The Big Wednesday Multiple: The International Edition

6Feb 2013

Betfair

It's that time of the week for the big Wednesday multiple as Paul Robinson selects a home win, an away win, a match to go over 2.5 goals and a match to go under 2.5 goals. Here are his selections:

Bet 1: Belgium (HOME) @ 1.5 (1/2)

Belgium take on Slovakia in Brugge this evening and with the pool of talent they have available, they should have more than enough to kick us off with our home win.

Marc Wilmots is the man tasked with managing what is perhaps Belgium's greatest set of players ever. He has the likes of Mousa Dembele, Marouane Fellaini, Vincent Kompany and Eden Hazard at his disposal and while a couple of those may miss out because of injury tonight, there is quality running through the entire squad.

They haven't been beaten at home since a 1-0 loss to Germany back in September 2010, winning six and drawing three in the following nine matches. With back to back World Cup Qualifying games with Macedonia coming up, nothing but victory will do here to get their momentum back after a shock defeat in Romania last time.

Slovakia have made a fantastic start in their bid to qualify for Brazil 2014, although the loss at home to Greece in their last competitive game is a blow. They have since gone on to be hammered by the Czech's in a friendly and while the Slovak's are a decent little side in their own right, they just aren't at Belgium's level.

Bet 2: Denmark (AWAY) @ 1.8 (4/5)

Our away win of the week will hopefully be provided by Denmark as they travel to Macedonia looking to put an indifferent set of results behind them.

The Dane's haven't been able to build on a promising Euro 2012 campaign that saw them beat Holland and only narrowly lose to Portugal and Germany. They've played seven times since then and managed just one victory, and that came against Canada.

Morten Olsen's side have had some tough fixtures during that period though and to be fair to them, they've only lost twice. Their last five matches have all come on the road and they picked up creditable draws in Turkey and Mexico.

Macedonia have managed to collect just four points from a possible 15 in their World Cup Qualifying group and they were stuffed by Poland last time out in a friendly. They have done pretty well on home soil lately, however the calibre of opponents hasn't exactly been stellar and when they've faced one of the better sides they have tended to lose.

Bet 3: England v Brazil (Over 2.5 goals) @ 2.0 (1/1)

Our goal fest of the multiple will hopefully come at Wembley as England play host to Brazil in a game that can be seen live on ITV1 at 19:30.

Roy Hodgson was supposed to be a cautious manager but since he was appointed as manager, the goals have started to flow for the Three Lions. Following on from a satisfactory Euro 2012 performance, four of England's six matches have all had three goals or more, including a pair of 5-0 victories over Moldova and San Marino.

Clearly Brazil will offer a much sterner test but attacking players, Rooney and Walcott, are in cracking form for their respective clubs. Skipper Steven Gerrard has also stepped up his game in recent months and him and Frank Lampard are showing no signs of slowing down.

Brazil need no introduction and it should be a pleasure to watch their brand of football this evening. In Neymar they have the most sought after young talent in the world and with a possible partnership with a resurgent Ronaldinho in the offing, the England defenders could be in for a long night.

Ten of Brazil's last 13 fixtures have all gone north of 2.5 goals and that stretch has featured scorelines such as 4-1, 4-3, 8-0, 6-0 and 4-0. The pressure will be off the Samba boys tonight and I expect them to throw caution to the wind, which will hopefully lead England into following suit.

Bet 4: Burkina Faso v Ghana (Under 2.5 goals) @ 1.44 (4/9)

We finish with the second semi-final of the African Cup Of Nations as Burkina Faso take on Ghana, live on ITV4 at 18:30. The tournament in Africa hasn't exactly been pleasing on the eye as many of the matches have been low scoring and I expect this one to follow suit.

Burkina Faso are the surprise package of the tournament and have already traded at three figures to win it. They shocked Nigeria in the group phase by holding them to a 1-1 draw and in the quarter-finals they squeezed past Togo, 1-0 after extra time. Only their match against Ethiopia went over 2.5 goals and I expect the manager to send them out there to defend and try and nick a late winner or even take the game to penalties.

Ghana are the marginal favourites ahead of Nigeria of the four remaining teams. After drawing their opening match with DR Congo they have gone on to beat Mali, Niger and Cape Verde Islands. They didn't concede a goal in those trio of victories and two of them went under 2.5.

Semi-finals of major tournaments are notoriously cagey affairs and in a competition that has already focused more on defending than attacking, under 2.5 goals simply can't go un-backed at odds of 1.44 (4/9).

Recommended Multiple

Back Belgium @ 1.5 (1/2); Back Denmark @ 1.8 (4/5); Back Over 2.5 Goals in England v Brazil @ 2.0 (1/1); Back Under 2.5 Goals in Burkina Faso v Ghana @ 1.44 (4/9); The Multiple pays approximately 7.78 (7/1)

Multiple prices are based on our Fixed Odds product, so any winnings are exempt from commission.