Elite Sports Betting Tips: August 19

Serie A - Atalanta vs AC Milan - Double Chance & Both Teams To Score Draw/AC Milan & Yes @ $2.21

Nick

Bound to be fireworks when these teams meet.

Both teams started their campaigns well enough last week with convincing two goal wins, but as current Scudetto holders AC Milan will surely look to get a result at this type of fixture.

Scoring goals doesn’t seem to be too much of an issue for Atalanta, but having won just four games at home in total last season, the problem is clearly their defensive record.

AC Milan will be without stars Ibrahimovic and Tonalli, but have plenty of options in attack, so much so they might even leave Giroud on the bench.

Including their pre-season matches they've shown to have the right balance in their attacking lineup.

Given Atalanta’s poor home record, and AC Milan’s strong showing last week even after conceding the first goal of the match, we’ll back them in for at least a draw, as well as goals at both ends. 2 units

UFC 278 - Jose Aldo vs Merab Dvalishvili - Dvalishvili to win @ $1.85

Blake

It's a special weekend as UFC Gold goes on the line with Kamaru Usman defending his title in a rematch against Leon Edwards at UFC278 in Salt Lake City. The third fight on the main card is the one we are targeting however and it comes with a caveat. With Jose Aldo under the Stake.com umbrella we will be cheering for him to win regardless of where our money goes. But at the end of the day we must punt with our head not our heart and for that reason we are taking rising Georgian Merab Dvalishvili to win by any means necessary here. He showed against Marlon Moraes he can take a punch and recover to turn things around.

Combine that with the fact that Aldo is generally a volume over power type fighter and there's enough evidence to suggest Merab can get the job done here. He has a wrestling heavy style which can wear out his opponent and whether it comes by finish or decision, as a near 50/50 fight according to the bookmakers, this looks a really nice bet. 2 units

NRL - Manly Sea Eagles v Cronulla Sharks - 1x2 & Total Cronulla & Under 50.5 @ 2.15

Brad

Finals are fast approaching in the NRL with three rounds remaining in the regular season.

Penrith have the top spot all secured but the remaining seven spots in the top-8 are up for grabs.

One match with significant finals implications this weekend is Manly’s showdown with Cronulla at Brookvale on Saturday afternoon.

Cronulla are in the box seat to land a top-4 finish and look to be a genuine contender to Penrith’s title.

Manly on the other hand are in a desperate fight to keep their season alive with a loss in this one ending their dreams of playing finals football in 2022.

The Sharks are in irresistible form right now having won eight of their last nine games, while Manly have recorded four loses on the bounce.

A Cronulla win is impossible to go against here while the over/under of 50.5 looks high enough to take on with confidence. 4 units

AFL - Geelong Cats vs West Coast Eagles - Asian Handicap West Coast +65.5 @ 1.90

George

While I like to take preference in the world game for my tips during the month of August, this line in Australia’s game is too good to ignore.

For those that need some context, we are entering the final week of the regular season where we see the league’s top team face the side sitting on the penultimate spot on the ladder.

Surely the -65.5 line looks like a sure thing for the sports betting public to back Geelong, right?

Wrong.

Geelong will be without Jeremy Cameron this weekend, a player who would be personally responsible (through either goals or goal inolvements) for approximately 27 of their team’s points per week according to Champion Data advanced statstics.

Additionally, they will be resting their number one ruckman in Rhys Stanley and (arguably) their most effective inside midfielder in Tom Atkins.

To add to this, Geelong has only beaten a side by 65+ or more twice this season (round one v Essendon, round 16 v North Melbourne) in which both involved a full-strength side.

While West Coast will be without some handy players of their own (ruckman Nic Naitanui and midfielder Andrew Gaff), there’s a lot that looks too good to ignore the 65-point head start.

The Cats will take it easy in this game having cemented first place while missing their most potent attacking weapon.

We may also get some rain during the game to keep it low scoring.

Throwing maximum units on this very intriguing situational spot. 4 units

English Premier League - Fulham v Brentford - 1x2 Brentford @ 2.90

Dom Rae

A London derby takes place at Craven Cottage this weekend with Fulham taking on Brentford in an intriguing encounter.

