprise home defeat to then winless West Ham United.

Where to go next? I like the look of a couple of Scottish teams, but it appears my fellow tipsters are thinking along similar lines, so i’ll head elsewhere. Against my better judgement (and i could very much live to regret this!), i’m going to suggest taking a look at Portsmouth, who are at home to recently promoted Wycombe Wanderers. The current League One leaders have a very chequered history with me in this game, as they let me down on five consecutive occasions over the past couple of years and i vowed never to pick them again………so you can understand my concern! However, they’ve made a fantastic start to the season and last weekend’s win away at Peterborough United, themselves flying high, has persuaded me that they’re worth yet another chance! The Chairboys from Wycombe have actually won five times this season, but sadly for them only once in the league, hence their lowly position. Combine that with Pompey’s record of scoring in every home game and their recent table topping form and you have to believe that goals for the home side are the order of the day! If not, i’ll never pick Portsmouth again……….honest!! Good luck to you all!