Orleans actually had quite a great game last weekend in order to pull out a point from visiting Laval, as they had to play with a man less since 12th and two men less since 41st minute. However, that didn’t stop them getting into the lead already in 30th minute thanks to a goal from Maah.

After the goal scored, team looked highly organized in their defense, while Laval played quite badly in creative part of the game and even though everything went on their side, the team was never able to put a great pressure to visitors and claim a victory. Surely this result comes as a positive one for the players of Orleans, as the team now extended their undefeated run to seven matches. Atmosphere is quite good at the moment, as the distance from the danger zone has increased to five points. Home side will have couple of problems making the roster for this match, especially in the defense as they miss central defenders Maxime Brillault (20/3) and Antoine Ponroy (18/1) who were excluded from the previous game. Other defender, Bruce Abdoulaye (24/0) is also missing for this game. Such absentees will hardly be covered this time in the defense.


Tours, on the other hand, comes from a quite unfair 2:3 draw against Arles at home, as their visitors completely deserved whole three pointer. They managed to take the lea in seventh minute and despite playing with a man less since eleventh minute, they remained better on the field.

However, hosts quickly equalized few minutes later, but the visitors lost the penalty kick later on in the first halftime, scoring second near the halftime whistle. During the second half, they managed to endure, but still conceded the second goal fifteen minutes before the end of the game. For the third consecutive game, they conceded two goals, this time avoiding the defeat, but still failing to win as well. With only one point in last three matches, they are still in the danger zone, being a point below the safely placed teams. Newly signed striker Andy Delort from Wigan will try to help them, while the atmosphere remains good, despite the difficulties the team has. Central defender Leo Schwechlen (20/0) is losing his fifth game in a row, while substitute defender Alassane Toure (4/0) returns back to the team.

Tours have conceded at least 2 goals in their last 3 matches in Ligue 2.
Tours plays with a great pace and fully aggressive, disregarding the court they play at. Orleans will also try to attack, but they are also vulnerable at the back and the hosts have every chance to stay undefeated here. However, both teams scoring and over goals seems like the safest choice here, while the odds are surely giving us good value.

Bet: Over 2.25 goals

Schalke 04 vs. Borussia M’gladach / Bundesliga – The first match of the round and again a derby just like on the last Friday, but this time the two teams, who are sixth and third in the standings, fight a big battle to qualify for the Champions League. Both teams have started very well second part of the season and Schalke won and drew once but for them this will be the second consecutive derby and they had more difficult rivals than Borussia who won both matches but it played against teams positioned in the lower part of the table. These two teams have made the same result at home, while in the first part of the season Borussia won at home by high 4-1. Begins: 06.02.2015 – 20:30 CET

Schalke 04
Schalke started very well the second half of the season and it made the same results in the first two rounds of the continuation as in the last two matches of the first part, which means a win and a draw. The difference was that the opponents at the beginning of the second part were much stronger and therefore the results are more valuable. They started with a home win against Hannover, which was expected, although it was not easy at all and the match was undecided till the very end. During the week they faced Bayern in Munich, and this away match has been painful for years, however, this time they managed to remain undefeated and are the first team in the Bundesliga who stayed undefeated two times this season against Bayern.

Both times the result read at the end 1-1 but the match in Munich was quite unusual and at the end Schalke can be sorry that it hadn’t win because they had a player more for almost the entire match and they missed the penalty. They conceded a goal with a player more but have managed to equalise, despite that they played quite fearfully. The problem with absences is getting bigger, so new on the list is goalkeeper Giefer who is injured and was replaced by young Wellenreuther. Refreshments in Munich were Sam and Matip, while now there could be new changes.

Probable lineups Schalke 04: Wellenreuther – Howedes, Matip, Nastasic – Uchida, Fuchs – Neustadter – Boateng, M. Meyer, Sam – Choupo-Moting

Borussia M’gladbach
Borussia has even better start the second part of the season and they won two matches with a clean sheet. However, opponents were Stuttgart away and Freiburg at home and these teams are positioned at very rear of the table, so victories of 1-0 are not something special. However, Borussia plays like that for the most of this season and matches when they completely outclass opponents are simply rare. Victories were often minimal but this team hardly concede goals, having the second best defence in the league.

