It's a game of 2 halves lads!
Welcome to Round 6 of Matchday Matrix, we've reached the half way point and there are still 9 players alive fighting it out for the top 3 places.
We lost 
Yesterday's matches were tough with several offering only 1 route to a correct outcome and 1 match, Gnistan v Inter Turku, not providing a single outcome from the 5 options.
Today's fixtures come from a similarly eclectic group of leagues. Ultimately, most leagues across the world and certainly in Europe don't want to schedule matches that go head to head with the Champions League semi-finals and after what we saw in the first leg between Bayern and PSG you can understand why!
Still, I'mm confident we will get a few more goals and action in this set of 5 than we saw yesterday!
Let's start then with that stellar fixture between 2 sides packed with footballing flair.
The 9 goals in the first leg have prompted the bookies to offer odds as low as 1.25 for BTTS and 1.18 for there to be over 2.5 goals. They are tempting it to be a boring nil nil aren't they!
In fact Bayern just don't know how to do boring games. There latest run of results running back to the start of April is 3-3, 4-5, 4-3, 2-0, 4-2, 4-3, 5-0, 2-1, 3-2. With a goal deficit to make up expect them to come out swinging in this one too.
Despite all the attacking, there were just 7 corners in that first leg and the bookies are going even money for it to be over 10.5 in this match.
PSG picked up all 3 of the yellow cards to be shown in the first leg. Things might get a bit more frenetic in this match and as we saw at the back end of the 1st semi last night, a few tempers began to fray in what had otherwise been a clean contest. Over 3.5 yellows is priced at 1.44.
The other significant matches that we'll start to see more of at this time of the year are the playoffs that determine promotion, relegation and in some league European qualification. Ok they won't get the hype of CL final but to these sides, they are significant for their immediate ambitions.
Almere and De Graafschap are playing for their chance to get into the Eredivisie and the good news about Dutch football in general is that it tends to produce goals!
In fact, in the regular season, Almere City games involved more goals (3.71 on average per match) than any other side in the 2nd tier while De Graafschap were 4th on that list with an average of 3.47 per game.
As such BTTS is priced at 1.33 and Over 2.5 goals is at 1.35. Let's just hope that the knockout nature of this game doesn't curb those attacking instincts.
If you think it will or perhaps it means a draw is more likely in this first leg then you can back it at odds of 3.75.
All of that attacking football does produce corners too! De Graafschap averaged a league high 12.32 per match and Almere 11.18.
Neither side appears to pick up many yellow cards so I'd suggest that's likely an outcome to avoid given the other options that are strong picks on this fixture.
Over to 
This is another playoff this time at a QF stage with the eventual winners going through to the Europa Conference League!
Like a lot of leagues across Europe, the Irish league splits later in the season with the top 6 sides forming a mini league to play each other and the bottom 6 doing the same.
Dungannon snuck into the top 6 and promptly got thrashed by the giants of Irish football on a weekly basis. It means that they haven't won a league match since February, losing 7 on the bounce. They did have a good cup run during that time culminating in a place in the final which they sadly lost 3-2 on Saturday.
Carrick are almost certainly 'their level' so this one should be a closer fixture. However, Carrick did win the last match between the two sides 5-1 with the game prior to that finishing 3-3.
The Bookies think we might get goals in this one as well with BTTS at 1.44 and over 2.5 goals at 1.57. In fact, 9 of the last 11 meetings between these 2 sides have resulted in over 2.5 goals.
Corner kicks too are a common sight with all 3 games played between these 2 this season exceeding the 10.5 mark.
Back to the Saudi league!
Al Ahli can theoretically keep themselves in the title race with a win here althgough you'd imagine that their more realistic aim will be to secure 3rd spot and a place in the Asian equivalent of the Champions League.
Al Fateh are currently 12th so this is a bit of a mismatch with odds on the draw out to 4.8
There is certainly still a chance of goals in this one too with the bookies offering 1.40 on over 2.5 goals and 1.60 on BTTS. Good odds but not quite as good as some of the other games in this set of 5.
If therefore you're tempted by the corner or cards markets, then perhaps you'll be interested to learn that 3 of Al Ahli's last 6 matches have finished with fewer than 22 players on the pitch!
Meanwhile 3 of Al Fateh's last 4 games in the Saudi League have produced over 10.5 corners.
As an equal opportunities contest this is in fact the Women's Super League and a match that was postponed from the weekend due to a water logged pitch.
Arsenal are currently sitting in 3rd, 11 points off City at the top but with this being 1 of 3 matches they have in hand! They are finishing the season strongly too with 6 wins in a row and 12 unbeaten.
Brighton sit in 6th and in league terms they don't have anything to play for. They put all their efforts into the FA Cup where they met and beat today's opponents in the final just last month!
In fact, Brighton have become a bit of bogey team for Arsenal in the last 12 months. They beat them 4-2 at almost exactly the same stage last season to scupper the Gunners chances of the title. Can they do the same again?
Despite those stats odds on a draw are way out to 5.0 while BTTS is 1.67 and over 2.5 goals is 1.40.
Does the fairer sex play any cleaner than the men? Apparently not! Both these sides exceeded 3.5 yellows in their most recent fixtures and the overall card stats are comparable to a men's game.
As noted above, yesterday was tough and more about hanging in there than scoring big points. Nailing your x3 multiplier yesterday was ultimately the difference.
I think today's fixtures will open up the possibility of higher scores (6 or 7 points) and as such we could see a bit of a gap open as we head into the later stages of the contest.
| Place | Account | Previous Round Score | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | 4 | 22 |
| 2 |  | 4 | 21 |
| 2 |  | 4 | 21 |
| 2 |  | 2 | 21 |
| 5 |  | 1 | 20 |
| 5 |  | 4 | 20 |
| 7 | | 2 | 19 |
| 8 |  | 4 | 18 |
| 9 | | 0 | 16 |
| 10 | | 0 | 15 |
| 11 |  | 0 | 12 |
The round closes at 5:45pm (BST) today!