Both sides have been firm outsiders for both of their opening fixtures but remain unbeaten with the Cottagers picking a point against Liverpool and Wolves, while the visitors came back from 2-0 down to draw at Leicester and thumped Manchester United 4-0 last weekend.

Both clubs will be more than happy with those returns and will be keenly eyeing up three points on Saturday.

Brentford recruited smartly over the summer, bringing in exciting talents like Aaron Hickey and Mikkel Damsgaard as well as seasoned Premier League centre back Ben Mee.

They totally dismantled a shocking United side last weekend and will come into this full of confidence, with Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo up front in rampant form.

Fulham were well worth a point on the opening day and would have won at Molineux had it not been for a Jose Sa saving a penalty from Aleksandar Mitrovic, but they come up against a really smart outfit in Brentford and the visitors are an outstanding price at almost 2/1 to keep up their good form. 1 unit

English Premier League - West Ham United vs Brighton & Hove Albion - Both Teams to Score Yes @ 1.77

Caelum

It’s been well publicised during the week the Hammers poor start to the season and how they’re yet to score, but what’s been overlooked is how unlucky they were not to get a goal in their last match against Nottingham Forest.

The slightest of offsides via VAR ruled out a goal, plus two seperate efforts which hit the crossbar and bounced off the line.

They’ll be eager to get off the mark for the season back in East London.

Brighton for their part will fancy themselves away from home.

They’re undefeated in their last 10 games against West Ham in the Premier League, including a 3-1 result last time.

A contest which seems produce goals, their last 5 contests has seen both teams score at least a goal. We’ll back in this trend to continue. 2 units

AFL - Hawthorn Hawks v Western Bulldogs - Western Bulldogs & Over 170.5 @ 2.31

Matt R

The bulldogs are coming off the back of a hard fought game last week against GWS.

There were glimpses of the 2016 Bulldogs.

It's a season on the line situation in this matchup for the Bulldogs.

I expect them to run over the hawks quite easily and was unable to determine a margin so we've gone with the total overs at 170.5.

The last time these two teams met the total was 208 points.

Lock it up. 4 units

CSGO - Blast Premier Fall Groups 2022 - Vitality vs OG Winner: Vitality @ 1.60

Alex

After a lengthy break, the top teams of CSGO return to battle it out in the Blast Premier Fall Groups tournament.

Starting off with a Bo1 matchup, we see Vitality and OG face off.

While Vitality has had a relatively poor performance these past few months, we're hoping the recent break should help set the team up for success this time round.

While Misuutaaa is out for this lineup, we'll have to depend on the skills of Zywoo, Apex and Dupreeh to get over the line.

Taking Vitality to win this. 1 unit

La Liga - Mallorca vs Real Betis -1x2 Real Betis @ 2.40

Cesar

Real Betis kicked off the season with a thumping over Elche where they showed strong signs of continuing their stellar form from last season. Their main magician Fekir looks to be inspired and hungry to show La Liga that he is one of the best in sunny Spain and is not slowing down. Betis will be holding on to their momentum and feeding the ball to the man of the moment Fekir who is sure to provide us with some magic in this match against Mallorca, who although have put up against decent teams recently, they don’t seem to have the attacking power that Betis has been showcasing. Considering the way Betis has been playing and Mallorcas 3 consecutive draws, I see fatigue falling victim to the winning momentum and thrill. Betis

AFL Carlton v Collingwood - Winner Collingwood @ 1.94

Nathan Pap

Carlton need to win to keep their spot in the Top 8 and if the last 20 years have told us anything, they don’t show up when the lights are brightest.

Carlton will be too emotional and feel the pressure of their starved fans.

Collingwood is also still in the hunt for the Top 4, so you know they will show up to play on Sunday.

The biggest rivalry in this great sport to end a dramatic regular season… What more could you want in life?

Oh boy. 1 unit

UFC 278 - Kamaru Usman vs Leon Edwards - Usman to win via points @ 1.90

UFC 278 main event sees champion Kamaru Usman defending his Welterweight title for the 6th time.

Both fighters are coming into the event boasting 10+ win streaks with confidence at an all-time high.

In addition to putting his title on the line, Usman also seeks to tie the great Anderson Silva with his 16th straight UFC victory.

The last time these two fought it was in a 3-round clash with Usman winning via decision.

Expecting a similar fight to their first encounter with Usman simply out striking and out-classing Edwards here. 3 units