In this feature Spreadex Sports look at five bets/markets to look out for in the week ahead. This week, we will look at some of the best World Cup, cricket, and Championship bets and prices*!

*the below prices are indicative and may be subject to fluctuation

FOOTBALL - 2022 world cup

1. The quarter-finals are almost set in Qatar and only two matches remain as Portugal face Switzerland and Morocco take on Spain. There has been a trend in the round of 16 fixtures though as pretty much all of the consensus star men have all found the net so far. Memphis Depay got on the scoresheet for Netherlands in their win over the USA, Lionel Messi found the net on his 1,000th career appearance against Australia, Kylian Mbappe found the net twice against Poland (who themselves scored a consolation through their talisman Robert Lewandowski), Harry Kane finally got his goal for England against Senegal, and the fit-again Neymar scored on his return for Brazil.

There may be a clean sweep if Alvaro Morata finds the net for Spain and Cristiano Ronaldo gets on the scoresheet for Portugal. We have Morata's Total Goal Minutes at 22 - 25, and he is available at a BOOSTED price of 13/2 to score a header against Morocco. As for Ronaldo, his TGM spread currently stands at 25 - 28, with a BOOSTED fixed odds price of 5/4 to score anytime!

2. One of the biggest surprise packages so far in the tournament have been Morocco, who topped a group including Belgium and Croatia to reach the knockout stages for the first time in 36 years. They are also now unbeaten in four consecutive World Cup matches and can emulate Cameroon's run of five unbeaten from all the way back in 1990 as the last African side to do so. The Moroccans have also shown they can remain competitive with their Spanish opponents, as they managed to secure a 2-2 draw in the 2018 edition of the tournament. They led that particular meeting twice and were only denied a famous win from a last-minute equaliser by Iago Aspas. Striker Youssef El-Nesyri found the net in that fixture, and we have a BOOSTED price of 5/1 for him to repeat the trick and find the net anytime here!

3. Staying with the Spanish-Moroccan matchup, that last meeting in the 2018 World Cup featured four yellow cards in the first half - all coming for Morocco. This meant a make-up of 40 for the 1st Half Bookings market - the spread ahead of this one stands at just 11 - 14. Will there be a repeat showing of ill-discipline from the North Africans? Another interesting point was that Spain did not see a single booking in that meeting, meaning a make-up of 0 on the Cross-Bookings market. The spread for that market ahead of this one stands at 320 - 390, meaning a repeat make-up could bring sellers 320x their initial stake.

CRICKET

4. Pakistan take on England in the 2nd Test in the early hours of Friday, after winning the 1st Test by 73 runs last week. England will be looking to complete a treble with a third consecutive victory, including the win in the T20 Final in November. Can Pakistan turn the tables and level the series here? They are slight favourites to do so, with a 25:10:0 Index spread of 11.6 - 13.1 to England's 10.7 - 12.2. On this market, a team earns/market settles at 25 for the winning team, 0 for defeat, and 10 if there is a draw. Check out our pricing pages closer to the start of the match for our full range of markets including batsman and bowler markets!

FOOTBALL - CHAMPIONSHIP

5. Sunday will see the return to action of Championship leaders and Spreadex partners Burnley, who will take on 6th-placed QPR at Loftus Road, aiming to pick up where they left off from their last fixture, while inflicting a fourth consecutive defeat on the home side.  In fact, QPR are winless in their last five league matches, while the only major blot on Burnley's recent form was the hugely disappointing 5-2 defeat at Sheffield Utd which ended their long unbeaten run, but they quickly steadied the ship with an impressive 3-0 defeat of third-placed Blackburn in the last match before the break - which would have decided top spot for either side.

The last three meetings between these sides have seen a 0-0 draw and two tight victories (1-0 and 2-1) for Burnley, but the last three league matches of each side have seen plenty of goals. Burnley's matches have seen 15 goals in total, while QPR's have seen eight. We have Total Goals at 2.5 - 2.7 and Total Goal Minutes at 127 - 137. Don't miss the match, live on Sky Sports Football at 1pm on Sunday.  

Note - Spread Betting losses can exceed deposit