Manchester City 4 – 3 Wolverhampton Wanderers

I did say it was probably too much to ask from Wolves and it was “just.” Coming back from 4-1 down showed a lot guts and determination. I would go as far to say that Wolves deserved the points, but Lady Luck was not playing the game. Mick McCarthy’s team don’t deserve to be sitting in the relegation zone. Whatever you are doing Mick should be working. The question, of course, is why is it not?

Wolves (12/5) meet Liverpool (7/5) on their home turf on Saturday. This should be a difficult one to call given the poor form by Liverpool recently. The odds on the draw are 12/5 so very iffy.

Tottenham 0 – 0 Manchester United

What is it that Manchester United have got that is eluding Wolves and perhaps at least half of the rest of the teams in the Premier League? Their unbeaten reign continues and Harry Rednapp has said that this is not a great United team. Well they have played 21 games in the Premier League this season without defeat. Is it simply that they have an unshakeable belief in themselves? United were severely tested in this match and you might say that Tottenham should have taken the points. However it seems that United are not prepared to take a back seat to anyone.

United (2/1) meet Birmingham City (17/1) at home on Saturday. The draw at 6/1 is worth a punt.

Birmingham City 1 – 1 Aston Villa

Birmingham continued to slide downwards and Aston Villa continue to hover just above the relegation zone with this one all draw. Alex McLeish pointed out the obvious when he said we don’t score enough goals. There is no doubt that the lack of an effective striker is a major drawback and Birmingham will rue the day if this causes them to fall out of the Premier League.

This week-end betting tips

Everton v West Ham

Everton meet West Ham on Saturday with the odds clearly favouring Everton at 8/15 and West Ham at 7/1 and the draw at 100/30. West Ham need to get their skates on if they are to crawl out of the relegation zone. There is still time to do this, but don’t wait too long. The draw is worth a bet. 

Arsenal v Wigan

Arsenal are clear favourites at 2/9 for this tie with Wigan who badly need the points coming in at 16/1. However Wigan are a team who can get the odd result and at 6/1 for the draw this could be worth a look

We finish the week-end round up with a look at the top goal scorers to date 

Barclays Premier League Top Scorers

 Happy punting

Liverpool FC

King Kenny reigns, long live the king. There was not a lot happening on the pitch as far as the Premier League was concerned. Plenty of cup action though and no Liverpool did not progress under, new manager, Kenny Dalglish’s management. A penalty conceded in the 2^nd minute was enough for Manchester United to take this match. A lot is being asked of Dalglish to take a shaky team out of the doldrums. I fear that the Liverpool fans will have to be happy with simply managing to stay in the Premier League this season.

Newcastle United

Newcastle are also not living the dream and they will take no further part in the FA Cup. They were summarily despatched by Stevenage by 3 goals to 1. This was the classic ideal of convincing your team that it your 11 versus another 11. There was no respect for the might of Newcastle, nor their talent. However the talent was in short supply for this game. I have seen this time and again when the big clubs show no respect for the minnows or in this case Stevenage who are sitting 15^th in League Two. Let’s take bets on how far Stevenage will go in this tournament this year.

Derby County

I felt that I had to mention this other pathetic performance by Derby County. Sitting 13^th in the middle of the NPower Championship, Derby should have made short work of non-league Crawley Town. However, again they pay the price for showing no respect to the non-league team. Maybe if the players of Derby County spent less time playing bingo online and more time practicing they could improve their performance! Crawley sitting second in the Blue Square Bet Premier League are in a strong position to secure promotion into the football league next season.

This weekend

Chelsea v Blackburn

Blackburn visit Chelsea on Saturday. At 13/1 Blackburn are not the fancied team. However Chelsea have not been entirely consistent of late. However there is a matter of 7 goals against Ipswich Town in last week-end’s cup game. Chelsea are 30/100 to win and no doubt bolstered by their annihilation of Ipswich. At 9/2 for a draw I would not be surprised if Blackburn pulled this off.

Manchester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers

This is probably too much to ask from Wolves. Come on Mick think of Stevenage. Manchester City are 1/3 while Wolves are placed at 11/1 and the draw sitting at 9/2. My theme for the week-end is that it is simply 11 men versus another 11 men. Don’t measure your standards by what you perceive theirs to be. Enough of the psychology go for the draw at best.

We finish the week-end round up with a look at the top goal scorers to date

 Happy punting.

Newcastle United 1 – 1 Chelsea

Andy Carroll scored in the 6^th minute to put Newcastle into the lead in this match which was more notable for the rumours that Roman Abramovich was about to replace Carlo Ancelotti with Pep Guardiola the Barcelona coach. If this didn’t unsettle Ancelotti then Carroll’s goal probably did. Newcastle sitting 9^th in the Premiership saw the score levelled in the 45^th minute from a Malouda pass which set up Kalou for the equaliser. With other events unfolding in the Premiership over the weekend this result saw Chelsea drop from the top spot for the first time this season.

