49ers vs Seahawks Predictions: Niners to get back on track

Thursday Night Football (01:15 Friday) sees the San Francisco 49ers travel to Lumen Field to take on the Seattle Seahawks, live on Sky Sports NFL.

The Niners are 2-3 for the season, after a surprise defeat to the Cardinals last week, while Seattle are top of the NFC West with a 3-2 record, but also come into this game off the back of a disappointing 29-20 loss to the New York Giants. Read on for my 49ers vs Seahawks prediction, as well as the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga suffered torn ligaments in his wrist during Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals, so he will miss out on Friday morning.

Charvarius Ward is managing a knee bruise from the Cardinals game, while George Kittle is still recovering from a rib injury, and Fred Warner is dealing with an ankle issue - all three were limited participants in practice this week.

The major injury news for San Francisco remains the absence of 2023 Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey, who has not played this season due to an Achilles injury.

As for Seattle, Byron Murphy II is still unable to return to practice in any capacity as he is working his way through a hamstring injury sustained in Week 3.

Uchenna Nwosu will be unavailable on Thursday night due to a thigh injury he suffered in his season debut last week, while Derick Hall is dealing with a foot problem  and his status for Week 6 remains unknown.

Rayshawn Jenkins, Boye Mafe and Pharaoh Brown were limited participants in practice earlier in the week, but should be fit enough to feature against San Francisco.

49ers vs Seahawks Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main 49ers vs Seahawks page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

San Francisco are favourites on the moneyline at 8/15, giving them an implied win probability of 65.2%, while Seattle can be backed at 6/4 straight up.

The spread is currently set at 3.5, with the Seahawks 6/4 to cover and the 49ers priced up at 1/1 to do the same.

San Francisco 49ers (-3.5) @ 1/1

I don't think many would have predicted San Francisco to start the season this slowly, and the Betfred traders don't think it's anything to worry about as the 49ers remain 7/2 favourites to win the NFC Championship for the second year in a row, despite losing three of the opening five matches.

The losses - to the Minnesota Vikings, Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals - all came by less than one touchdown and San Francisco held big leads in two of them, twice leading the Rams by 14 points and going up by 13 against the Cardinals.

It could be argued that McCaffrey's injury has had a huge influence on proceedings in Santa Clara - so much of the Niners' offence runs through him - but back-up Jordan Mason has done an excellent job of limiting the effects of CMC's absence.

The Niners remain a high-quality team and they have every chance of getting back on track in Seattle - they've have won their last five games against the Seahawks, covering the spread in four of those clashes.

Seattle may still be in shock from their surprise defeat to the Giants last week, meaning they've lost their last two, and I think their defence will get exposed again here.

Jordan Mason 100+ rushing yards and to score a touchdown @ 9/4

As mentioned above, Mason has been brilliant in McCaffrey's absence.

He's a physical and bruising ball-carrier, ranking first in the NFL in carries (105), second in rushing yards (536) and has three touchdowns to his name already this term.

In addition, Mason has rushed for 100-plus yards three times this season, so backing him to do so on Friday morning as well as score a touchdown looks like a sensible play.

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