St. Patricks Athletic VS Shelbourne

St. Patricks host Shelbourne at Richmond Park in Dublinin, the capital of Ireland, for this Irish Premier Division game early Monday morning Beijing time. This is the 36th – and final round of this league. It is a low-level league by European standards but my fans have achieved great success betting on this league - and Irish football as whole! Once again I am convinced that we have a very interesting match to bet on here once again! The hosts currently occupy the 4th place in this league with a total of 10 teams and have 58 points to their account. They have a goal difference of 53:37. The visitors, in the other hand, currently occupy the 7th place. The have grabbed just 41 points so far. Their score difference is much worse than St. Patricks - 40:45. They have had a pretty positive season so far taking into account that they were promoted from the 2nd tier for this season they are also a pretty small team by financial resources and players' total market value which is just 1.40 million euros according to a German websiteTransfermarkt.com. The hosts' squad is valued at 3.40 million. Both numbers are more or less correct in my opinion reflecting the edge the hosts should have here! Neither team have anything to play for left anymore this season which makes it a bit challenging to give an a razor-sharp probability estimation but the host must have around 52-54% chance to take all three points. I expect an open, relaxed and attacking game with probably more goals than the betting market estimates here. Let's hope it will also be an entertaining one – at least by this league's standards.. In this kind of "no stakes situation" the home team often has a much bigger chance of winning than in a normal match with a lot at stake.. Indeed, particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland winning the last home game is almost always a big thing! It is sort of a ”thank you” for the loyal for fans for the support they have offered during season. St. Patricks do have good fans and I expect the atmosphere at Richmond Park to be pretty good here!

The motivation factor is the main rationale behind this pick but let's still remember that the hosts are the stronger team all areas of the game. Especially their offense is much more dangerous than the visitors which often lacks creativity and speed - especially away from home. The difference in this area is bigger than the number of goals scored - 53 and 40 would reflect. I would not be at all surprised to see both teams' coaches to rotate their squad here offering especially the young, promising players a chance to prove their skills. Even so, I expect the hosts' coach to field many more regular starters than Shelbourne's manager. Let's also keep in mind that St. Patricks also have a considerably bigger number of good players to choose from.. Neither team are in particularly good form at the moment. Yes, Shelbourne did crush Drogheda 6-0 at home in their most recent match and did deserve the win. However, the 6-0 final score is still misleading. Drogheda did have their chances and 43% ball possession but more or less threw in the towel when the score was 2-0 early into the first half already.. Before this Shebourne's latest win in this league came a very long time ago - in July(!) to be specific against a limited team, UC Dublin. The hosts lost their most recent match 0-1 to Sligo Rovers, a decent team, away from home. They would have deserved at least a draw though after recording 55% ball possession and much more shots on goal (7-2) as well as more passes, completed passes, attacks and dangerous attacks.