The hot football topic is off the field as the Liverpool Wagon-Train circles the wagons against the attack by the Boston Red Sox. However this is one battle we want the Indians to win. Still hanging in there the Hicks and Gillett Jr “pardners” have high-tailed it back to Texas to highlight that this is a real cowboy outfit. A restraining order has been granted by another cowboy outfit called a Texas court.

It’s time to wake up “pardners.” The ref blew the whistle on your game a long time ago. Do us all a favour and go and crawl under your Stetson, never to be seen again.

Scotland

We had another round of Euro 2012 Qualifiers and it was Scotland who almost upset the world and European champions Spain. The Scottish fans as ever roared their loyalty for their team in a game which ended 3-2 for Spain. Hailed as coming from “zeroes to heroes” by one Scottish newspaper, the team must take some hope from the game and their prospects of qualification for Euro 2012.

Portsmouth

Another club with a financial headache is Portsmouth who are still looking £900,000 from Inter Milan who have ignored the club’s demands for the money which was part of the transfer deal for Sulley Muntari. The club, who are already in administration, will run out of money next week and player may be asked to defer some of their wages until the situation with Inter Milan is resolved.

Weekend Football.

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.

My Bet of the Week

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)

4 Kalou (Chelsea)

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.