Matchday Matrix Round 1

Are you ready for the latest Sportsblock contest?

This one, I think, is gonna really test your sporting brain against the other members of the Sportsblock community.

The premise is pretty simple and has been described by @blanchy in his post here.

https://sportsblock.app/post/blanchy/sportsblock-matchday-matrix-new-contest-coming-this-week

Every day for 10 days we'll select 5 football matches (that's soccer for the uninitiated) from across the globe.

All you have to do is assigned 1 of 5 unique outcomes against those 5 fixtures.

The outcomes are

• Over 2.5 goals
• Both Teams to Score (BTTS)
• Over 3.5 yellow cards
• Over 10.5 corners
• Draw

If the match that you assigned that outcome to finishes with that result then you score 1 point.

Within the matrix, click on the outcome against a specific match. You'll see that outcome is now blanked out and unavailable to select against the other matches

Every round, each player also has a x 3 multiplier that they can use against any of those results.

If the assigned outcome is positive, they score 3 points for the multiplier match.

To set the multiple just click again on an outcome you've already made. You'll see the option to 'use x3 here'. You can also see the option to 'clear the pick' if you'd like to reset

That's 7 points in total available for every round, 10 rounds makes it a total of 70 points for the whole contest.

You'll be competing against everyone else in the contest to score the most points with the top 3 winning a share of the prize fund.

Ok, I think that adequately describes what you've got to do which was the easy bit. Now comes the tough part - actually assigning the outcomes to the 5 matches!

Here are our first 5 fixtures, all set to take place on the evening (BST) of Friday 1 May.

Leeds v Burnley

After defeat to Chelsea in the cup at the weekend, Leeds sole focus is now the league and attempting to survive. A win in this one against already relegated Burnley would go a long way to securing that.

Those not familiar with their UK geography and history should note that this is Yorkshire v Lancashire, a local derby, War of the Roses clash so even though Burnley's fate is sealed, bragging rights are still very much to play for.

Burnley's leaky defence and Leeds' attacking options would make this a decent bet for the over 2.5 goal outcome (current odds of 1.67). However, on recent form, you're probably banking on Leeds to do all the scoring. They've not conceded at home in their last 3 games while Burnley have scored just twice in their last 6 matches.

It makes Leeds firm favourites with a draw an outside bet at 4.4.

The fact that it is a derby could mean that a few tackles go in but Leeds actually have the joint 2nd best disciplinary record in the league this season which is somewhat surprisingly given their position in the table and the fact that they don't dominate possession.

The odds on over 10.5 corners for the match are currently 2.1. Both these teams have only managed 10.5+ corners in 38% of their matches this season below the league average of 43%.

Livingston v Aberdeen

We continue to head north for this match in the Scottish Premier League.

Both these 2 are in the 2nd phase 'relegation group' i.e. they finished the regular season in the bottom 6. However, it's Livingston that are staring down the barrel, 9 points adrift with 12 to play for.

They did however win their last match, just their 2nd victory of the season with the side having recorded 13 draws so far. The odds on them returning another stalemate in this one are 3.2.

Having endured an 8 match winless run themselves, Aberdeen have stopped the rot with 2 wins on the bounce.

Weak defenses certainly raises the possibility of their being goals in this one with the bookies offering odds of 1.8 on over 2.5 goals.

At the same time, neither side is firing in loads of goals. Aberdeen's last 3 games have finished with a win to nil while 4 of Livingston's last 6 matches have also seen at least 1 side draw a blank. Despite which, you can get BTTS as short as 1.65.

The average number of corners per match this season for both sides floats very close to the 10.5 mark with Aberdeen recording 10.26 and Livingston 10.41 per match in 25/26.

Plenty of yellow's in Abderdeen's recent matches. Their last 4 fixtures have exceeded 3.5 cards in total.

Girona v Mallorca

Girona's season has fizzled out in the last couple of months. Coming into the Spring they were very much in with a shout of grabbing a European spot but just 1 win in their last 5 has seen others overtake them and instead, they are looking nervously over their shoulder at the likes of Mallorca who are coming up behind them.

Mallorca have lost just once in the last 2 months and disappointingly for them that came last weekend against fellow relegation candidates Alaves. A win in this fixture would move them level on points with Girona.

Being fairly evenly matched teams, you can get odds of 3.3 for the draw while the bookies also favour this one to have goals. Over 2.5 at odds of 1.8 and BTTS at 1.7.

BTTS in Mallorca games has been a constant of late with 6 of their last 7 matches finishing with both sides on the score sheet.

I wonder as we go along whether bias towards certain outcomes for certain leagues will appear? La Liga doesn't record big numbers of corners in comparison to other leagues although 40% of their games do still finish with 10.5 or more.

5 of the 8 games that these 2 sides took part in during April finished with over 3.5 yellow cards and it's tempting to think that with so much riding on it, we'll see a few more fouls this evening.

Pisa v Lecce

If you're looking for dull then Serie A is where you're most likely to find the 'action'.

Pisa and Lecce are at odds of 2.9 for a draw. Presumably the odds of that result being shorter than any other match in this round is because neither of these sides wins many games!

Pisa are bottom with just 2 victories all season. Lecce are 1 point and 1 place above the relegation zone.

Lecce have the worst goal scoring record in the league (22 goals in 34 games) and Pisa aren't much better having netted just 24 times. If you're going over 2.5 goals or BTTS in this one then good luck to you, you'll need it!

Being so poor in attacking areas you'd expect that generating corners will also be tough. Both teams average corner counts this season is around the 4 per match.

A bit of shithousery is definitely a mark of Italian football. Lecce's last 2 matches have returned 6 and 7 yellow cards respectively while Pisa's last couple of games have also gone over the 3.5 mark.

Cercle Brugge v Zulte-Waregem

We finish 'In Bruges' with 2 more sides who finished low enough in the regular season to put in the 'relegation' group of the Belgian Pro League.

Since then, these 2 have become big fish in a small pond, each winning their last 3 matches against very weak opposition. In essence, this is the championship decider amongst the 4 worst teams in the division.

The home team are the favourites with odds on a draw as long as 3.6.

However, it's the goal market for players to consider in this one. Over 2.5 goals is being offered at odds of 1.57 and BTTS at odds of 1.53 which might tempt use of the multiplier.

Again attacking football should deliver corner opportunities. 60% of Brugge's matches this season have finished with 10.5 or more corners.

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Calling all MEDAL holders - deadline to enter round 1 is 19:45 (BST), Friday 1 May

Join here - https://sportsblock.app/contests/matchday-matrix/matchday-matrix

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