Warrington v St Helens: Betfred Super League betting preview, TV channel & tip

TV: Sky Sports Arena, 7.45pm Friday

In recent weeks all the attention has been on the bottom of the Betfred Super League table and the scrap for survival but the focus is firmly on the top of the pile on Friday night as league leaders St Helens travel to second-placed Warrington.

Saints are looking for a league double over their rivals, having eased to a 38-12 victory when the teams met at the Totally Wicked Stadium in April.

The two sides were sharing Grand Final favouritism and the league leadership with eight wins from nine matches prior to that game.

Since then, though, St Helens have pulled clear at the Super League summit and a win would send Saints eight points clear at the top.

Justin Holbrook’s team are 1-12 to claim the League Leaders' Shield and 11-10 for Grand Final glory. The Wolves are 15-8 to win at Old Trafford in October.

The match odds are not dissimilar from the prices quoted for the previous meeting with the visitors going off 8-11 favourites and Warrington available at 13-10 to reverse the result.

There’s certainly an argument to be made for a Wolves win. They were just 8-6 behind approaching the half-hour mark in the last clash but they conceded two tries when Mike Cooper was sin-binned and never really recovered.

Warrington have a strong home record, having won nine of their 11 matches, and St Helens lost to London in golden point extra-time on their last road trip.

It’s fair to say the Wolves' need for the points is greater. While a loss wouldn’t hurt St Helens unduly, defeat for Warrington would leave them vulnerable to third-placed Hull.

Saints are also missing key forward Zeb Taia through injury and backing the home side on the handicap looks the way to go.

The Wolves are set to give a debut to former rugby union international centre Luther Burrell. He’s 20-1 to be named man of the match with Wolves playmaker Blake Austin and Saints full-back Lachlan Coote 8-1 joint-favourites for the individual honour.

Wigan are 4-11 to make it four wins on the spin by beating Salford at the DW Stadium. Victory would take them above the Red Devils into the top five and the eight-point handicap handed to the visitors seems a fair assessment.

It’s difficult to be dogmatic about the Wakefield-Huddersfield match with both sides woefully out of sorts.

Trinity, who haven’t won a league game since beating the Giants by a point on May 3, are 8-15 to snap their losing streak.

Huddersfield, who have lost three on the trot themselves, receive a six-point handicap buffer.

Recommendation
Warrington +2.5
2pts 5-6 Betway

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