Belarus Premier League Matchday 10 Odds & Picks

• It’s Matchday 10 in the Belarus Premier League with games starting on Wednesday
• Leaders BATE play Dinamo Brest in a clash of the two Belarusian Cup finalists
• We list the odds for all eight games and preview three, offering our best picks

It’s a midweek schedule for the Belarus Premier League’s Matchday 10, as they make space for their Cup Final next weekend. Interestingly, it throws up a dress rehearsal for the final itself, along with a host of games that we hope will offer the bettors some value. We’ll do our best to help.

As always, we’ll list the odds for all of the scheduled fixtures, pick out three of the top games to preview, and offer some picks.

Belarus Premier League Matchday 10 Odds

All odds taken May 18

Pick 1:  Dinamo Brest vs. BATE Borisov

In what is a dress rehearsal for Sunday’s Belarus Cup Final, Dinamo host BATE at the OSK Brestskiy Stadium on Wednesday.

For the defending league champions, it’s been an inconsistent season so far and they’ve lost four of their last six games in all competitions. On the weekend they lost 2-1 away at Energetyk-BGU in what was a  poor performance. Despite a late consolation from Sergey Kislyak making it appear a close one, they were well beaten.

BATE  had a terrible start to the campaign but are now top of the league after four straight wins. The season may have been a slow-burner for them, but they’ve now hit a rich vein of form and on the weekend confirmed this with an emphatic 3-0 home win over former league leaders Slutsk – goals from Milic, Stasevich, and Nekhaychik.

The key to this one will be the start BATE make to the game. During their recent good run, they’ve been fast starters and six of their last 13 goals have been scored in the opening 17 minutes of games. If they do the same here, they could take the game away from Dinamo, but if the hosts can hang in there, they could hold out for a draw.

Pick: Dinamo Brest and BATE to draw (+249)

Pick 2: Isloch vs. Energetyk-BDU

It’s sixth versus third in the Minsk Stadium, with the home side hoping that home advantage will help edge them closer to the top four. With only four points separating leaders BATE with sixth-placed Isloch, there is still plenty of time for the hosts to have a big say in the title race, especially if they can beat the Students on Saturday.

For the home team, it’s been very much a famine or feast type of season with five wins, four defeats, and not a single draw. In order to push on, they need to improve defensively as they have the second-worst goals-against column in the top ten.

Energetyk’s season has not been dissimilar to Isloch’s, in that they haven’t drawn a single game either over the first nine weeks, but they are higher up the table thanks to an extra win. There’s also the not-so-small matter of them being on a three-game winning streak. They’ll come into this with loads of confidence and this could be decisive.

My picks: Energetyk to win (+180)

Pick 3: Slutsksakhar Slutsk vs. Ruh Brest

Former leaders Slutsk entertain mid-table Ruh Brest at the City Stadium, with both still looking to close the gap on the top three and those priceless European places. For the hosts, it’s important they arrest a two-game losing streak that has seen them slip from first to fourth in the space of 14 days.

The problem for Ruh has been a lack of goals – they’ve only scored seven times in their nine games – whereas Slutsk have scored for fun but have conceded more than they’d like. Goal differences of +1 (Slutsk) and +2 (Ruh) tells the story of two teams who’ve been unable to strike the right balance between staying solid and being creative.

So, a tough one to call but with their habit of squeezing out points from low-scoring games and a decent away record (only one defeat), Ruh may just sneak a 1-0 away win here. That’s certainly where the value lies.

My pick: Ruh Brest to win (+194)