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.

With a major recession looming , it’s re-assuring to know that the Premiership clubs like Manchester United have taken heed and have only splashed out £30 million pounds on one player.  Now that’s what PremiershipBettingBanter.com calls a sensible approach to this unstable economic climate!!!

Sunderland v Middlesbrough- Middlesbrough will be missing a vital player in Tuncay through injury, this will be a big loss as he’s been one of the reasons why ‘Boro have made a good start to the season.  Roy Keane looks to have pretty much a full squad of players to pick from.  Last years’ fixture produced a scoreline of 3-2 to Sunderland. 

Premiership Betting tip-  Both home and away fixtures produced 9 goals in total, let’s bet against the odds and back the over 2.5 goals, odds of 2.12 goals can be found on Betfair.

UPDATE: Another losing bet, if only Downing had scored that penalty then I’m sure that would of set this match up for over 2.5 goals.  One more and we would of made some nice profit at odd of 2.12.  Don’t worry, keep the faith, I have a feeling a good run is on it’s way, lets hope it comes quicker then a Tottenham win!!

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

Betting tip-  John Terry will want to make a big impression in his first (well sort of) game as captain, hopefully it will be at the right end of the pitch for England, so back him in a fun bet to score at anytime on Betfair at odds of 11.0 against his Chelsea teamate Cech.  You may also want to back Lampard as well at odds of 4.8.

Update- Backing Terry to score didn’t come off, but another defender Wes Brown was the man to score.  A losing fun bet, but hopefully it added some interest to a bland England game.

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.

Remember if you haven’t already, sign up to Betfair or any of the other betting companies and you will get a FREE bet, check out the banners in the sidebar to take up this great offer.