Oct 26

There seems to be as much news off the pitch, if not more, than what is actually happening on it.

Before I get started I agree with the sentiments on a fans banner at Old Trafford that asked the question “Who’s the whore now Wayne?”

Much as I admire Sir Alex Ferguson I would have let poor Mr Rooney go. However, having said that, I will concede that Sir Alex knows what he doing. How much more money do you want to stuff into your pants Wayne? You’ve a lot to prove now mate. I don’t think you’re up to it. However you won’t be making a trip to the dole queue like a lot of the fans who pay your wages.

Pick of Last Weekend’s Fixtures

LIVERPOOL FC 2-1 BLACKBURN ROVERS

My faith in Liverpool was upheld at the weekend with this 2-1 victory over Blackburn. Yes it is too soon to say that the revival is under way. However the victory should help to lift the team’s spirits and confidence a bit. I had hoped that the victory would have lifted them out of the relegation zone but that will need to wait for another week or two. The goal scorers were Kyrgiakos (48) and Torres (53) for Liverpool with Carragher scoring an own goal for Blackburn (50).

Premiership Betting tip

Liverpool meet Bolton Wanderers this coming weekend. The odds are sitting at 5/2 for a Bolton win at home, 11/8 for Liverpool and 12/5 for a draw.

Here are the results for the most recent meetings between the two teams.

30/01/2010  Liverpool 2-0 Bolton

29/08/2009  Bolton 2-3 Liverpool

26/12/2008  Liverpool 3-0 Bolton

The question is, can Liverpool lift their game to reflect these recent scores? The betting suggests a close tie. I think Roy Hodgson will be able to lift his team to a close victory and get the team fired up for the rest of the season.

Elsewhere in the Premiership there were no upsets with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal winning their games, meaning that Manchester City slipped up to Arsenal.

written by JoeMcLaughlin \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Oct 19

Malcolm Allison – Born 5 September 1927 Died 15 October 2010 aged 83

He was a great football coach who with Joe Mercer brought in one of the most successful periods for Manchester City from 1967 to 1970. His football career was spent mainly with West Ham United playing 250 games for the team. “Big Mal” spent his final years in care homes and suffered from dementia.

LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB

The long drawn out saga at Liverpool FC seems to have run its course although the two amigos are still threatening legal action. Let’s hope that this great club can begin to focus on what they are good at. I.e. play football. I know they didn’t show it at the weekend.

Last Weekend Fixtures

Thinking back to last week’s blog, I believe I can hold my hand up and say “I told you so.”

My chosen games were Manchester United v West Brom, Newcastle v Wigan, And Bolton Wanderers v Stoke

I did say that the Bolton Wanderers v Stoke game was too close to call. In the end it was the home advantage that gave Bolton the edge to take the three points. Meanwhile Manchester United gave away a two goal lead to let hard working West Brom share in the points. My preferred game at Newcastle likewise saw Wigan throw away a two goal lead to let the home side equalise and once again share in the points.

Premiership Betting tips

West Ham v Newcastle

If past form is anything to go by West Ham should be able to capitalise on the home advantage at 6/4 to win while Newcastle are coming in at 11/5 to win. The odds are 12/5 for the draw. Newcastle showed some tenacity in coming back against Wigan last weekend. This is my bet of the weekend

Most recent meetings

10/01/2009 Newcastle 2-2 West Ham
20/09/2008 West Ham 3-1 Newcastle
26/04/2008 West Ham 2-2 Newcastle

Liverpool v Blackburn

Can Liverpool begin to get their act together against Blackburn on Sunday? Think of it lads, a win will lift you out of the relegation zone and could perhaps dump Blackburn into it. The bookies are looking favourably on Liverpool at 4/5 to win against Blackburn’ s 9/2 with a draw being forecast at 11/4. I think Liverpool can pull this off.

Most recent meetings

28/02/2010 Liverpool 2-1 Blackburn
05/12/2009 Blackburn 0-0 Liverpool
11/04/2009 Liverpool 4-0 Blackburn

Leading goal scorers to date are:

6 Berbatov (Manchester United)
6 Drogba (Chelsea)
6 Malouda (Chelsea)
6 Tevez (Manchester City)
5 Bent (Sunderland)
4 Elmander (Bolton Wanderers)
4 Carroll (Newcastle United)
4 Walcott Arsenal)
4 Cahill (Everton)
4 Kalou (Chelsea)

written by JoeMcLaughlin \\ tags: , , , , , ,

Oct 06

A near capacity crowd at Stamford Bridge could be forgiven for thinking “here we go again.” The 41,828 fans who watched Chelsea and Arsenal were treated to some exciting football.

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)

written by JoeMcLaughlin \\ tags: , , , , , , , ,

Sep 30

Will Chelsea turn out the light again for Arsenal on Sunday? Will Arsenal stay in the light with this 1-3 satisfying away result to Partizan Belgrade on Tuesday Night?

However Chelsea playing against Marseilles on the same night played good game and almost bad game to over-come the French champions 2 goals to nil.

Chelsea meet Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Sunday 3 October at 4pm. The match is screened live on Sky Sports 2 and the early betting suggests that Chelsea are the on-form team. On-form may not be
a totally accurate description at the moment.

However there is not a lot separating the two teams in the Premiership. Chelsea are top on 15 points with Arsenal 3rd on 11 points after playing their first 6 games of the season.

This will be the fixture of the weekend and is certainly worth a flutter at your local bookie.

Chelsea have been the victors in the last three meetings between the two teams and the odds seem to be in their favour.

The odds are in favour of Chelsea at 4/5 and Arsenal at 4/1 to win and 3/1 for a draw. However this is not a forgone conclusion by any means. A bet on a draw is very tantalising and probably realistic.
Arsenal on their game could upset the applecart.

However if you are not persuaded by this, there are many other ways that you can lay a bet on the game.

Who do you fancy to score the first goal? Will it be Walcott, Nasri or Arshavin for Arsenal? Will it be Malouda, Drogba or Kalou for Chelsea?

When all is said and done Abramovich has told his team he expects them to win every competition they play in this year. Indeed the betting is again in favour of them taking the 2010/11 title.

written by JoeMcLaughlin \\ tags: , , , ,