This article is part of our Best Bets series.
PREMIER LEAGUE BEST BET
Chelsea vs. West Ham United: Over 2.5 @ -115
Monday, 3:00 p.m: (EDT)
West Ham has had a very disappointing run leading up to the start of the season, and while this has been mainly due to injury concerns, Aaron Cresswell and new signing Manuel Lanzini are both still sidelined with knee injuries. Their run of form includes a 4-2 aggregate win over Domzale in the Europa League qualifications, but is marred by strange losses (3-0 to Seattle Sounders and again to Rubin Kazan at a neutral location) and a defensive tragedy in a 2-2 draw to the lower-league Carolina RailHawks. Chelsea, on the other hand, have been clicking offensively with a great preseason schedule. The over has hit in four of their last five matches (against quality opposition nonetheless), while West Ham has seen their last five road matches all go over.
MLS BEST BETS
D.C. United vs. Portland Timbers: Under 2.5 @ -120
Saturday, 7:00 p.m.
D.C.'s 2-2 draw to Philadelphia ended a streak of six home matches where the under cashed, and the under had hit in seven of their last nine. Portland plays very stingy defense when forced to travel, and it will be much harder for D.C. to score more than two goals, a feat they have only accomplished twice at home this season against defensively weak Vancouver and New England squads. While defensively sound on the road, Portland simply cannot score goals in the eastern time zone, as they have
PREMIER LEAGUE BEST BET
Chelsea vs. West Ham United: Over 2.5 @ -115
Monday, 3:00 p.m: (EDT)
West Ham has had a very disappointing run leading up to the start of the season, and while this has been mainly due to injury concerns, Aaron Cresswell and new signing Manuel Lanzini are both still sidelined with knee injuries. Their run of form includes a 4-2 aggregate win over Domzale in the Europa League qualifications, but is marred by strange losses (3-0 to Seattle Sounders and again to Rubin Kazan at a neutral location) and a defensive tragedy in a 2-2 draw to the lower-league Carolina RailHawks. Chelsea, on the other hand, have been clicking offensively with a great preseason schedule. The over has hit in four of their last five matches (against quality opposition nonetheless), while West Ham has seen their last five road matches all go over.
MLS BEST BETS
D.C. United vs. Portland Timbers: Under 2.5 @ -120
Saturday, 7:00 p.m.
D.C.'s 2-2 draw to Philadelphia ended a streak of six home matches where the under cashed, and the under had hit in seven of their last nine. Portland plays very stingy defense when forced to travel, and it will be much harder for D.C. to score more than two goals, a feat they have only accomplished twice at home this season against defensively weak Vancouver and New England squads. While defensively sound on the road, Portland simply cannot score goals in the eastern time zone, as they have yet to win away from home, and have only scored more than one goal once. Additionally, they have failed to score in their last three road games.
FC Dallas vs. Sporting Kansas City: Dallas -1 @ +140
Saturday, 9:00 p.m.
What more can be said about this matchup that the numbers don't already say? Yes, Dallas are equal with Colorado as the best home team in the Western Conference based on points, but they have scored nine more goals on their home turf than Colorado has on theirs. Sporting KC are a middle of the pack team, and it is their play on the road that is keeping them from making a serious challenge. They have lost their last three and taken just three points from their last 10 matches away from home. To compound the problem, they have scored only four times in those games. FC Dallas are a huge favorite, but there is a strong enough possibility that they should put an exclamation point on this match and the goal spread odds are too nice to ignore.
TOP LEAGUES AROUND THE WORLD
China Super League
Shanghai Shenhua vs. Guangzhou Evergrande: Over 2.5 @ -130
Saturday, 7:35 a.m.
The two most exciting teams in Chinese football face off in a match that has hit the over the last three times they have played this home and away setup. Guangzhou is the best road team in the league, surrendering only eight points away from home all season, while Shanghai is the most explosive club in China at the moment, and their matches have averaged over three goals per game since the beginning of the season.
Denmark Superliga
FC Copenhagen vs. Midtjylland: Over 2.5 @ -140
Saturday, 12:30 p.m.
Copenhagen and Midtjylland are seated firmly atop the Superliga table after four matchweeks, and though there is a crowd around them at the moment, they should separate themselves as the top teams begin to face each other. Copenhagen is an offensive juggernaut, and a shock draw to Sonderjyske won't derail them. Midtjylland has been keeping pace, also averaging three goals per game through the season, however, they have done it against tougher competition to this point. High-scoring draws against Randers and Brondby show their attacking prowess, and this should be an incredibly entertaining matchup. Just in case you aren't convinced, you would have to go back to April to find a match played in Copenhagen when they did not score at least two goals.
Eredivise
Go Ahead Eagles vs. NEC Nijmegen: G.A. Eagles @ +120
Sunday, 8:30 a.m.
This may not be the most attractive matchup on the board, but the odds have become very attractive given last week's results. Eagles opened the season on the road against a very strong Den Haag team, while Nijmegen scraped out a draw at home against Zwolle. The tables are now turned and Nijmegen have to go on the road, where they have given up 15 goals in their last three friendly matches, but also have played to 11 losses and 4 draws in their last 15 league road games. Eagles were quite a strong home team last season, ending league play with a four match winning streak, and only recording one home loss in pre-season friendlies to the strong Al Jazira club.
