Barrow vs Carlisle Bet Builder Tips, Best Bets, Stats, Predictions

Both Barrow and Carlisle are in desperate of an injection of quality, or even just a bit of excitement. It’s been largely downhill for Thursday’s hosts after what was a very strong start to the season, but even though form in general has dipped, they’re not bad at all at home. Barrow have won 3 of their last 4 at home in League Two, scoring 9 in that run, and they’ll fancy their chances here. For me, the return of Ben Whitfield is key; he’s played just 4 games since joining on loan from Burton, but he’s scored 1 and has an assist to his name in that short run.

This is a player whose put in solid numbers in recent seasons for Barrow. He netted 9 times from wide areas last term, and scored 6 whilst notching up 12 assists in the 22/23 season. Carlisle are without a clean sheet in 7 on the road as well; yes they’ve seen out back-to-back 0-0 draws, but both of those results came at Brunton Park. They’re at the bottom for a reason, and given Barrow’s home farm and the early showings from Whitfield, this is a game that he can make a difference in.

Barrow at home are pretty good going, hovering around playoff pace with 8 wins, 4 draws and 4 defeats in 16 games. From a style perspective going into this one, neither team will look to dominate the ball for large periods. I think you’re going to be looking at a 53-47 split at best, which means both teams will have a fair bit of the ball with which to create chances.

Given the importance of this game, especially for Carlisle, I can almost certainly see both teams getting on the scoresheet. Using Opta Analyst, Carlisle are actually top 8 for open play xG, and have even increased their chance creation under the small sample size with Mark Hughes at the helm. Barrow have actually seen this selection land in 12 of their last 13, and come into this off the back of 3-0 and 3-2 defeats on the road. 2+ goals have been scored in each of their last 10 at home, and whilst Carlisle have seen back to back 0-0 draws, I’d expect them to give this derby a real good go now that they’ve stabalised.

As I’ve mentioned above, style plays a lot into this. You want your selections to have a pattern so that they all hit. If there’s going to be goals, there’s also going to be shots, goalmouth action, saves, and that means corners. Both teams have players who like to shoot from range. Ben Jackson for Barrow is an avid shooter from left wing back, and Kadeem Harris who plays a similar, albeit not as defensive role, also likes to shoot regularly from range.

Both Barrow and Carlisle are pretty consistent in the corner markets. This selection has landed in 7 of Barrow’s last 9, and in 9 of Carlisle’s last 10. Sitting at averages of 10.03 and 10.22 match corners respectively, you’d expect the mark of 9 to be comfortable here. Let’s not forget, this is a derby, and both sides will be desperate to get one over on the opposition. Expect goalmouth action, expect crosses from all angles, all scenarios that can lead to corners.