Bet 92

92.) Norwich v West Ham - LAY Over 4.5 goals @ 8.6

Post-bet
There is an element of 'this match is on TV so I'll bet on it' in this bet. But when I looked at this fixture initially I thought this looks like a low-scoring game to me. West Ham's game is built on playing with a solid defence, especially away from home. Norwich continue to struggle in-front of goal, scoring only six all season. Despite leaking quite a few goals this season Norwich under Chris Hughton have a history of tight home games against similar quality opposition, they had numerous such examples last season involving one or two goals. My only slight worry is that Norwich go with an attacking line-up in this game playing two strikers and will surely be highly motivated to get a result. West Ham however keep with the tactic of playing no recognized striker in their line-up, which as to be a good thing for my bet.

Result
Norwich 3-1 West Ham (+£2.75)

Verdict
Turned out to be a rather more open game than I was expecting, especially second half. Although it must be said Norwich got back into the game through a goalkeeping mistake which led to the penalty. Beauty of bets at such short odds (or laying longer odds in the case) means there's a great margin of error. I wrongly thought this game wouldn't contain many goals but it didn't turn out that way. Also the fourth came in stoppage time so there wasn't really a time in which I felt there any danger of a fifth goal being scored. 2/5