Scunthorpe vs Coventry Predictions

It looked as though there was little hope for Scunthorpe when they were beaten on Boxing Day; they’d lost seven on the spin and hadn’t scored for six straight games. However, Stuart McCall’s men have since awoken from their slumber. They were victorious against Wycombe on the 29^th, while they went away from home and beat Peterborough on New Year’s Day. After two wins and two clean sheets, the Iron will be looking to exit the drop-zone.

The Iron were fortunate to beat Wycombe on the 29^th; they gave more away than they created and also  luck was very much on their side when Wycombe controversially had a goal disallowed. With that performance fresh in the memory, it was easy to see McCall’s men floundering away against Peterborough on Tuesday, but they didn’t. Scunthorpe proved that they have still got some bite in them, and although their performance wasn’t great, they dug their heels in and were tough to beat for once.

One performance doesn’t change much, Scunny remain a side that is too easy to score against, but a couple of positive results should at least allow them to play with more confidence. On their own patch, creating chances and scoring goals hasn’t been too much of a problem. They’ve notched in for of their last six at Glanford Park, where they’ve got a reasonable average of 1.42 expected goals for. However, any headway that they’ve made in the final third has tended to count for very little since they’ve given away an appalling average of 2.03 expected goals, while they’ve shipped no less than 29 goals in 13 home matches.

After their commanding win away against Wycombe at the weekend, Coventry must be licking their lips ahead of this fixture. Last time out, Mark Robins’ men looked very good in the final third, as they took advantage of what was a rather weak Wycombe rear-guard. That match wasn’t the first time that the Sky Blues have gone away from home and made things happen in the final third, so it’s easy to envisage them hurting Scunny’s dodgy back-line.

The visitors are averaging a pleasing 1.53 expected goals for away from home this season, while they’ve found it easy to create against weak defences, clocking 1.53 expected goals against Walsall and 1.83 against Bradford of late. They also created 2.54 against Fleetwood and 2.97 against Southend. Such figures suggest that Coventry can really hurt this Scunthorpe side. However, the visitors have tended to concede up goals against the lesser sides. Walsall, Fleetwood and Bradford all recently found the net at home to the Sky Blues, while the visitors have shut their opponents out in just one of their last 12 away matches.

Both teams look capable of scoring goals in this fixture, while Scunthorpe’s rather open style at home means that goals are usually inevitable. At the prices, with there having been an average of 3.45 expected goals at Glanford Park this season, ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ is tempting at the prices on offer at present.