Southend vs Accrington Stanley Predictions

Southend’s up and down season continued last weekend, as they were easily beaten by league leaders Portsmouth. The Shrimpers can be forgiven for failing to do it against one of the best teams in the division, though if they are serious about mounting a play-off challenge, which looks somewhat unlikely at present, then they need to regain the winning thread ASAP.

The Shrimpers were outclassed at Fratton Park last weekend, but that’s not the end of the world, though that’s not the first time that they’ve disappointed. In general, Chris Powell’s men have performed better at home than they have on the road, but they’ve struggled to win regularly, as they’ve come out on top on just four occasions in front of their own fans, while they’re still yet to record back-to-back to wins at Roots Hall.

In previous seasons, Roots Hall has been something of a fortress, though with five teams having won there already this season, it appears that the Shrimpers are struggling to really dominate on home soil. They played well against Scunthorpe when last at home, but they were aided massively by the visitors getting a man sent off early doors. Prior to that, they were outplayed by Blackpool at this venue, while three of the current top seven have already won in Essex this season.

In contrast, Accrington have been playing well in League One of late. Recent results haven’t gone their way, but having dominated both Wycombe and Rochdale, emerging with highly positive expected goal differences against both, Stanley ought to go to Roots Hall in confident mood.

From a defensive point of view, John Coleman’s men haven’t always scaled the heights on their travels; they’ve conceded in eight out of ten on their travels, while they’ve shipped an average of 1.77 expected goals. Such a figure tells us that teams don’t find it too hard to create chances against Saturday’s visitors. Fortunately, they can compete at the other end of proceedings. Accrington have scored in eight out of ten on the road, while their average of 1.49 expected goals for on the road suggests that they’re no slouches when it comes to creating chances. Having gone away from home and scored against good sides such as Luton, Blackpool and Coventry, the visitors will fancy themselves to breach the Shrimpers on Saturday.

If we consider the recent performances of Southend at home and Accrington on their travels, then at the prices, ‘Both Teams to Score’ stands out massively. Blackpool recently went to Roots Hall and caused the hosts all manner of problems, so it’s easy to see a useful Accrington attack doing the same, though the visitors’ defensive efforts on their travels don’t exactly suggest that they’ll do so whilst keeping things tight at the back.

With the hosts averaging 1.68 expected goals for at home and with the visitors averaging 1.49 expected goals on their travels, the chances should flow at Roots Hall on Saturday afternoon, and punters can profit by backing both teams to register on the score-sheet at least once each.