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Slavia does play a wild game with a lot of goals from time to time, but theirs, just like Litvinov's strong suit is defense. Litvinov are conceding an average of 2,1 goals per game, and the percentage home is even better - 1,75. Slavia are conceding 2,33 on the whole, 2,7 per game, and 2,20 in the last 10 games. Their first head to head game in Prague ended with 4 goals scored, the second one in Litvinov with zero goals scored in regulation time. That is what the stats suggest, but let's move on to more tangible arguments - both teams have excellent goalies, Litvinov has Francouz, Slavia Furch, which is also a pro for this bet. Furthermore, Litvinov will (with a 99% certainty) play without the two out of three most efficient players, and they're not famous for being offense oriented even with them in the game. Slavia are too dependent on Bednar, that's quite clear. They're not very good offense vise either. Litvinov have good defenders who can stop Slavia's most dangerous player. Besides, this game is really important for the play off, or the play off qualifying round to be more precise. Neither team can afford to lose, and neither will rush into things today. That not their style anyway Details

In my opinion, offering these odds (2) for an over at 5,5 goals in Skalica's game is quite crazy. True, Tencin's stats suggest they are not an over team (26 unders, a total of 14 overs, and 6 unders and 4 overs in the last 10 games), but I just can't overlook Skalica's last games (12,9,6,5,7,6.9 - goal count in the last seven games). That means, six overs, and one under just below the margin. Skalica's coach struggling to choose the right goalie, horrible and experienced defense, plus powerful offense are reasons to believe in an over game. As for the visiting team, they have good offense (Petrovicky, Buc, Kominek, Klima, Troliga, Rusnak...), and the defense has not been their strong suit this season - fourth worst team of the league defense vise, they're conceding 2,85 goals per game. Details

Two teams with good offenses are meeting today. In other words, offense is the better part of both team's rosters. Trinec have had problems with that up till recent, but 13 goals in the last 4 games (8 in the last two) prove they're back on track. Pardubice scored only one point in the last two games, respectively, but they scored 4,3,4, and 4 in the 4 games before that. As I said, the offense is usually not an issue for Venera's team. Having scored 105 goals so far makes them the third most efficient team in the league. In a game between such two offense oriented teams, a 5 goal over at these odds certainly has a value (a void is exactly five goals are scored). Braver among you can try with the 5,5 over, the odds at Marathon are terrific 2,40. Details

I was already writing about an under to this game once this season. The margin was 5,5 goals, but it didn't work out because Slavia completely lost it in the game - they conceded six goals without scoring a single one. Their second game was half as efficient, but Slavia didn't score again. They obviously struggle with scoring against their city rival, who have the best defense of the league (conceding less than 2 goals per game). Slavia's defense is not bad either, even though they have lived through some pretty bad moments defense vise this season. But, they're a team that first and foremost rely on defense, and on Bednar in offense. As they desperately need points and failing should not be an option, I expect Slavia to start the game with caution. Sparta have no reason to rush into things either, they are enough points ahead of the competition, and they don't want to lose the derby match either. That is why I expect a slower pace game, oriented on saving the goals. When everything is taken into consideration, the odds certainly have value. Details

The first game between these two ended at 196 points, with Zagreb missing 13 out of 31 free throws. So, with half the strength, it could have gone over 200. We can't really expect both teams to be far below 40% of the three pointers shots, but that's not even necessary to go over this margin. Neither Zagreb nor Sibenik have a heavy center in their rosters, beside the typical fives (the tallest player for Sibenik, Samadan, likes to pull three-pointers), and that guarantees putting the ball down less, which means faster game and forcing transitions. Zagreb exploded offensively in the last two games before the break (96 and 102 points), it works for them, and there's no reason they'd quite that type of playing. Sibenik showed against Split that they don't mind high numbers. The city derby ended with 116 in the Cup, but as the name says - it was a city derby, and the one in Sibenik is always full of tension. Here, I expect a game less aggressive even though Final Four is at stake. With a nice realization, this should easily be over 152,5 points. Details

I honestly believe that this Skalica team is capable of scoring at least two goals against every team in Slovakia even against the hard-shelled Košice, which they've proved in both games this season. They scored four goals in the first game in Košice and two goals in the other game at home. I also believe their defense is capable of conceding 2-3 goals (closer to 3) against each team in the Extraliga. Košice are not just any team, they have the most quality in the league and I believe they can score three goals without too much trouble. But, I decided to go for total over at 5.5 goals due to availability of this bet, as the home team's over is not too present on the market and the limits are pretty small for it. Košice have 6 overs in their last 11 games but Skalica seem like a water polo team - 6, 12, 3, 9, 9, 4, 12, 9, 6 - the total number of goals in their last 9 games in which they have 7 overs for this margin. Details

