Otelul Galati vs Petrolul Ploiesti
Football: Romanian Liga 1
Venue: "Otelul", Galati
Sunday 18th December - Kickoff time: 20:30 GMT+2

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Otelul Galati (7th W-8 D-4 L-5)

Otelul finished their Champions League campaign with another loss, 0-1 to Benfica. Otelul was one of the three teams to finish the group with no points, the other two being Dinamo Zagreb and Villareal.

They are doing better in the Liga 1 lately, registering 5 victories in their last 7 games, including an important win against Rapid Bucuresti on their previous home game.

Otelul was very pragmatic during this season, 6 of their 8 wins came within one goal margin, their preferred result being 1-0 which they registered 5 times.

Coach Dorinel Munteanu declared that there might be 5-6 new players in the squad for the second part of the championship, it is about time that Otelul invests some of the money earned for participating in the UCL in transfers.

On the other hand, winger Liviu Antal, one of Otelul’s best players could leave the club this winter, Steaua, Dinamo and CFR showing an interest for him.

Otelul’s home form:

11.12.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 17 Otelul Galati 2 - 0 Rapid
18.11.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 14 Otelul Galati 1 - 0 Sportul Studentesc
28.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 12 Otelul Galati 1 - 0 Gaz Metan Medias
14.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 10 Otelul Galati 1 - 1 Astra Ploiesti
23.09.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 8 Otelul Galati 0 - 0 Dacia Mioveni

Petrolul Ploiesti (13th W-4 D-6 L-7)

Petrolul only won one of their last seven games and are not anywhere near a safe place, only having two points more than Targu Mures, the first team to relegate if the championship would end now.

Since the incidents from the Steaua match followed by the suspension of their stadium (only women and children are allowed, an idea inspired from Fenerbahce), Petrolul was not able to score at home in two games, drawing against Pandurii and losing to Targu Mures.

Petrolul was recently eliminated from the Romanian Cup by Dinamo Bucuresti, so their only objective for this season remains avoiding relegation, a hard assignment for coach Valeriu Rachita if the squad won’t improve in the transfer period.

Petrolul was hard to beat when playing on the road this season, only two teams managed to do it, Universitatea Cluj and Brasov, both by one goal margin.

Petrolul’s away form:

11.12.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 17 Sportul Studentesc 1 - 1 Petrolul Ploiesti
28.11.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 15 Gaz Metan Medias 0 - 1 Petrolul Ploiesti
05.11.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 13 Astra Ploiesti 1 - 1 Petrolul Ploiesti
23.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 11 Dacia Mioveni 0 - 0 Petrolul Ploiesti
02.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 9 CFR Cluj 1 - 1 Petrolul Ploiesti

The betting verdict

The most likely results seems to be an Otelul victory by one goal margin. Starting from that, there could be various betting choices on this match, the one goal margin victory being priced at 3.4 at Bet365, or correct score 1-0 at 5.0.

If we take a look at their recent results, we can notice than the last 5 Otelul’s home games ended with less than two goals scored, the situation being the same regarding Petrolul’s away games, so at 1.6 forum regular ‘jtw’ would surely consider it.

An another approach would be taking Petrolul on the handicap market not to lose by more than one goal, which they didn’t this season in 9 games. They lost twice, drew five times and won two, both defeats occurring by one goal margin.

The Pick :

Otelul Galati 1-0 Petrolul Ploiesti

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Otelul to win at 1.52 Betsson
Confidence: 8/10

Also consider Under 2.5 goals at 1.58 Pinnacle
Otelul to win by 1 goal at 3.4 Bet365