Tranmere v Southend
We came away looking very silly with the Southend pick last weekend as they were well and truly humiliated at home to an at-best AFC Wimbledon side. Since then, the exciting appointment of Henrik Larsson to the Southend hot-seat has fallen through at the final hour, and they are currently rudderless as they prepare for a Friday night trip to Tranmere.
Southend’s form is a serious concern now, having lost 11 of their last 13 matches, and they have conceded three or more goals in eight of those matches. Relegation is considered a 2/9 shot now with the layers, so whoever comes in have a mountain to climb.
Tranmere for their part escaped with a fortunate win from a trip to Coventry on Sunday – being absolutely dominated but somehow landing a 1-0 smash and grab. Experimental361.com put the Tranmere xG at just 0.2 in that match, and the graphics suggest Coventry were consistently pressing for an opener throughout. The results handed Tranmere their first back-to-back wins since last season and they also posted a decent performance (if not result) against Ipswich recently. For me, they are ready to win again here against a seriously brittle Southend side, who are already on a minus 19 goal difference after just 12 matches and have just four points on the board.
Only Wycombe, Peterborough and Oxford have scored more home goals that Tranmere this season – it could also be worth backing them to make hay here at an attractive price.
2pts Tranmere to beat Southend at 19/20 (General)
1pt Tranmere to score 3+ Goals at 3/1 (Betfred)