I won't be talking about Poprad much, they're a typical over team, especially in the last four games, which ended at,10, 11, 8, and 6 goals respectfully. Zvolen's defense doesn't give me confidence either, ever since they came back from the international campaign. They conceded four goals to Skalica home, on the road against Zilina three, and those teams aren't doing really good lately (though we should point out that Skalica's trade mark is offense oriented game). But, even though the defense is not doing best, the offense seems brilliant. They scored 5 goals against Skalica, three against Zilina in regulation time and an additional one in extra time. Zvolen went over this margin in five out of their last seven games, and Poprad in the last four. The odds at the 5,5 goals margin, therefore, given the current form, and the situation with both teams, makes no sense whatsoever... Details

Simply put, these two teams usually don't play defense seriously and I don't see what could happen for them to start playing defensively. There is no need to elaborate this further, I'm just going to say that Skalica have conceded 16 goals in last 4 games and Poprad have conceded 17 goals in the last 3. Since both teams are stronger in offense than defense, we could see a goal-fest. After all, Skalica have scored 4, 7, 2, 5 and 5 in their last 5 games while Poprad have scored 3,4 and 5 in their last three games (the ones in which they conceded 17). We should not be greedy and go for the 6.5 margin but I recommend it for the braver punters as the odds at 2.7 (Unibet) have a really high value. Details

As long as the bookmakers offer these odds on Nitra's home game wins, I take them without a second thought. Despite some blunders on their own ice that can happen to anyone, Nitra seem scary at home and I'll just repeat the info of 15 wins in 17 matches at home, with 14 of those within 60 minutes. It's not and can't be a coincidence. Banska were in a disastrous shape before the break, they needed it and got it. It remains to be seen in what state the Rams will come out. There were changes in the roster, new players need time to click, and Nitra don't allow things like that. For a combo ticket, the brave ones can bet on the win with a handicap with a void if there's exactly one point difference, and it pays about 2. Details

In nine out of ten cases when a team gets a new coach, I would not bet against them, but today is that one remaining case, the reason being absences on Kladno side. Liberec have a better team on paper than their ranking suggests. Adding to that is the fact they've lost only 3 of their last 10 matches at home(Mountfield, Pardubice, Zlin), and of their seven wins five are 'clean', regular time wins. Kladno, on the other hand, only won two of their last ten away bouts, and lost all eight of their defeats within 60 minutes. Today Kladno will be missing four of their six most productive players, including most productive player, best scorer, an NHL defender... Their form is not stellar either, with four losses in a row and seven of their last eight lost. Simply put, too many factors are in favor of Liberec in this match. The bet that Kladno will not score three goals also seems to be a good combo option, and there is a refund in case they score two (Marathon @1.82). Details

I think the bookmakers on Pinnacle "missed the ball" completely here. On one side, we have Zilina who are in a miserable shape, with seven defeats in a row where they conceded 4,7 goals per game. So, they can go over this margin with only their defensive wanderings. On the other side, we have Skalica, a very good team offensively, who scored 12 goals in the last three games. So, their offensive shape isn't questionable. The same could not be said about their defense. In each of the last nine games they conceded at least two goals, and since Zilina's offense aren't as bad as they're currently playing (Klouda, Buc, Tomas...), I expect them to score a goal or two, as well. When you put things like that, than these odds, of over 5,5 goals, don't make much sense. Details

Even if Liberec were complete, they would have a tough time dealing with this Sparta. They did beat them at the start of the season at home, but it was round 4 and Sparta was only getting into its groove after many changes this summer. Now they're a well-oiled machine that do falter here and there, but have 16 wins in last 19 games, 14 with a handicap. So, when they win, they win with ease. Liberec will miss two important offensive players - their captain and the most productive player Nedved and their third most productive player Vampola, the two from their elite offensive line-up. An additional bonus for this bet is Sparta's defeat against Liberec at the start of the season as they will take their opponents seriously this time, and when they play like that then they rarely lose. Liberec are in solid form, 5 defeats and 5 wins in last 10 games. But a high defeat against Litvinov had to leave a mark on them along with the mentioned absent players. In any case, Sparta are much bigger favorites than the odds would suggest. Details

I definitely cannot agree with these odds, especially when take the current form of these two teams into consideration, and even their quality. Banska have a run of 3 defeats (one of which came against Orange after over-time) and if we exclude the home drubbing of Žilina that are a borderline disaster, they have not won in regular time in last five rounds. I will take Zvolen's last 4 games into consideration as they had some major injure problems before that, with up to 8-9 players missing. In those 4 games, they had 3 wins and a defeat against Nitra but almost all teams got the same result against Nitra. Zvolen have gotten some important players back (Brabenec, Mucha, Juraško) and Chovan should also play, and this Zvolen seems much better that the one from the start of the season lead by coach Oslizl, or the decimate one from several rounds ago. In any case, I think they can avoid a regular time defeat here. Banska are still sore over their 0-8 debacle in Zvolen and there is no doubt they will keep that embarrassment in their heads today. Under 5.5 goals seems like good option too as we I expect a tough game with very few chances and definitely not a goal-fest. Details

