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Total Goals Guys

High-scoring matches involving Barca and Real would suit us just fine

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The "Total Goals Guys" hope for goals in matches involving Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich but don't want to see 4 or more as Celtic vist Motherwell...

It's the CIS Cup Final in Scotland this weekend and with 6 of our other 8 sides away from home it's difficult to see where the goals will come from this week. With this in mind we are going to kick-off with a couple of 4 goals or more lays.

Celtic dropped two vital SPL points on Wednesday with a 0-0 stalemate at home to Dundee United. The pressure is really on for Saturday's trip to Motherwell and when you consider the state of the Fir Park pitch at present it's hard to envisage a goal-fest - take Arsenal and Chelsea's recent visits to Wigan for example. Motherwell's home ties average just shy of 3 goals per game with the visitor's away fixtures yielding around 3.5. This certainly builds a case for backing 3 goals or more at [1.8] but we are more comfortable with the lay of 4 or more at [3.2]. The hosts are a decent outfit this year and Celtic won't get things all their own way, hopefully neither will 4 goal backers either.

Bayern Munich travel to bottom side Cottbus on Saturday and another low scoring German Bundesliga encounter could be on the cards. Neither sides' 4 matches since the winter break have seen 4 goals or more and in fact only 6 of the 35 Bundesliga matches in the same period have resulted in 4 or more goals. The visitors were in Uefa Cup action and although this shouldn't affect their chances of winning the match it may have a slight bearing on the margin of victory. Bayern have only conceded 7 goals in 12 away ties this term and even if rock bottom Cottbus do find the net, 4 or more here would require 3 from a side that averages 1.67 goals per game on the road. Lay 4 goal or more in the total goals market at [2.95].

Laying goals can be a bit anti-football so we are looking to readdress the balance with some goals in Real Madrid's visit to Deportivo on Saturday evening. The clash between these sides has an air of unpredictability about it with Los Merengues not having won at the Razior for a staggering 17 years but we expect the league leaders to put this run to an end in a goal packed game. Since the 3-2 defeat at Recreativo, the hosts have been producing decent form recently with home wins over Espanyol (2-0) and Sevilla (2-1) as well as a 2-2 draw at Valencia. It shows they are a threat up front whilst weak at the back and Real aren't as defensively secure as they would like to be, conceding 6 in their last 4 matches. Football is full of patterns and runs and they all come to an end, if this was a match odds column we'd be backing Real Madrid here but given what we've already said, 3 goals or more looks just as good at [2.04] to back.

Almeria host Barcelona on Sunday night and the Catalans could find themselves a massive 11 points adrift of Real Madrid going into this one. The hosts sit 8th in the table and despite scoring only 12 goals in 14 home ties this term they pulled off a famous 2-0 victory over the league leaders recently. This suggests they are rising to the big name challenges of their maiden La Liga season and we expect them to score against a Barca back line prone to leaking goals this season. Should Real Madrid win the previous evening the visitors will not be contemplating anything but a victory themselves. It might not be simple however and we predict a high scoring match up and are happy to take on 3 goals or more at [2.1]

20% of our balance (£10.70) is being staked on each of our 4 selections