TAB WEEKEND SOCCER HIGHLIGHTS: 16 - 18 JANUARY 2026

AFCON FINAL, 4 CARRYOVER POOLS ON A GRAND WEEKEND

Sunday night’s AFCON final between hosts Morocco and Senegal, the two giants of African football, is the headline match of the weekend, but there’s good soccer to bet on with TAB before that with four carryover pools and a guaranteed R17.5-million Soccer 13 pot (if one outright winner) adding plenty of punch to the weekend brew.

BANKER PSG IN TONIGHT’S R150,000 CARRYOVER SOCCER 10

The carryover action starts with tonight’s Soccer 10. With R150,000 in the kitty to get the ball rolling, expect a bumper total pool of close to R2 million with good prospects of a solid payout.

The best banker is PSG to win at home against Lille in M9. PSG are not runaway leaders in France’s Ligue 1 this season as is often the case and instead find themselves in second, a point behind Lens. But they are seven points clear of fourth-placed Lille and should forge further ahead tonight given the match is in Paris.

Espanyol, Barcelona’s arch-rivals in the capital of Catalonia, should also capitalise on home-ground advantage in their LaLiga clash against Girona (M8) and Atalanta look a fair bet to win away in a Serie A match in Pisa (M7).

LIVERPOOL LOOK TOO GOOD FOR BATTLING BURNLEY

Saturday’s R150,000 carryover Soccer 10 has an attractive mix of games with five English Premier League contests plus matches from La Liga, Serie A and the German Bundesliga.

Liverpool host struggling Burnley at Anfield in M7 and will be a popular banker to win. Arne Slot’s reigning champions have found some form after a staggering run of defeats and are now unbeaten in their last nine EPL games.

That sequence includes five draws, the most recent of which was a creditable 0-0 stalemate away to log-leaders Arsenal when the Reds looked sharper than they have in ages.

They should pack too much class for Burnley, who are second last after just three wins and 14 defeats from 21 league matches this season and look headed back to the Championship. That will complete a remarkable four-season yo-yo ride for Burnley, comprising promotion, relegation, promotion and relegation again.

Burnley have leaked 41 goals in the league this season (only West Ham have conceded more - 43) and if Liverpool, whatever their shortcomings up front, cannot put them to the sword rumours about Slot being replaced by Xabi Alonso will intensify.

Alonso, who played 143 times for Liverpool, was recently sacked by Real Madrid after just seven months as manager and is being tipped by many to replace Slot come the end of the season.

INCONSISTENCY IS CHELSEA’S WEAK LINK

Fifth-placed Brentford travel a short distance to take on West London rivals Chelsea in another of the EPL games in the pool. Chelsea are the much classier outfit, but have won just one of their last nine league matches and are seventh on the log, two points behind Brentford who have thrived followed the departure of manager Thomas Frank to Spurs.

CheLSEA, now with a new head coach in Liam Rosenior, should win but are too inconsistent to risk betting your house on that outcome.

The other three EPL games are far from clear cut. Fulham travel north to face Leeds and both go into the clash bang in form with the London club’s superior line-up perhaps negated by Leeds playing at home.

Sunderland host FA Cup holders Crystal Palace with both struggling to win currently and the London visitors probably still in a state of shock after being eliminated from this season’s Cup by sixth-tier Macclesfield last weekend in the biggest upset in 100 years.

SACK FOR LOSING MANAGER IN SPURS-WEST HAM CLASH?

The crunch EPL game is Spurs at home to West Ham in M9, in which defeat could bring the axe down on the losing team’s manager. Nuno Espirito Santo is more likely to survive a defeat than his Spurs’ counterpart because West Ham this week strengthened their backroom team with the introduction of experienced Spaniard Paco Jemez as first-team coach.

Apart from Liverpool, the best banker in the Soccer 10 comes in M1 in which Inter Milan should win away at Udinese, who have been patchy this season.

For the best play of the weekend look no further than Saturday’s R75,000 carryover Soccer 6 (S6 V2 P2). It’s a challenging bet comprising four EPL and two Championship games and bankers are scarce.

Fixed-odds betting and statistical data suggest home wins by Chelsea, Southampton and Spurs are the way to go with draws likely in the Leeds-Fulham and Sunderland-Palace fixtures.

CARRYOVER SOCCER 10 POOL MATCH BY MATCH

Fri 16 Jan – S10 V3