The margin is set low, but for a reason. Karovy Vary managed to do a bit better lately, one of the reasons for it being better defense game. They conceded more than two goals (3) in only one of the last nine games. They conceded 0 and 1 in the last two. Mountfield are the best team in the league defense vise, they've conceded the least goals and everything in that team starts with defense. They've conceded more than two goals (3) only once in the last 13 games. This is how much they've been conceding in the last seven games: 0, 1, 2, 2, 0, 1, 1. But, not only defense accomplishments are the basis for this pick. Karlovy Vary have been scoring 1,9 goals in the last ten games, Montfiled 1,7. Karlovy Vary were under the 4,5 goal margin eight times in the last ten games, Mountfield 9 times. Their first two games ended at three scored goals. Since this is an important game for the both teams (Mountfield's trying to stay in position two, and Karlovy Vary wanting to get away from the bottom), I don't expect the game to be very nice on the eyes, or very offense oriented. It will be a tactical battle with not many attempts and goals. Details

Nitra revealed every flaw of this Skalica in the last round. Martin are not as productive offensively as Nitra, but they should also be able to use the holes in the visiting team's defense. And that defense will once again have to do without its three important defensemen, Vyrubalik, Barak, and Krejčirik. They played with six defensemen in Nitra, and they will most likely do the same today. Those six defensemen are Kozak (22), Mikeska (20), Šohajda (19), Trška (21), Stano (22), and Srnec (21). Most of those names don't say much, which is why we also wrote their age in brackets - none of them is more than 22 years old, which means they're not all that experienced. And there's the form. Skalica lost four consecutive games, Martin are on a four-win streak. The atmosphere, the form, the situation with injuries (Martin should have some players back on their disposal) are all in favor of the visiting team. Those more courageous among you can try the win that is payed @2.30 (Bwin), but I opted for a safer option - home team's win with the option of getting your money back in case the game ends as a draw. Details

A derby is not an easy bet usually, but this pick is so obvious I'll just briefly sum up the things I already said in the preview. This is a match between the next to last (Energia) and the last (Chomutov) team of the league. That very fact shows how important this game is for both of the teams. Neither of them can afford to lose, as for the home team this would mean Chomutov would come to within three points from them, and for the away team losing would mean falling 9 points behind their competitor for staying in the league. I expect an extremely careful match, with both teams waiting for the opponent's mistake. In their last seven games, Energia have stayed below this margin in six, while Chomutov did the same in four of their last five, showing progress on defense lately. This is due to the arrival of goalkeeper Ruzicka, whose average stats are worsened by high defeats vs Vitkovice (3-8) and Hradec (0-4), but in the other three matches he played, he performed very well and was reliable. The first match of these two teams ended up with four goals, the second with six. Today however, as I already stated in the preview's closing, we will hardly be seeing a hockey fairytale, this will more likely be a tough, hard, defense oriented game. Details

Šibenik have the momentum, they have four consecutive wins but even that is not the reason for this bet but Darda. They got their first win in the last round but everyone has to win a game here or there. In addition, Split played without their best player Subotić which was a good thing for Darda. But the fact is that they have the same squad for this game and this should not be overlooked. Šibenik covered this handicap against Alkar at home and almost against Jolly in the city derby. Darda stayed below this handicap against Zagreb (without Žganec) where they lost by 11, while they lost by 23 against Zabok. The home team announced a serious approach to this game and Šibenik will not want to ruin their good run of games. In my opinion this should end in a 15-point difference for Šibenik or even more. All the more so as Šibenik have Šamadan, the player who can stop Darda's best player Diminić. Details

Slavia are playing a tough and defense oriented game ever since coach Koubek took over. It's not a coincidence that they were conceding under 2,5 goals in the last 7 games (five championship and two Cup games). Furthermore, in the eight games since he took over, they went over that margin only once - against Jablonec when they conceded a goal in the last second. They haven't conceded a goal in the championship for 300 minutes, and only one goal was scored in their last three championship games. Slovacko don't go under like that often, that's quite clear. They were under this margin 4 times in the last 10 games, and over it the remaining 6. Less than three goals were scored in three of their last 10 games. Slovacko are a team that rely on set-pieces quite a lot, and Koubek is a well-experienced coach who will definitely try to stop them in that respect, which is why I think this game will stay under 2,5 goals. Besides, this is a very important game - Slovacko may be in position nine, but they are still only 4 points above the danger zone. Slavia are doing even worse and I don't expect either team to push too much - which will as a consequence produce small number of goals. Details

I think anyone who read the preview can clearly see why my pick is Skalica to win with a handicap and a return should it be a win by exactly one goal. There is no team in existence that can make up for 11 of their players missing. OK, not all 11 are crucial for the way Zvolen play, but 6-7 of them are pretty important. If Zvolen were in full strength, they would be a slight favorite in this duel in my opinion, but as things are, I don't think they stand a chance. Skalica are very good offensively, with the new coach they've also improved defensively, and they should resolve this game in their favor. Zvolen were missing eight players for the last round game vs Piestany, which they lost 5-1. Now three more names are on that list. I simply don't see how that can pull off even a decent defeat with that many players absent. Details