Roker Riches: All the tips this final league week - any chance of a second Sunderland win?

Welcome to this week’s edition of Roker Riches. At last! A win!

You could almost hear the collective fan base (and the squad/head coach) let out a long and relieved exhale, after what ended up a decent away win at Plymouth.

With the score, as well as the performance, being something to be positive about (especially with the absence of McGeady and Wyke, ably deputised by Gooch and Stewart), we can only hope that we continue that vein of form and winning ways in the last fixture of the normal season, at home to an already relegated Northampton. That would be the best possible platform to launch into the playoffs to come, for sure.

Let’s take a look at how that upturn in results and this weekend's opponents are influencing the Riches team's bets.

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The Rolling Table: Season 2020-2021

Yellow card update...

In the run up to this our last normal game of the season, we had a “clean sheet” with no yellow cards at all from the Riches betting team.

We even got a few “just for fun” bets from our skint punters. It would be just their luck they romp home, you watch!

The table after last weekend looks like this:

As you can see we have four punters now bust, including our Readers.

Malc picked up the only win with his Sunderland BTTS bet last week (despite much whining from Bomber about his bet supposedly standing, even though Wyke didn't even make the bench...)

Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

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Banker’s Bonus...

No bonus this week, as the players from the Team of the Season mostly didn’t make the pitch last weekend. That’s how bets work Bomber, if they go on the grass they may do what you thought.

This week's bonus is simple - score 2 or more and win against an already relegated Cobblers side and we all get 20 quid of extra funds for the play-offs. While on that topic...

Playoffs top up...

In order for the less prolific betting lads to try to reprieve themselves, the Riches collective have agreed a top-up allowance for the playoff process.

An extra tenner will be allocated to all punters, to allow even our skint brethren a bet on the lads through the playoff sequence. This will be allocated in addition to any banker's bonus income, if that happens to come in too.

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This Week’s Bets:

Matty Crichton says...

Sunderland vs Northampton Bet Builder:

Sunderland to win, over 3 goals during the match for both teams combined, over six corners for Sunderland and Ross Stewart to score again for Lee Johnson’s men.

£10 returns £170 (though as he is bust, this is just for fun, and to rub things in if he wins..)

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

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Luke ‘Bomber’ Davies says...

Last throw of the dice. After Malc threw me under the bus last week by not voiding the Wyke Anytime Goalscorer leg of last weeks Bet Builder and declaring it a winner, all the eggs being thrown into one final attempt.

Over 2.5 goals, Gooch Anytime scorer, Sunderland Win, Sunderland to score second half. Tenner returns £49.76......

Or it would if he wasn’t BUST!! So this one is just for fun too, and once again, we really hope it lands.

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Phil Butler says...

Score and Win Double. With a few dead rubbers in the league this season I’m trying to avoid a long accumulator including teams that are already on the beach. Instead I’m backing Mo Salah and Gareth Bale to both score in wins for their sides against Southampton and Leeds respectively. £5 returns £30.19

Lynden Gooch to outscore Northampton. I fancy a very lax approach to this game from both sides, but since we can benefit from finishing higher in the table we should have enough to win. Gooch got all the assists last week, so a goal or two and a clean sheet would be canny today. £5 returns £25

Photo by Mark Fletcher/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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Paul Fletcher says...

Sunderland to win 4-0: Will Northampton be utterly deflated and exit League One with a whimper or will they go down fighting? Will Sunderland have the handbrake on or be going for it full throttle with players pushing hard to earn a place in the starting line-up come the play-off first leg? Will my 4-0 bet ever come in? I’m intrigued to see how the game and the bet pans out tomorrow. £5 returns £115

Tempting Tenfold: On the final betting weekend of the normal season, there’s absolutely no point in playing it safe. I’ve picked ten nailed on winners across Saturday and Sunday. When they all win comfortably, I’ll be sitting pretty at the top of the league, counting my money. In the real world that means I’ll be five out of ten (at best) so I apologise in advance to supporters of Bayern Munich, Napoli, AZ Alkmaar, Exeter City, Wrexham, Arsenal, Legia, Sassuolo, St Gallen and Blackpool. £5 returns £626.40

Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

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Malc Dugdale says...

Prem home treble...As we approach the final games of the season, home advantage can be precious to help teams push for the last few points. I’m backing Leeds, Man City and Liverpool to all win at home, and by including Leeds this gives very good odds of over 7-1. Fiver returns £41.75 on Sky Bet.

Sunderland to win 3-0, 3-1 or 3-2...I’d love this to be a solid 3-0 to take us into the playoff process with two wins and six goals, but with our makeshift defence still not getting loads of natural defenders back just yet, we may ship one or even two as the Cobblers try to exit league one with a bang. Fiver returns £27.50 on Sky Bet.

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Danny Roberts says...

Sunderland to win by 2.5 goals. Let’s end the regular season on a high and get a little momentum going into the play-offs. £5 returns £37.50.

Derby County and Rotherham to lose. My close friend is a Sheffield Wednesday fan, so this bet is made more in the hope they’ll stay up, rather than common sense telling me. But Wednesday are in form and the latter two have proven they’re not good enough for the Championship this season. There’s little heart in Derby team, and their opponents this weekend are giving it a good go to stay up so it’s entirely possible the Rams will be in League One next season. £5 returns £40.

Again, as Danny is now bust, these are for fun only, but if you fancy Danny’s options, chuck a quid on em by all means. He would if he wasn’t broke.

Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

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Riches Readers’ Random Pick...

The readers random pick will resume for the playoffs given they too are skint, so look out for what random bets they get as we push for Wembley once again.

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Good luck to Sunderland and to all our fellow punters this weekend. Please remember to gamble responsibly, and enjoy your weekend.

Let us know what you will be betting on this weekend, on social media or by email? Cheers, and ha’way the Lads!