Saint Etienne v Toulouse, some tennis thoughts

Have they enough to back?

Did anyone see that Zulte-Wigan last night? How on Earth didn't Zulte at least win that one? It just highlights once again the perils of betting and why I am sticking to giving suggestions and analysis only. The stress and strains of day to day betting is just too much in this current climate, but I am still happy to share any thoughts/suggestions with you which you can do what you like with!

Saint Etienne's home record is, in the main, very good. Out of the last 20 home matches they have lost/drawn 8 times though a number of those have been in Europe/Cup matches. Toulouse away have won/drawn 12 matches from the last 20 games.The battle lines are drawn at 1.80, 3.25, 5.00.

If you look at where Toulouse have picked up points away from home from last season, they perfectly represented where they were in the pecking order. Finishing 10th, they had nine teams above them and they lost 7/9 games away from home. One draw was against Montpellier and the other...against Saint Etienne funnily enough.

Saint Etienne had a mixed bag against the top, which you'd expect, but were very good only losing one and drawing two against the bottom half teams whilst at home. Toulouse are -4 goals and Etienne +4 goals, although you could argue that Saint Etienne have had a generous start to the season fixture wise versing four of the sides ranked 15th or lower.

Interestingly, Toulouse have drawn two matches against some top sides; once against Marseille 1-1 and they managed to snuff out Monaco 0-0 away. That may have been the joker in the pack match though for the season trend as they have played two other league games away and lost to Bastia 2-1 and Valenciennes 3-0.

Another interesting stat is that last season Toulouse were masters of the unders. Away from home, almost 70% of their matches came in at under 2.5 goals. They will probably look to contain the home side for long periods. And furthermore to that, whether Toulouse played home or away, they had a high percentage of 0-0 draws at half time game state. At home they achieved goalless parity 9 times (47%) whilst away they achieved the same feat 8 times (42%). As an edge if you're adamant about backing the home team you could wait in-play for odds closer to evens.

A lot of time for this boy!

In the tennis, Meusburger v Zhang could be a coin flip. Zhang has the obvious home advantage that was so key in seeing Robson lose to Zheng yesterday, but Meusburger's hit a purple patch in form in her career, and it wouldn't surprise me if she wins here.

One match that interests me highly is Tursunov-Sousa. Sousa is a player that I like a lot and seems completely fearless at the moment. He's combative, spiky with no little talent. Sousa is +4.5 games at 1.80 with 365, which you could probably get better odds closer to the event with other bookies. This opens up a tump of possibilities including Sousa losing in straight sets 6-4 6-4. I believe that Sousa could take a set which would leave the handicap almost a foregone conclusion.