Brighton v West Ham

A big game in the Championship on Monday night should be a tight affair between two sides with indifferent form. West Ham are the better side, they will go second if they win, but a host of injury problems limits Sam Allardyce’s options. This looks like being a low scoring game in which John Carew looks like a good first goalscorer bet at 13/2 with Bet365. However, I could definitely see one goal deciding this game so let’s take a rare scorecast punt on 1-0 West Ham with Carew to score - a 40/1 prospect with VictorChandler.

Rivals in the first goalscorer market have limited appeal. Craig Mackail-Smith is favourite at 6/1 (Coral) but he hasn’t netted in his last three outings. Besides which, Brighton are struggling for form generally; no wins in six has seen them slide down the table and they’ll do well to breach a Hammers defence that is amongst the meanest in the division.

West Ham have some of their primary goal threats missing in action. Carlton Cole, Henri Lansbury and Matt Taylor are all injured making Carew a key player. The former Villa man scored 17 goals in 2009-10 despite often having his opportunities limited in the west Midlands. He is more than capable of being prolific at Championship level and the recent signs are encouraging. The 6ft 5in striker came off the bench to grab a late equaliser at Crystal Palace before he opened the scoring in the next match against Blackpool.

A form striker with pedigree, Carew looks a good bet to score in what should be a close contest. Take the value of 40/1 (VictorChandler) on him proving the match-winner in a 1-0 West Ham win.