Top Bets for Friday Night's Football, Rugby, Snooker & Tennis

WBA v Birmingham

West Brom can go back to the top of the Championship with victory in their West Midlands derby against Birmingham tonight. The Baggies have had the whole international break to stew about their 1-0 defeat to Stoke last time out, while the Blues look to have real problems, going five games without a win.

Multi-Bookings 345-425

After an international break that seems to have lasted for weeks, finally we have some proper football back, and the blood and thunder of a West Midlands derby is a tasty appetiser for the weekend’s action. The long build-up to this game might only add to the ferocity of the early challenges in this local derby, and punters expecting the referee to be a busy man will be buying Multi Bookings, which multiplies first half booking points (25 for a red, 10 for a yellow) by second half.

Is there any Friday night rugby union?

Sale host Harlequins tonight hoping to become the first team to beat them this season. Quins have played three won three this season, though they came close to defeat last Friday, when they came back from 21-0 down against Bristol. Sale have England and Lions stars Tom Curry and Manu Tuilagi back to strengthen their side as they look for a second win of the season.

Total Points 50-53

With the propensity of both these teams to score and concede plenty, we’ve seen plenty of buyers in markets tonight, including Total Points. In that amazing game against Bristol, Harlequins found themselves 24-7 down at half-time only to win 52-24, and it’s that kind of firepower, scoring 50 points in a half, that excites buyers. Sale went down 33-32 at Gloucester last weekend having drawn 31-31 with Bristol a week earlier.

Who is playing in the other Indian Wells tennis semi-final?

With Cameron Norrie safely through to face Grigor Dimitrov, the other two men’s quarter-finals are on court tonight at the Indian Wells Masters from 7pm. Number 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas takes on unseeded Nikoloz Basilashvili in the third quarter-final before Andy Murray’s conqueror Alex Zverev plays Taylor Fritz.

Tsitsipas v Basilashvili Total Games 22.6-23.6

While on paper a match between the number 2 seed and an unseeded player should look like a walkover, Basilashvili is an experienced campaigner who has shown some good form this week. He’s been top 20 player before. Both these players have been taken to three sets in the early rounds, and if that happens again tonight then buyers will be in clover. However, there’s no doubt if  Tsitsipas plays his best he is capable if making short work of the Georgian.

Snooker

There’s two more quarter-finals tonight from 7pm as Yan Bingtao, fresh from knocking out Ronnie O’Sullivan, takes on Mitchell Mann, and John Higgins faces Dave Gilbert, who knocked out world champion Mark Selby.

Higgins v Gilbert: Ton Or Bust 149-169

Both of these players are fine break builders, and have shown that this week. The Ton Or Bust market counts the totals of all century breaks, so scoring 99 adds nothing to the total, scoring 100 adds 100. Higgins had the highest break in his win over Mark Williams at 110, and Gilbert the same against Selby with 115. Buyers of this market need two or more centuries in the match to be winners, one or less will see them lose.