Roker Riches: The Lads Are Praying For Goals At St. Mary's

Week Seventeen Recap

All change in the leaderboard following a superb 12/1 pick last week which netted him an impressive £48 profit, all off the back of just a double! Nicely played Mr. Jones! This win has put Karl just five quid behind current leader Dan, who rather shot himself in the foot last week with some rather reckless betting which cost him £15. Still all to play for however!

On to this week's picks:

Chris Weatherspoon

I'm back! After a bit of a lengthy absence - shamed by my correct pick of Sunderland to get beat - I've finally plucked up the courage to return. I'm wary, though, of being a jinx. I mean, usually, I'm fairly awful at this betting lark. So I've decided not to bet on who will win this weekend, instead I'm plumping for there to be over 2.5 goals in the game. Southampton have conceded, on average, two goals per game this season, whilst ourselves have let ship 1.41. I'd say the chances of there being three goals in this one are pretty high.

Elsewhere, it's clear I love a (losing) accumulator. So, sod it, my luck has to change some time, right? Arsenal won in midweek, so it'd be about right if Wigan brought them back down to earth with a crushing thud. Man City to beat Reading is pretty much a dead cert. I daren't bet on the Mags. Spurs should beat Stoke, and I fancy West Brom to put an end to Norwich's fantastic run. I'm probably wrong though

• More than 2.5 goals in Southampton v Sunderland - 9/10 - £5 stake
• Wigan, Man City, Spurs and West Brom all to win - 16/1 - £1 stake

David Boyle

I have to agree with Chris' prediction that there will be goals at St. Mary's this weekend given Southampton's start to the season and I can certainly see Sunderland managing to find the net. I'm not confident enough to nail my flag to either mast with regards to a result at the moment and am instead going to opt for the safer both teams to score bet this weekend.

Away from all things red and white I am going to go with a Championship and League One treble this week starting with Crystal Palace to beat Huddersfield, Charlton to win at Sheffield Wednesday and finally Doncaster to benefit from home advantage over MK Dons. Some brave selections but a nice price.

• Southampton vs Sunderland, both teams to score - 7/10 - £6.92 Stake
• Crystal Palace, Charlton and Doncaster to win - 19/1 - £3 Stake

Simon Walsh

Southampton, for me, is a really tough game. It's very difficult to predict just which way it will go with both teams desperate for the points, and with Southampton at home it's no surprise to see them the slight favourites. The good thing about this is, the odds on us lot should be good.

God knows who's going to open the scoring, but I think this is a game where Sess wins us the points through a moment of magic, which is why I'm backing him to score the last goal of the game at 9/1.

Elsewhere around the leagues I'm opting for this little accumulator of wins - West Ham, Bolton and Middlesbrough. Should turn in a nice little pre-Christmas return.

• Stephane Sessegnon to score last - 9/1 - £1
• West Ham, Bolton & Middlesbrough all to win - 16/1 - £1