Lays of the Weekend: Bilbao to catch Malaga napping

16Feb 2013

Betfair

It's that time of the week where Christian Crowther makes a case for three attractive looking lays ahead of the weekend's action...

Lay Nottingham Forest to beat Bolton @ 2.44

The managerial madness that continues to plague Nottingham Forest this season has almost certainly contributed to their dismal run of three straight losses in the Championship. The two most recent defeats to Birmingham and Bristol City - both teams south of Forest in the table - suggest Billy Davies has much to put right after his bizarre re-appointment as manager at the City ground. Forest have only scored one goal in the space of those three losses and have only tasted victory once in four home games in all competitions. That solitary win came against bottom placed Peterborough. Bolton in contrast have lost just once in their last four.

Lay Coventry to beat Bury @ 2.4

Bury entertain another victim of the Football League managerial merry-go-round at Gigg Lane. Coventry will arrive without the freshly pinched Mark Robins, lured to Huddersfield after much wrangling to leave Sky Blue fans dismayed. This fresh uncertainty gives the Shakers the perfect opportunity to aid their own cause for survival by grabbing something against their manager-less visitors. Despite losing to promotion chasing Sheffield United in their last game Bury have been showing signs of recovery lately, staging a four-game unbeaten run, which included a 2-0 victory over second placed Doncaster. These sides drew earlier in the season and the resurgent Shakers are capable of nicking something here.

Lay Malaga to beat Athletic Bilbao @ 1.96

Champions League debutants Malaga face a trip to Porto on Tuesday for their first tie of the round-of-16. This is good news for visiting Athletic Bilbao as Malaga have been unable to win any of their last three La Liga games prior to a European outing. With so much riding on their midweek tie in Portugal Manuel Pellegrini may well be tempted into resting a few key personnel as well, giving Athletic a decent chance of building on two successive away draws in the Spanish top flight. It was only two games ago that Bilbao inflicted an emphatic 3-0 defeat on second placed Atletico Madrid, so grabbing a point against Malaga - as they did earlier in the season - is well within the Basque club's reach.