Manchester United 7 – 1 Blackburn

Only Andy Cole, Alan Shearer, and Jermain Defoe have scored five goals in a Premier League match until Dimitar Berbatov seemingly woke up from his ten game hibernation to join them with five goals against Blackburn in the 2, 27, 47, 62 and 70 minutes. Park (23) and Nani (48) picked up the other two goals. Christopher Samba got Blackburn’s consolation goal in the 83^rd minute. Looking a bit like a tight rugby union score Blackburn withered under this blitz with their fans chanting that they wanted a refund of their ticket money. This result put Manchester United 2 points ahead of Chelsea at the top of the Premiership.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 – 2 Sunderland

Mick McCarthy saw his team take victory at Molineux which on paper should have been Sunderland’s for the taking Wolves sitting 19^th in the relegation zone. McCarthy’s players are 100% behind him saying that the win was as much for him as anyone else.

Coming Weekend Betting Choices

Birmingham v Tottenham

Spurs have the clear advantage away to Birmingham and there is no doubt that Alec McLeish’s men will have to be playing above themselves for this tie. Birmingham are 11/4 to win with Spurs 6/5 favourites. The draw is forecast at 5/2. My prediction is Birmingham 1 – 2 Spurs.

West Brom v Newcastle

This will be a tough encounter with West Brom sitting at 11/8 to win and Newcastle on 12/5. The draw is the same at 12/5. This is too close to call and I am going for a 1 – 1 draw.

Blackburn v Wolverhampton

Can Wolves repeat their success of last week-end against Sunderland? Will Blackburn have recovered from their hammering at the hands of Manchester United last week-end? One team with their tails up another with their tails between their legs. Blackburn are fancied at 5/6 to win with Wolves coming in at 4/1. A draw will get you 11/4. I’m going to stick my neck out on this one with a result for Wolves – 1-2.

LIVERPOOL 2 – 0 CHELSEA

A crowd of 44,238 fans watched Liverpool give the Premiership League leaders a 2-0 sting from goals by Fernando Torres in the 11th and 44th minutes. At 3/1 on the betting this was a nice one to get although no one really thought that Liverpool was ready at this stage.

Perhaps the point was made on Wednesday when Liverpool visited Wigan where they were held to a 1-1 draw. However we mustn’t cry over spilt milk. Liverpool are now in 9th position in the league. They should be in more positive frame of mind individually and as a team. It’s nice to see them getting back to where they should be.

FULHAM 1 – 1 ASTON VILLA

This proved to be a tough encounter as expected with Fulham just managing to snatch a share of the points in the 95th minute. The very late equaliser knocked the stuffing out of the Aston Villa players who thought the game was as good as done.

Coming up This Weekend

Aston Villa v Manchester United

Manchester United are the bookies favourites for this match with betting at 4/1 for an Aston Villa win, 4/5 for Manchester United and 11/4 for the draw. However the results of the most recent meetings, below don’t suggest that Man U should be the clear favourites. However the league positions at 2nd for Man U on 24 points and 10th for Aston Villa with 16 points is a more convincing argument.

Most recent meetings

28/02/2010 Aston Villa 1-2 Man Utd
10/02/2010 Aston Villa 1-1 Man Utd
12/12/2009 Man Utd 0-1 Aston Villa

Everton  v Arsenal

Everton are sitting 12th in the league with 15 points and Arsenal are 3rd with 23 points.

We did see a blip in Everton’s performance when Arsenal trounced them 1 – 6 at home for Everton. Arsenal are given the edge by the bookies at 5/4 with Everton sitting at 12/5 and 5/2 for the draw.

Most recent meetings

09/01/2010 Arsenal 2-2 Everton
15/08/2009 Everton 1-6 Arsenal
28/01/2009 Everton 1-1 Arsenal

As usual I like to keep you up to date with the leading goal scorers.

Have a nice week end.

However it seems yet again that no one will touch Chelsea this season with a satisfying 2 – 0 win over Arsenal…

Drogba did the business as usual hitting the back of the net in 39 minutes. Arsenal tried hard to find an equaliser but were not up to the task before Alex put the game beyond Arsenal’s reach with a strike in the 85th minute.

To sum up, this simply meant that there were no upsets for the Bookies.

What is interesting of course is that Liverpool appears to have been to sold New England Sports Ventures a group that owns the Boston Red Sox. However will this change Liverpool’s fortunes as the club drop into the relegation zone for the first time in 46 years?

As ever we have a number of interesting games coming up over the weekend.

My picks are Bolton Wanderers v Stoke City, Manchester United v West Bromwich Albion, and Newcastle v Wigan.

