Balls & Odds column by Fred Done, co-founder of Birchwood-based Betfred

AFTER the season was very sensibly reshaped following major Covid disruption, there will now be four elimination play-offs to decide who makes the Grand Final at the KCOM Stadium in Hull on Friday, November 27.

The Wire, who finished the regular season in third, take on Hull FC at The Halliwell Jones Stadium tonight, Thursday, before Catalans Dragons and Leeds Rhinos go head-to-head tomorrow, Friday, at the same venue in Warrington.

From the two winners of those elimination games, the lowest-placed in the final Super League table will take on Wigan Warriors at the DW Stadium on Thursday, November 19, while the highest-placed will face St Helens at their Totally Wicked Stadium home the day after.

For Wolves this means, no matter what happens in the other fixture, it will be Saints next should they get past Hull.

Warrington are 5/1 at Betfred to go the whole way and win the Betfred Super League Grand Final.

Reigning champions St Helens are 6/4, narrowly ahead of league leaders Wigan at 7/4 – and of the outsiders both Catalans and Leeds are 10/1, while Hull FC are 20/1.

It’s brilliant that, in such a disruptive year, we get to see the best of Super League fight for their place in the Grand Final – one of the biggest events on the sporting calendar.

Meanwhile, I was delighted with the response from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his players in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Everton.

It was a much better performance from the Reds, and a much-needed three points in the league.

However, picking up points on the road hasn’t been an issue for us recently, it’s getting points at home that’s proving difficult, with United yet to win a game at Old Trafford so far this season.

On our day, I truly believe United can compete with anyone in the league, but the inconsistency is staggering at the moment.

Hopefully, once the international break is over, we can kick on from this win and start racking up some serious points this season, which is already shaping up to be much more competitive than the last.

Betfred have both Liverpool and City 13/8 joint-favourites to win the title – with Spurs, who are proving themselves to be genuine contenders at the moment, 7/1 and the fast-improving Chelsea 8/1.

Of those at two-figure prices, Leicester are leading the way at 28/1 – while United are as big as 33/1 after a rocky start.