Gillingham vs Coventry Predictions

Despite taking an early lead on Tuesday night, Gillingham came up short in front of their own fans, though if they can bounce back here, Steve Lovell’s men can be forgiven for losing to the team who’re looking likely to challenge for the title this season.

To lose on home soil is never pleasing, especially when you concede four goals in the process, though Gillingham may not be too disheartened by Tuesday’s match. Saturday’s hosts know that they played well at times against one of the best teams in the division, while they’d certainly have a case if they said that their performance merited more. Lovell’s men once again looked good going forward, though as has often been the case at Priestfield during the Welshman’ reign, they were too easy to get at.

Gillingham’s attack-minded approach is always good to see, though the most impressive thing about them this season has been the fact that they’ve used their style to create lots of chance sand score plenty of goals. As things stand in third tier, Gillingham have accrued the fourth highest expected goals total, while they are also the fourth highest scorers. If they can continue to get forward with purpose on Saturday, then getting the better of a Coventry side who’ve not offered the greatest threat could easily be within their grasp.

Unlike the Gills, who continue to look threatening in the final third, Coventry once again disappointed going forward during the week. They were playing away from home, though a match against a Blackpool side who’re not the best at overpowering teams represented a chance for them to do more offensively, but Mark Robins’ side failed to leave their mark on the game in that sense.

Tuesday’s defeat at Bloomfield Road wasn’t the first time that Coventry have disappointed going forward this season. In fact, the Sky Blues have been one of the most disappointing teams in League One in that respect. As things stand, Coventry currently rank 15^th in terms of expected goals for, while they rank 20th in terms of shot on target.

However, playing against an open and expansive Gillingham side could allow the visitors to offer more in the final third, so we shouldn’t write them off just because they’ve failed to create much so far.

From a betting point of view, given how the hosts are likely to set up, goals are easy to fancy, especially at the prices. It would be no surprise if this turned out to be yet another open encounter at Priestfield, and what with the hosts both creating chances and giving plenty away, a shortage of goals seems slightly less likely than the current prices suggest. ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ gets the nod.