Football Tips 29/12/2013

We got hurt on boxing day when Dundee Utd played St Mirren who took a very physical appraoch to the game to stop the talents Dundee Utd have within their ranks. It wasn't just that though, St Mirrens goal keeper had an incredible game pulling off some wonder saves which built up frustration for the young side and the game got away from them. They should have learnt their lesson and go into this one knowing they need to do better.

St Mirren will be delighted with their win last week that put a stop to Dundee Utds 6 straight high scoring wins. Today they face a club in turmoil and rooted to the bottom of the Scottish Premier League. This should be a bit of a walk over for St Mirren, we can’t quite get the odds to push it into our higher odds section with a straight win, so we’ll take this bet on – it should be pretty low risk.

Newcastle have scored 8 in their last two games, but you could consider that quite fortunate when you look at how some of those goals came about. 5 against a 9 men Stoke team (which included a penalty and a goal where the ball went out of play first) and they got an own goal at Palace along with another penalty. We don’t want to discredit Newcastle though, because they are a good side and have done well after a rough start. The thinking behind this one is that Arsenal should back to firing on all cylinders after a recent blip in form which was always going to be a difficult period. Arsenal have enough talent to get the job done at St James Park and they do have a good record against Newcastle, winning the last three times they have met.

Avellino have lost just once at home this season and that was to table topping Palermo. They have won 7 of their 10 home games while their opponents Padova sit third from bottom after winning just one away game this season and losing 7 of their 9. It’s tight at the top of Serie B and Avellino have the potential to go level at the top with a win today.