Besides winning by the two matches the same result, exactly the same team played both of them and even the scoreres, Herrmann and assistant Hrgota, were the same. For this match they will have to change the team, because stopper Stranzl was injured on Wednesday and he is not going to Gelsenkirchen and his replacement is A. Dominguez. There is no midfielder Hahn and it is interesting that coach Favre had changed the formation and otherwise standard Raffael is on the bench, while Hrgota is the lone striker.

Probable lineups Borussia M’gladbach: Sommer – Korb, Jantschke, A. Dominguez, Wendt – Kramer, G. Xhaka – Herrmann, F. Johnson – M. Kruse – Hrgota

Schalke 04 – Borussia M’gladbach PICK
According to what the teams have showed in the two rounds of the season continuation, the defences are stronger parts of both teams having received only one goal in total. Schalke has big problems with the team so they might be satisfied with a draw, for which Borussia always has a ready tactics and on top of it receives very little goals when plays away.

Pick: under 2.5 goals

Stake: 5/10

Odds: 2.00

FC Barcelona vs. Villarreal / La Liga – This is an interesting match too, no matter that Barcelona is a big favourite every time it is the hosts in La Liga. Surly, it is the case now, but unpleasant Villarreal certainly belongs to the group of teams that are capable to make a surprise at the Nou Camp, especially when they are in a great shape. More precisely, both teams are in long positive series, so Barca has seven wins in a row while Villarreal has four but a lot for string of matches which they didn’t lose. Both teams play successfully in Europe and have qualified for the Cup’s semi-finals, where will face each other pretty soon. In the first part of the season Barcelona minimally won at El Madrigal by 1-0, while Villarreal has not won at the Nou Camp since 2008. Begins: 01.02.2015 – 21:00 CET

FC Barcelona
Barcelona is making big advancements and it is probably indifferent who the next opponent is. They steamroller everyone in front of themselves and particular good for their self-confidence was that they defeated three times the reigning champion Atletico in a short period of time; the team who cause so much trouble for them in the last season. They’ve scored seven goals in three matches, which is also a great thing, against famously solid defence of the Madrilenians. They had scored even 15 goals in three matches against Elche and four more against Deportivo so the attack functions absolutely perfectly.

Messi and Neymar are the top scorers but they also assist each other and have good support in Suarez. The defence was a bit more unbalanced in in the second leg against Atletico, but overall it is the best defence in the league. Apart from Vermaelen and Douglas they have no problems with injuries, so the question is whether Barcelona has a weak spot at all in this moment. The answer is no and that is why are in a great series.

Probable lineups FC Barcelona: Bravo – Dani Alves, Pique, Mathieu, Jordi Alba – Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta – Messi, Neymar, Suarez

Villarreal
Villarreal also plays greatly in recent days and they even have a much longer series without defeats than Barcelona. The Yellow Submarine has not lost since the beginning of November last year when they lost to Zurich in the Europa League and Valencia in La Liga in just four days. Since then they had played ten matches in the championship, two more in the Europa League and additional six in the Cup, all without defeat. In total it is even 18 matches, which is currently one of the best series in Europe so Villarreal comes at the Nou Camp full of self-confidence. They had defeated Getafe in two quarter-final matches  of the Cup by 1-0, while in the championship they defeated Athletic and Levante, also with a clean sheet.

It is interesting that they had lost only once this season as visitors in Seville, when they received two goals in final minutes of the match, so this is another proof that can be very unpleasant in this match. They have changed the team a bit of the winter transfer period so with them is now Campbell from Arsenal and has already debuted in the Cup, while stopper Gabriel Paulista went in the opposite direction. Gone are Cani, Espinosa and stopper Bailly, who is currently at the African Cup of Nations.

Probable lineups Villarreal: S. Asenjo – Mario, V. Ruiz, Musacchio, J. Costa – Trigueros, Soriano – Campbell, dos Santos, Cheryshev – Vietto

FC Barcelona – Villarreal PICK
Villarreal certainly knows how to set itself when plays away but this is a special away match and there is not much room for manoeuvring. Therefore, we expect that the guests try to outplay Barcelona, as they are worry free so in the end we can see a real goal-parade.

Pick: over 3.5 goals

Stake: 5/10