Staying with palace

Brentford squeezed home against QPR last week to keep a nice run going and give themselves a chance of a play-off place. The second automatic Championship place remains an intriguing struggle, with Cardiff not quite home and hosed yet.

The bookmakers have had no idea about Southampton, who are not genuine 8/11 shots to beat Bournemouth at St Mary’s. The days when desperate teams had the edge over those with nothing to play for are long gone and I think this will be a tense, edgy affair.

I have written often enough about where things started to go wrong for Southampton but it all goes back well over a year. However, if they can match the effort they showed twice against Chelsea they may eke out Premier League survival, especially with the Blues due to visit Swansea later on. It should not be forgotten that Swansea and Southampton have still to meet on May 8.

It all depends on a fast start and I imagine Mark Hughes will stay with two up front, probably Austin and Long. Austin puts himself about a bit and may be the key factor although, as I say, this is a tricky one to call. If front of an impassioned if sometimes despairing crowd, Southampton are given the nod but 8/11 is poor and warrants only a small bet.

Leicester’s form has tailed off a little but they can always score goals while Vardy looks hungry, which is every week. But Crystal Palace have done the hard part now, as we suggested they would, and they can hit the target again here. It will be interesting because both teams like to get the ball forward as quickly as possible to the front-runners and there should be goals. I’d say Palace at 11/10 are fair value to score one or two more of them.

SOUTHAMPTON 20 units at 8/11 to beat Bournemouth

CRYSTAL PALACE 15 units at 11/10 to beat Leicester