Top 3 bets for Tuesday's football and NBA

Who will win the basement battle between Newcastle and Norwich?

It’s time for Newcastle’s players to stand up and be counted with two crucial games coming up that could decide whether the Geordies will be facing up to life in the Championship come the end of the season. Ahead of the visit of third bottom Burnley on Saturday, basement club Newcastle face second bottom Norwich tonight with a first win of the season imperative. Half of Newcastle’s much maligned defence is suspended, with Jamaal Lascelles and Matt Ritchie both receiving fifth yellow cards of the season at Arsenal on Saturday. Norwich have enjoyed an upturn in form since Dean Smith took over as manager, with four points from their last two games.

Callum Wilson Anytime Scorer (Boosted to 5/4)

If Newcastle are to get out of the mess they find themselves in, then Callum Wilson will have to score the goals that fire them to safety. The England striker is back to full fitness after yet another spell on the sidelines and should prove a real handful for the visiting defence. On the spreads, Wilson Goal Minutes is set at 27-30, with Super Mega Minutes, which doubles the minutes of a second goal and trebles those of a third, set at 44-51.

Who else is in Premier League action tonight?

While not quite in as much bother as the bottom two, Leeds are struggling and stand only one place above the relegation zone, so three points at home to Crystal Palace would provide a real tonic. Leeds have been ravaged by injuries this season, and are still without the likes of Patrick Bamford and Luke Ayling, central figures in their impressive season last time around. Kalvin Phillips, substituted at half-time of Saturday’s draw at Brighton, is fit though. Palace have been one of the more impressive teams this season, but they’ll be keen to bounce back after the disappointment of Saturday’s home defeat against Aston Villa.

Christian Benteke Super Mega Minutes (22-27)

Taking out the weekend loss against Villa, when the whole Palace team underperformed, Benteke has looked one of the most dangerous strikers in the Premier League over the past month or so. Not only has he been among the goals again, the underlying stats point to him actually not getting as many goals as he could have. The Leeds backline has looked flimsy this season, and the big Belgian will look to bully the home defence. While Leeds as a whole have been disappointing this season, Raphinha has been excellent, even receiving a call up to play for Brazil, and he has proved popular with buyers of Goal Minutes (13-16) and Super Mega Minutes (18-22).

What’s happening in the NBA tonight?

It’s arguably the biggest game of the season so far tonight as the teams with the two best records in the NBA meet, Golden State (18-2) travelling to the Phoenix Suns (17-3). The Suns, beaten in last season’s NBA Finals by the Milwaukee Bucks, actually started the season 1-3, and have won their last 16 games in a row. For most of that run, star shooting guard Devin Booker has only been average, but in the last three or four games he’s really found his groove to provide fresh impetus, and is the current Western Conference player of the week. The Warriors are on a seven game winning streak of their own, and this game marks the first time in NBA history that two teams with win percentages of at least 0.850 and both on at least seven game winning runs have met.

Total Points (220-224)

Defence wins Championships, so the old basketball saying goes, and while both these teams have an array or offensive weapons, both will be desperate to shut the other down on defence and not only win this game, but put down a marker for their meetings further down the line. Draymond Green is the leader of Golden State and he will be fired up for this one. As such, we’ve seen some selling of Total Points as punters expect the kind of defensive efforts usually reserved for the playoffs.