Strangely enough, on the opening weekend of the new League Two season, six of the eight teams in the division whose name starts with the letter C, all lost. Only Coventry and Crewe bucked the trend. So it was a tough opening weekend for both of these then with Cambridge suffering a loss out on the road and Carlisle going down on home soil. This will be a chance then for one of these to get something on the board and to potentially gain a bit of momentum.
That having been said, three of the last four between these in Cambridge have been drawn and so the match outright market is fairly tight with Cambridge at 11/10 with Netbet and Carlise are at 23/10 with the bookmaker. Then because of recent trends, the draw at 5/2 is sat right there looking to showing some appeal.
Cambridge Form
Cambridge finished 11th in last season’s League Two being pretty unable to maintain any consistency at any point. They posted a W9 D5 L9 at the Abbey Stadium and were really pretty average in just about every department. The U’s went to Exeter on the opening week of this season and suffered a 1-0 loss which will have been disappointing for them, but it may help from a betting perspective in this one because Carlisle finished level on points with Exter in last season’s play off spots. So will the U’s struggle against Carlisle too?
Carlisle Form
Carlisle finished 6th in the league last season but couldn’t get through the play offs. Actually, it was their defence which really let them down last season despite them getting to the playoffs. They had the worst defence of the top 15 teams from last season’s final standings in League Two. They didn’t get off to a great start either as they suffered a 2-1 home defeat against Swindon last weekend which will raise concerns over their defence. Carlisle sold off Charlie Wyke, their top scorer from last season, and have lost Jabo Ibehre, their second top scorer too.
Head to Head News
There have been six League Two games between these since they met up in the 2014/15 season in the division. From those meetings, it is Cambridge who have posted an unbeaten stretch of form against the Cumbrians W3 D3. So that puts them in good standing and on home soil in League Two against Carlisle, Cambridge have gone W1 D2, drawing their last two. Five of the last seven meetings between them have seen at least three goals in them but Cambridge have six clean sheets in their last nine against Carlisle.
Top Betting Tips
Over 2.5 goals has to be well worth a flutter at 5/6 with bet365 on this one. It’s a tricky read on this game, as Carlisle were the better of the two last season, but Cambridge holds the head to head advantage. So stick with Cambridge at Abbey Stadium by just backing them in the match outright. They do have the head to head form and Carlisle’s attack from last season has been decimated over the summer. Cambridge have taken a clean sheet in four of their last five against Carlisle and are 3/1 to win to nil at William Hill.