Warrington Wolves vs Castleford Tigers Prediction: Senior to score in must-win clash

Betfred Challenge Cup finalists Warrington Wolves have not won a Super League game in May but should close out the month with a much-needed victory against struggling Castleford Tigers at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Friday (20:00, Sky Sports+).

The Tigers are just four points behind the Wolves in a contest that is 9th versus 10th, and Wire boss Sam Burgess knows this is a game they absolutely have to be winning.  Read on for our rugby league guru George Riley's Warrington Wolves vs Castleford Tigers predictions, complete with the latest match odds and essential team news.

Team News

Burgess has a bit of a dilemma this week as he really needs a win to arrest a recent slump in the league. But he also has a Challenge Cup final at Wembley next weekend to consider, and in an ideal world, this is the weekend that he would be resting players and using the full depth of his squad.

One blow that the club could really have done without comes in the form of a serious knee injury suffered by Oli Leyland. The club confirmed on Thursday afternoon that the half-back has suffered an ACL injury that will rule him out for the rest of the season - the same injury that has also robbed Warrington of England winger Matty Ashton for the rest of the campaign.

Sam Powell and Marc Sneyd were both left out of last week's defeat by Hull KR but are named in the 21-man squad for this weekend, while prop Paul Vaughan is a notable inclusion too after injury, along with the return of centre Toby King.

Skipper George Williams remains out but is back in training with an eye on returning at Wembley.

Rugby League Odds

As for Castleford, the big blow is the absence of Tom Amone through concussion protocols after the big forward failed his Head Injury Assessment during last week's loss to Leeds.

Sam Wood misses out with a shoulder problem, while Andy Djeukessi and Muizz Mustapha drop out too. The four men to come in are George Hill, George Griffin, Josh Hodson and Judah Rimbu.

Warrington Wolves vs Castleford Tigers Odds

The hosts are 4/11 to win on Friday, with the visitors 11/5, or a 31.3% chance, and the draw at 18/1.

Handicap 3-way - Warrington -8 @ 20/21

I find this one a trickier fixture to call than it might otherwise be. You would take Warrington to beat Castleford at home every day of the week, but they are in a bit of a slump right now, although the winless May has been punctuated by that cup semi-final win, and they have some key injuries.

Take George Williams and Matty Ashton out of any side, and you are immediately without your chief creator and main try-scoring threat. Marc Sneyd has been nursing injuries, and if he is picked to play, then that obviously gives the Wolves the edge.

I feel Burgess has to go for the win here, but knowing Sam, he will absolutely be prioritising next weekend's cup final too. So this might just be one of those games where it is not pretty, but Warrington just grind out the win and hope for no more injuries.

Looking at the squad, I would still expect any Warrington 17 to have enough to cope with Castleford, who, aside from two gift wins over crisis club Salford, only have one other victory to show for their efforts this term. Warrington have also won four of the last five matches against Cas.

So I am going for Warrington to tick this one off and head to Wembley, having snapped out of their sticky spell, but it might not be the kind of blitz you would otherwise expect.

Anytime Tryscorer - Louis Senior @ 5/4

For Warrington try scorers this week, I would look at either of the Thewlis brothers, and the likes of Matt Dufty or Toby King. But given it is impossible to predict what kind of line-up Burgess may go with, I'm actually going to look at the Castleford market, both for a greater degree of certainty of starting and a little extra value.

Tex Hoy has been in fine form, and he is available at 6/4 having run in a hat-trick against Salford a couple of weeks ago. Both Seniors are decent punts - Louis at 7/4 or Innes at 6/5.

I'm going to back Louis Senior this week, having liked his display in defeat to Leeds last weekend, where he scored one and had another chalked off.

Find more Rugby League Betting Tips here at Betfred Insights