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Jones Knows betting column: Hull and Fulham backed to end thirst for winners

Hull and Fulham to do the business, tempers to flare at Selhurst Park, Charlie Austin to hit form

Aleksandar Mitrovic celebrates Fulham's victory at Huddersfield with Joe Bryan

Having a punt this weekend on the football? What betting opportunities are out there? If anyone knows, Jones Knows.

The drought goes on. Please god, just let one go in off my backside soon.

Saturday was a tough day. I rocked up at Tottenham's fabulous ground to cover their clash against Crystal Palace with high hopes of reporting on a football match where the goals would be flowing in the second half. I had filled my boots at Evens for the second half to produce most goals.

What followed was 45 minutes of torture. I'd have rather spent the afternoon at the dentist or sat down with an MP to discuss the Northern Irish backstop.

There wasn't even time to grieve between each of Tottenham's four first-half goals as I was tasked with describing the action on our live blog. My head was such a mess I described the fourth goal by referencing DJ Khaled ('Another One') - I'd like to apologise for my actions.

Seeing the other half of the Jones Knows double - a penalty at Old Trafford - romp home inside 10 minutes was pretty gutting.

Heung-Min Son celebrates after he scores Tottenham's first goal
Image: Heung-Min Son celebrates after he scores one of Tottenham's four first-half goals

If I was looking for some sympathy for my current betting predicament, then I'm not finding it within the human race. One of my colleagues text me to let me know he's not laughed so much when he saw the half-time score at Spurs while a Twitterer got in touch with a brilliant piece of wit: "You couldn't have got your prediction more wrong" - a career on the stand-up comedy scene awaits.

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And when an offer of kindness did come my way on the tube home, it wasn't ideal. I'm sure the heavily intoxicated man sitting next to me that offered me a fork-full of his tuna he was eating straight from the can had good intentions but it didn't improve my mood.

Let's move things on to the serious stuff.

Remember, whatever I tip, I back. We are in this together, comrades.

Dim the lights, it's time to see if Jones Knows....

2pts: Jones Knows double: Hull (draw no bet) vs Luton and Fulham (draw no bet) vs Sheffield Wednesday: 5/2

Luton have adapted well to their new surroundings in their Sky Bet Championship, picking up seven points from their first seven games. However, defensively there could be problems ahead for the Hatters. QPR ripped through their vulnerable back-four at will last weekend, meaning Luton have now faced 61 shots on their goal this season - only Wigan have faced more (62). Hull City possess the attacking threat with Jared Bowen, Kamil Grosicki, Jackson Irvine and Tom Eaves to make them an attractive betting proposition at Kenilworth Road.

That attacking foursome has the capability of being the best front-line in the division and there were big signs that the chemistry was starting to bubble in their 2-2 draw with Wigan, where Hull dominated for large periods but couldn't finish their plucky opponents off at key points. Chances will come their way this weekend and I'm confident they'll take them, especially if they fall to the talented Bowen. He has scored 26 goals since the start of last season and leads the way in the league for the most shots on target by a player this season (11).

The advice is to double Hull up in the draw no bet markets with Fulham - a team that look all set for a big automatic promotion push this season judging by their early season performance data. Only Leeds have created more chances from open play than Fulham this season (75) with 15 of those coming in last weekend's 1-1 with fellow promotion hopefuls West Brom, who were lucky to leave west London with a point on the balance of play.

A trip to play Sheffield Wednesday should hold no fears for Scott Parker's men. It's a game they'll be expecting to win.

Sunday

2pts: West Bromwich Albion vs Huddersfield: Charlie Austin anytime goalscorer: 7/5 (Sunday 12pm, live on Sky Sports Football)

Your life is at stake. A ball drops to a Sky Bet Championship player inside the box - if he misses, it's over for you. He scores, you survive. Who is that player?

It's Charlie Austin. Hands down. No contest.

Amazingly, he's yet to score in 245 minutes of action for West Brom this season but he'll be licking his lips at the prospect of lowly Huddersfield rocking up at The Hawthorns on Sunday lunchtime. Joint-bottom of the pile and without a league win in 17 games, Huddersfield look sure to offer up plenty of opportunities to the Baggies. It's only a matter of time before Austin - who has been given the backing by his manager of being the first-choice striker - starts finishing the chances that are falling his way.

Fantasy Football 19/20
Image: Fantasy Football 19/20 - get involved!

In those 245 minutes in a West Brom shirt, he's missed four big chances which is very uncharacteristic but his movement last weekend was sharp and he looks fully capable of maintaining his ridiculously strong scoring record in the division, especially in home games. In his last 24 games playing for QPR at Loftus Road in the Sky Bet Championship, Austin scored 22 times. He's a man to follow in the coming weeks - starting Sunday.

Crystal Palace vs Wolves, Sunday, 2pm kick-off

Wolves find themselves in a frustrating period of form ahead of their trip to Crystal Palace on Sunday. With three defeats on the bounce, this has quickly become a pivotal match for the club. Nuno Espirito Santo, although his public demeanour suggests otherwise, is a passionate manager, capable of lighting fires within his players. I'm expecting a fully charged performance from Wolves, who are prone to picking up yellow cards.

Along with picking up the third most bookings of any Premier League team last season, Wolves were involved in four of the top 15 fixtures in terms of the most amount of cards shown, including this corresponding fixture with Palace which produced seven yellows.

With both teams preferring to counter-attack, it makes sense that the yellow cards will flow, especially with Palace possessing the most fouled player in the league in the shape Wilfried Zaha (18) and loose cannons like Ryan Bennett and Luka Milivojevic on the pitch - both have picked up 14 bookings each in the last two seasons. This fixture has significant possibility of going a bit card crazy, therefore the 50+ bookings points at 13/8 rates as a decent wager (yellow cards are worth 10 points and red cards are worth 25 points).

Crystal Palace will let Wilfried Zaha leave for the right price
Image: Wilfried Zaha is the most fouled player in the Premier League

Also, as Zaha looked so sharp last weekend against Tottenham, getting three opponents booked with some tricky play on the counter-attack, whoever plays up against him for Wolves is of interest in the anytime card market. If left-sided defender Jonny gets the nod, then he's certainly worth backing having got booked in both fixtures against Crystal Palace last season. I'd be hoping for around 5/2 when the Sky Bet traders price it up. Punish them.

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