Football Bet of the Day: Simms can strike first for Coventry

Our Football Bet of the Day for Saturday April 6 comes from the EFL Championship where Coventry City host title-chasing Leeds United. Daniel Farke’s side are just one point behind league leaders Ipswich Town at this moment in time, but they must also be wary of Leicester in third, as the Foxes boast a game in hand on the top two. 

However, Saturday’s Football Bet of the Day focuses on Leeds’ opponents at the CBS Arena, and their in-form number nine. 

Coventry had been struggling to get a tune out of the number nine they brought in from Everton last summer for an initial fee of £3.5m. He came in, along with Haji Wright, to replace the sensational Viktor Gyokeres - the Swedish striker who nearly fired the Sky Blues to the Premier League last season. 

It was an awful lot of pressure for the 22-year-old to handle, and it took him some time to get used to his new manager Mark Robins and his new surroundings. He only scored two goals in the league before Christmas, as the Sky Blues struggled to work out how to get the best out of him. 

He shared the number nine role with Matty Godden, and mostly played up front as a two, in Coventry’s 5-2-1-2 system. However, with a lack of defensive solidity and fluidity, Robins changed things up, to the 4-2-3-1 formation that is currently suiting both Coventry and Simms so well.

The injury to Tasuhiro Sakamoto is a massive blow to the Sky Blues in terms of attacking creativity, but as always, Robins has found a solution. Right-back Milan van Ewijk has been pushed forward, with Joel Latibeaudiere filling in behind him - and now the goalscoring responsibility has been left to Simms and Wright - with the American international playing on the left-wing. 

This system gets the best out of every individual player, but Simms has the confidence he simply didn’t have earlier in the season. Having notched a couple of goals against Stoke and Plymouth, he began to gain confidence, and the FA Cup has been a real blessing for him in that sense. He scored a first-half hat-trick against sixth-tier Maidstone, and followed it up with a hat-trick against Rotherham in the league. 

In recent weeks, he’s proven that he can find the net against superior teams too. He has scored 13 in his last 10 matches, including a wonderful brace against Wolves in the cup. Interestingly, in recent weeks, he’s been a rapid starter, hence the reason for Saturday’s bet. 

Having scored the first goal at Molineux, he then scored first as Coventry went to Huddersfield with a thumping strike into the top corner. He followed that up on Easter Monday with the opening goal on home soil against Cardiff and even though Coventry shot themselves in the foot in that game, it means Simms has scored the opening goal in their last three matches. 

Even though I believe Leeds will ultimately have too much for the Sky Blues and this game could see a load of goals, I think the price on Simms to score first again, is simply too good to turn down. 

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