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.

Yes you read it correctly. These are the full Premier League results for last week-end. Only two games survived the extreme and unusual freezing and blizzard conditions.

Sunderland 1 – 0 Bolton Wanderers

The result sums up the positions of both teams in the Premier League with Sunderland sitting 6^th and Bolton in 7^th place. Danny Welbeck made a fine header in the 32^nd minute to give Sunderland the points and to leap-frog Bolton from 7^th to 6^th place before a crowd of 35,101. Sunderland travel to Manchester for their Boxing Day match with Manchester United. Man Utd are clear favourites at 30/100 with Sunderland at 12/1. The draw could be a possibility at 5/1. Bolton Wanderers meet West Bromwich Albion on Boxing Day in what should be a close fought match. Bolton are favourites at 6/5 with West Brom on 3/1. The draw at 5/2 is worth a bet.

Blackburn Rovers 1 – 1 West Ham United

Blackburn should have made a better job of this fixture given their relative positions in the Premier League. Blackburn are 12^th while West Ham are at the bottom of the league. In other words this is a pretty good result for West Ham. However sitting at the bottom of the league is not a good place to be. You only get a view of everyone else’s back side. Blackburn scored first though Ryan Nelsen in 51 minutes. West Ham responded in the 78^th minute through Junior Stanislas. As you might appreciate, the Blackburn fans were not best pleased. Caretaker manager Steve Kean did not improve his prospects of landing the full-time job at Ewood Park. Blackburn meet Stoke at the week-end with both team sitting 12^th and 13^th respectively. Blackburn are 5/4 favourites with Stoke on 12/4. The draw at 12/5 is worth consideration given Blackburn’s slip-up this week-end.

Coming Week-End Choices

The week-end fixtures if it happens will look like this for me.

Blackpool v Liverpool

As you know I have been following both of these teams and my loyalty is a bit divided for this match. Liverpool are just ahead of Blackpool at 9^th and 10^th place respectively. This is a close match on paper with Liverpool favourites at 4/5. Blackpool are 4/1 and the draw is forecast at 3/1. This Premier League is so up-in-the-air and Liverpool are still fragile that this game could go any way. I would go for the draw on this occasion, if it happens.

Fulham v West Ham United

This bottom of the table fixture is a must for West Ham. They need to dig in and get the points if relegation is to pass them by. We are almost at the half-way stage and it is time to think about (avoiding) relegation. Fulham are evens for this match with West Ham on 100/30 for the win. The draw is 5/2 and this would be my bet of the week-end. Go for it.

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

Have a good week-end and happy punting.

Newcastle United 3 – 1 Liverpool

Liverpool were effectively blown out of the water in a match were Newcastle set about their business in making this a victory for their deposed manager Chris Hughton. Liverpool were the fancied team with the bookies at 6/5. The feeling was that Newcastle would have enough distractions at 11/4 when Hughton was shown the door earlier in the week. The lesson to be learned here is don’t make assumptions about things. I don’t want to see any of these great team suffer. Come on get back on track the both of you.

Tottenham Hotspur 1 – 1 Chelsea

I said that Chelsea had definitely lost their touch, last week end with the one all draw at home to 15^thplaced Everton. Here we are again away from home to Spurs with a crowd of 35,787 watching yet another draw. Spurs scored first through Pavlyuchenko in 15 minutes. It took Chelsea, late into the second half, again through Drogba to even the score in 70^th minute. Chelsea are at home to Manchester United on Sunday. The odds favour Manchester United at 11/4 with Chelsea on 6/5 and the draw at 12/5. The draw might be an option if you fancy your luck.

Coming Week-End Betting Choices

Blackpool v Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs are clear favourites here at 4/6 on with the bookies. However I think that Blackpool will tough this out. They are 9/2 for the win and I think this will be the bet of the week-end. Alternatively if you are not sure about it, I think the draw at 16/5 is a must to put a few quid in your pocket. We all know that this has been the most unpredictable Premier League start for years. Take my advice and go for it.

Wigan v Aston Villa

Wigan need a result to get them out of the relegation zone. The bookies are predicting a close tie with Wigan at 2/1 and Aston Villa at 7/4 and 9/4 for the draw. Wigan showed their metal against Everton last week end when they held them to a nil – nil draw. This will be a good match. Come on Wigan you can do it.

Sam Allardyce

We saw Chris Hughton go last week-end and the merry manager go-round caught up with Sam Allardyce this week-end. A “shocked and disappointed” ex-manager had fallen out of favour with his new owners over their plan to use Kentaro a Swiss sports agency to handle their transfer deals. However the bookies still have a future for him with to replace Avram Grant at West Ham. However sources close to Allardyce state that discussions have taken place on the matter.

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

 Have a good week-end and happy punting

With the Premiership starting, all talk will be on who will lift the title at the end of the season and what team will be dropping down in to the Championship. 

It will take a brave person to back Manchester United to be relegated this season, they are priced at odds of 2501.00 (2500-1, put £1 on and you make £2500) by Ladbrokes.  Somehow I don’t see many people taking up these value odds.  But Man Utd are favourites to lift the title again this season with all the major bookmakers, on Betfair they have odds of 2.88 and William Hill prices them at around 2.38. 

After United there are the usual title contentders, Chelsea are priced as second favourites at 2.63 (William Hill), next it’s Arsenal (6.0 with Paddy Power) and Liverpool at 8.5 (Hills).  After the top four the odds get pretty big with Betfair pricing Tottenham at 50.0 and Manchester City at 190.0.  Below is a summary of the possible title challengers and odds from the different betting companies.

The main relegation candidates are Hull City (1.30), Stoke City (1.36), West Brom (1.90)  all priced on Ladbrokes, in other words all three promoted sides are favourites with the betting companies to get relegated.  Fulham are at odds of 3.75 to be relegated this season, but with Roy Hodgson in charge, I think they will surprise a few people and stay up again this year.

Betting Tip: Its tough to pick out who will be top of the Premiership come end of July 2009, but I’m looking away from favourites Manchester United after the disruptive summer they’ve had.  One bet I would recommend is on Betfair, the ‘Month End Top-Aug’ market.  With the number of winnable fixtures for Arsenal in August (ending with Hull at home) and how they always start quick out of the blocks, I’m tipping the Gunners to be top of the Premiership at the end of August with odds of 3.5 on Betfair.

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