After two days of the Championship play-offs, we start the weekend with the League One fixtures, heading to London where Leyton Orient host Stockport County.
Below, you can find Ben's bets for Leyton Orient vs. Stockport County in the League One play-offs. The odds were correct at the time of writing.
At the time of writing this, the lineups were not available to us, so I have tried to make some assumptions about the lineup, whilst only tipping players I think will start. It is worth stating here that I would not advise placing any bets until the lineups are out for both teams.
Play-off games are so difficult to call, so there is still a higher level of risk with each selection. However, I've gone through the trends from the season and feel rather confident with our choices here.
So, without further ado, let's dive into my reasoning.
With the play-offs, it is more about finding value that may not otherwise be available elsewhere, and the corners market is normally a good way of doing this. So, my first pick of the game is over 8.5 corners.
In the games earlier this season, there were 10 and seven corners respectively, with that higher amount coming at Brisbane Road - something which is an encouraging sign early on.
At home, there have been nine or more corners in 74% of their games, which is a huge sign of something to look at, and whilst this game could be slightly more cagey, we think there is enough of a chance here for corners.
My next best bet for this game is both teams to score, which I feel has an excellent chance at just above Evens. Put simply, in their past five games each, there has only been one clean sheet - when Orient faced Wycombe at home last month.
Barring that, the record is quite staggering with both teams normally winning by a single goal margin, with the occasional thumping here and there. So for me, this seems to be a very generous price.
Sticking with goals, I really like the look of the hosts to grab the first goal of the game, for a few reasons.
The biggest is that in their past five games, Stockport have conceded the first goal of the game and normally fought back after this point, and whilst Leyton Orient's home record of first goals is not as attractive (2/5), I still think they'll come out of the blocks raring to go.
Furthermore, the Hatters are at their most vulnerable in the first half, conceding 28 of their 42 goals this season in the opening period. Furthermore, the majority of their goals this season have come in the second half, so I'd be more confident of the O's opening the scoring.
As a word of pre-warning, I am taking a bet on the fact that this market opens on Bet365 - though I imagine it will be the case. However, similar odds to what are listed are already available with Sky Bet.
Away from that, I think the price of close to Evens here is ludicrous, and whilst I was tempted to go a little higher with the amount of saves here, I think over 2.5 is almost guaranteed. Yes, that's a bold statement but I'm very confident here.
Away from home, Stockport average the second highest shots on target per game in the league at 4.7, which is already a green flag. Then, Leyton Orient's goalkeeper Josh Keeley has made 18 saves in his past five games - with him making less than 2.5 on only one occasion.
Finally, Keeley made four saves against Stockport earlier this season, whilst in the other game Zac Hemming made two saves - I think this is a really easy pick here, and 2.5 offers us a nice balance.
Finally, I'm taking Kyle Wootton to make more than 2.5 fouls in this game, and once again, I was slightly tempted to go a little higher, or even consider him for a card - if you want to play with a little more risk, a goal or card bet could be nice here.
The striker has made the most fouls of anyone in this fixture, nearly two times over - making 99 fouls in 46 games. In his past five games, he has made 18 fouls, which is a staggering amount to be quite frank - all whilst avoiding a card, which is a boost for us, showing they are not really challenges but more tactical.
If you needed any further reasoning, earlier this season, he got four and five fouls in the two fixtures. For me, the price of almost 2/1 here is too good to turn down.
I think this has the potential to be the best tie of the League One play-offs, or maybe even the play-offs as a whole, in all honesty.
Both teams are very entertaining to watch, whilst also having a slight underdog factor to both of them, so for storytelling reasons, it adds that little bit more intrigue to the situation - which always bodes well in our view.
Starting with the hosts, Orient have been in and around the play-off picture for most of the season, but there was a brief period where they fell into a rut. Since then though, they have been fantastic and are fully deserving of a place in the top six.
Then, Stockport's rise in recent years has been fantastic to watch, with a very likeable team and a great coach, they have been fully deserving of their rise up the leagues, and will hope to start their journey to the next on Saturday.
In the past eight ties between the two clubs, there has only been one 1-0 win and no draws, so we could be in for a cracker of a game here, I think.
Predicted Leyton Orient XI to face Stockport County (3-4-3): Keeley; Edmonds-Green, Beckles, Cooper; Galbraith, Clare, Brown, Williams; Agyei, Kelman, Donley
Predicted Stockport County XI to face Leyton Orient (4-4-2): Addai; Connolly, Hills, Pye, Touray; Fevrier, Norwood, Moxon, Collar; Wootton, Olaofe
Ben is an accredited football journalist who follows anything from League One to Serie A, also working for the likes of SempreMilan and Total Italian Football. As an avid punter, he has become the master tester at BettingLounge, refusing to take bookies by their words when it comes to withdrawal times and much more.