Week 8 MLS Picks
What a weekend we’re coming off of, not just for Austin FC, but for The North End Podcast wallets. Driussi’s last minute heroics secured our most profitable matchday of the season thus far and hurdled us back into the black on the year. Spirits are high headed into Week 8. The official league injury report came out this afternoon so let’s dive in.
FC Cincinnati
ML +175
There’s going to be a lot of energy at Stadium Saputo on Saturday as CF Montreal, who have been on their traditional winter road trip to begin the season, will play their home opener. They’ll welcome the defending Supporter Shield champions FC Cincinnati. Cincy is missing stud goalkeeper Roman Celentano, but the rest of their talented lineup is intact. Hard to pass up the value here, so we won’t.
New York Red Bulls
-1.5 (+165)
There’s not really enough separation in the standings quite yet to declare teams in a tier of their own at the top. But through seven weeks the Red Bulls sit atop the Supporters Shield standings and that’s got to count for something with 20% of the season in the rearview. They’ve managed to do so without the services of star player Emil Forsberg for a number of weeks. He returned last week and is a big reason why they’re the biggest favorites on the slate at -180 against Chicago Fire on Saturday. So we’re going to take a page out of last week’s success and take the home team to win by 2 or more at plus money.
Austin FC @ St. Louis City SC
Over 11.5 Total Corner Kicks (+115)
We’re going to run back a corners prop for the first time in a little over a month. Austin FC is allowing the most open play expected goals against (xGA) in MLS. Their opponent this week, St. Louis City SC, is fourth on the open play xGA list. Austin is leading the league in corner kicks conceded for the second season in a row at 7.57 per game. When these two teams met last month at Q2 Stadium in Austin they combined for 17 corners. We’ll take this all day at plus money.
Goal Scorers
Every week we’ll pick a few of our favorite goal scoring options in the betting market. Here are the Week 8 shouts.
Aaron Boupendza (+230)
Denis Bouanga (+140)
Petar Musa (+270)
Luis Muriel (+240)
Amine Bassi (+330)
Joseph Paintsil (+290)
Sebastián Driussi (+280)
Owen Wolff (+1400) 0.5 U
To score two or more goals
Aaron Boupendza (+1700) 0.5 U
To score or give assist
Carles Gil (+200)
Riqui Puig (+180)
Djordje Mihailovic (+190)
ResultS
Last week: +7.35 U
Season: +2.36 U
