Two sides who are fighting for third meet this week, as South Africa and Namibia face off looking for three points. While they’re in a top-heavy group with Morocco and the Ivory Coast, one of these two could sneak through in fourth with a win here. They are aiming to follow up on narrow defeats in their opening clash by coming away with a win in this one, but can either of these two push their case to make the second round in this encounter in Cairo on Friday?

South Africa were narrowly edged out by Ivory Coast in their clash, but they restricted one of the competition’s strongest attacking line-ups to just three shots on target. That wasn’t a bad way to start, while Stuart Baxter will be aiming for Bafana Bafana to kick on from here. The Scottish manager is aiming to guide the country into the last 16 of this competition, as they could take one of the best third-placed slots with three points against AFCON outsiders Namibia in this game.

We struggle to see DR Congo doing much to dent Egypt’s hopes. They kicked off their campaign with a disappointing 2-0 loss to Uganda, a defeat which has marked them out as a side who could now struggle to get through the group. While they do have some talented players to call upon, recent results for DR Congo suggest they are a side who are in disarray. A defeat here will all but rule them out of the tournament, but we struggle to see them matching Egypt.

On match-day two, the Mexicans once again showed their class in the final third, as they scored three goals and posted 2.58 expected goals for. In contrast, Martinique failed to score against Canada, as they posted only 0.73 expected goals for.

In truth, considering that Mexico were considerably better than Canada, who battered Martinique on match-day one, it’s impossible to see anything other than a comfortable win for the tournament favourites, who’ve been in imperious form recently.

In the betting, ‘Mexico to Score Over 3.5 Goals’ appears to be somewhat generously priced. Given that the Mexicans dismantled Canada, who made light work of scoring four goals against Martinique, Martino’s men are fancied to once again hit their stride. After all, they’ve already proved that they can run riot against minnows when notching seven and creating 6.77 expected goals for on match-day one, while Martinique have shown that they lack defensive solidity against useful sides.

Brazil have kept four clean sheets on the spin, so we expect them to keep the opposition attack quiet. However, Brazil are unlikely to get the space they had in their 3-0 win over Bolivia. Peru know a point – or potentially even a narrow defeat – takes them through, so expect them to try and keep things tight. We are backing a low scoring clash between these sides, following on from their close encounter in 2016. Under 2.5 goals is our tip, while we’re backing Brazil to win 2-0.

Pre-season expectations are a funny thing as they will be typically high for the majority of fans who believe that their side have finally got the tools to kick on in the league and achieve success. However, although expectations at both HIFK and SJK would not have been particularly high, both sides come into this Tuesday’s clash in high spirits as neither side looks in bad touch and, fortunately for us, that should result in an entertaining fixture.

For fans of HIFK, they would not have been expecting too much from the campaign as the title looked beyond reach but they were too good to be involved in a scrap at the bottom. However, in the early stages of the season they struggled to put points on the board and found themselves in a battle they wished to have no part of. Fortunately for the hosts, their form picked up and they come into this match undefeated in their previous five matches, albeit four of those five matches finishing in a draw.

With a single goal lead, Salernitana should be worried. They lost 11 of their 18 away trips this term, winning only twice on the road. A draw would do them here, but losing over half of their games on their travels suggests that’s a tall order too. Meanwhile, 75% of Venezia’s wins came at his ground, while they lost only four times in front of their home support. The side from Venice lost none of their meetings with fellow bottom seven sides here, winning three of their four games with sides beneath them – including that win over Salernitana.

Venezia have won to nil in four of the last six meetings between these two at this ground. Meanwhile, they’re hosting a side who have lost their last seven matches on the spin away from home, which suggests they’ll struggle here. Salernitana lost all but one of their trips to teams in the bottom six, so we think that Venezia to win represents great value ahead of Sunday’s clash.

Malmo hit five last time out in a thumping win over AFC Eskilstuna. However as much as anything they’ve impressed with their defensive qualities this term. They’ve kept clean sheets in all of their last 3 games and they have the best defensive record in the Allsvenskan with just 0.73 goals per game conceded. Up against a Sundsvall side that is struggling for goals, backing Malmo to Win to Nil looks like a decent bet.

If you fancy a goalscorer bet, consider going for Malmo midfielder Anders Christiansen to score anytime. The Dane has netted in each of his last 3 matches but is still available at pretty long odds here to get on the scoresheet as his side look to move 6 points clear at the top.

The hosts have failed to score in their last four home games, which has led to their last six games here seeing under 2.5 goals. Meanwhile, this Genoa side are slowing down themselves. Without Krzysztof Piatek, Genoa seem toothless going forward. They’ve scored more than once on one occasion in their last 14 games. In those 14 clashes, they’ve scored just seven times in total. On the road, Genoa have seen seven of their last eight games finish with fewer than three goals. That’s why we’re backing a cagey game in this face-off, so under 2.5 goals is our pick.

The visitors have been in fine form of late, winning their last four league games. That run includes victories at Napoli and Lazio, so la Dea should force the issue here. They’re a goal away from their 100th in all competitions this term, while they’ve got Serie A’s third best away record. Juventus come into this one fresh from a 2-0 loss to Roma, while they have one win in seven. That’s left Juve at their biggest price for a home game in Serie A all season, but we can’t bring ourselves to back them.

With their top four ambitions driving them, we see Atalanta driving forward in this one. Juventus were awful at Roma last weekend, while Cristiano Ronaldo saved them with a late equaliser in the two clashes before that. While Juve haven’t lost that many league games, they’ve been vulnerable to losing a half. That’s happened in each of their last three league outings, while they’ve lost either half on 10 occasions this season in Serie A. Given that Atalanta have been level at the break and winning by full-time in their last three matches, we can see them edging one of the two 45 minute periods here. Atalanta have the second-best second-half record on the road this term, with 11 wins in 18. They’ve won seven of their last nine away second halves, so Atalanta are value to win either half this weekend.