The Manchester game is tantalising in that I am waiting to see if Man Utd will slip up again. However the bookies are not taking the bait. At 10/1 for a WBA away win it could put some cash in your pocket for the night in the pub.

The Bolton Wanderers / Stoke game is too close to call at 11/10 for a home win, 9/4 for a draw and 9/4 for an away win.

On balance I think that I am going to go for the Newcastle / Wigan game. At 4/5 for a home win, 23/10 for a draw and 10/3 for an away win. This is my bet of the week. Don’t mention Chelsea by the way.

Leading goal scorers to date are;

6 Berbatov (Manchester United)

6 Drogba (Chelsea)

6 Malouda (Chelsea)

5 Bent (Sunderland)

4 Elmander (Bolton Wanderers)

4 Tevez (Manchester City)

4 Carroll (Newcastle United)

4 Walcott (Arsenal)

Premiership Betting tip-  Lampard was on the scoresheet mid-week with a penalty.  Back him to score anytime against Chelsea’s London rivals with Betfair, you can get odds of 2.92.

Tottenham v Arsenal-This is the 144th London Derby, will it be another thriller like in October where we saw 8 goals?  Spurs have a poor record against Arsenal in the the league, not beating them in 18 Premiership games.  Both clubs need points for very different reasons, Arsenal are looking for Champions League qualification and Spurs will be looking to secure their Premiership status.

Betting tip-Robbie Keane makes his return to Tottenham against their deadly rivals Arsenal. Surely it must be fate?  Robbie Keane to score at anytime on Betfair is priced at 2.68 (13/8), back him to score on Sunday.

Aston Villa v Wigan-Villa will be looking to win their 5th consecutive game against Steve Bruce’s wigan.  This will be an interesting game as these clubs have played each other 7 times and the home team has only come out as the winner once.  Lately Wigan’s away form has meant they have lost to Manchester United and Manchester City.

Betting tip- Last years corresponding fixture say Wigan beat Aston Villa 2-0, but Villa have already beaten Wigan once this season.  Looking on Betfair ‘Over 2.5 goals’ looks to be a tempting bet at odds of 2.1 (11/10).  With players like Zaki and Agbonlahor, there should be goals in this match. 

Also go for a small bet for ex-wigan player Heskey to continue scoring for Aston Villa at odds of 2.8 (to score at anytime).

Betting tip- I’m going to tip and back ‘Over 2.5 goals‘ in this match, you can get odds of around 2.06 on Betfair.

Everton v Liverpool

The big game this week has to the be the 179th Merseyside derby.  If you are fan of backing red cards and yellow cards then this is the game for you,  16 out of the 32 meetings have resulted in red cards.  I can always guarantee Phil Neville will find himself in the book for a hasty challenge (1.9 odds on Betfair) and an own goal may just occur once again in this fixture!!!

Betting tips:  Who will win this derby?…Who knows?  It’s hard to predict these derby games, but judging on form Liverpool look to be likely winners, especially with Everton only picking up points away from home this season.  But the main bet I’ll be backing is Stephen Gerrard to score.  Needing one more to make 100 goals, what better team his 100th against? Back him to score at anytime at odds of 3.75 on PaddyPower.  Also back Robbie Keane to score at odds of 3.25.

Wigan v Man City

The last time City played Wigan away from home the scoreline was 1-1.  From a quick glance this game may look like a Man City win, but City have failed to beat Wigan in the Premiership.  Wigan have been in good form lately, with the 5-0 win over Hull being their biggest result this season.

Betting tip: City are the favourites to win this game at odds of 2.46 (Betfair) with the home team priced at odds of around 3.25.  Let go for the value bet here and back Wigan, they’ve been in good form and Man City may be a little weary after having to play extra time mid-week.  This looks like it could be cracking game, I would like to think there will be goals galore!!!

UPDATE- The Merseyside Derby produced alot of whistle blowing moments by the referee, meaning that there was no flow to the game.  Liverpool deserved the victory (as predicted), but Everton can count themselves unlucky to have Cahill sent off.  There was no luck in picking Gerrard and Keane to score, but I had to back Neville to get a yellow card when I saw the odds for a yellow jump up to around 2.3 on Betfair, so when he made that crashing challenge I celebrated like it was a goal!!

The Wigan game brought us the biggest betting winner of the season, courtesy of a Zaki penalty.  Hopefully this will be the turning point and we can get a good run of winning bets now.  Goals were predicted in this game, if only I had backed over 2.5 goals as well!!

Arsenal 1-2 Hull
Aston Villa 2-1 Sunderland
Everton 0-2 Liverpool
Fulham 1-2 West Ham
Man Utd 2-0 Bolton
Middlesbrough 0-1 West Brom
Newcastle 1-2 Blackburn
Stoke 0-2 Chelsea
Portsmouth 2-0 Tottenham
Wigan 2-1 Man City