Betting tips-It’s easy to go for the favourites Manchester United to win this cup final based on current league standing, but cup games can always bring results that are against the odds.  I won’t be tipping a winner here, but I will be going for 4 anytime goalscorers in the hope of making some profit.  Firstly for Spurs I’m tipping Pavlyuchenko to score (odds of 3.45), he’s scored in every round so far and he’ll be hoping he can make an impression in the final as well.  Also back last year’s winning goal scorer Woodgate at odds of 14.0 to make a repeat in the 2009 Wembley final.  For Man United, back Tevez to get the ball in the back of the net (odds of 2.52), he’ll also be wanting to score in the final after having previously scored in every round of the cup so far.  Finally back old the ex Tottenham player Carrick to score against his old team at odds of 7.6 from Betfair.

The Premiership takes a break this weekend and it’s back to the International World Cup fixtures.  With two wins out of two for England, everything looks rosy for them…..until the next bad performance and the fans boo them again.

England v Kazakhstan

A nation expects an easy England win here, but the nation should know by now that it’s never easy when England play the ’smaller’ teams!!!  There’s no doubt that the confidence will be back in the England team after the win against Croatia, but there seems to be very little point in backing them to win as they are priced at a measly 1.07 on Betfair to beat Kazakhstan. 

Betting tip (loser): The England strikers are expected by the bookies to score goals at Wembley and that’s reflected in the way they’ve been priced.  It might be best to go with either Lampard or Gerrard to get a goal from midfield.  I’ll be backing Gerrard at odds of 2.46 on Betfair to score at anytime.

Scotland v Norway

After Scotland lost to Macedonia in their opening game, they managed to the 3 points against Iceland and they’ll be looking to follow up that victory with a win against Norway.  Norway on the other hand have only played 1 game and only have 1 point.  With Holland in their group it may be a case of which team can finish second after the Dutch.

Betting tip (loser): John Carew has be on great form for Aston Villa and hopefully he will be able to continue this for his country.  Let’s back him at 3.46 to score at anytime, price can be found on Betfair.

UPDATE- Although there were alot of goals in the England match, unfortunately none were scored by Gerrard, making the first losing bet of the weekend.  Well I should get some credit for this game, I did predict that there would be boos at Wembley, I’m sure Lampard will be relievedgutted that his Chelsea teammate Ashley Cole was booed! The Scotland match produced no goals, meaning we lost our second bet of the weekend, hopefully we’ll have better luck with the next round of games.

Belgium v Armenia
Bulgaria v Italy
Denmark v Malta
England v Kazakhstan
Estonia v Spain
Faroe Islands v Austria
Finland v Azerbaijan
Georgia v Cyprus
Germany v Russia
Greece v Moldova
Holland v Iceland
Hungary v Albania
Luxembourg v Israel
Poland v Czech Republic
Romania v France
San Marino v Slovakia
Scotland v Norway
Serbia v Lithuania
Slovenia v Northern Ireland
Sweden v Portugal
Switzerland v Latvia
Turkey v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Ukraine v Croatia
Wales v Liechtenstein

Tottenham v Hull- Can Spurs win their first league game this season? Or will they be beaten by Hull at home like their red rivals last week?  Hull have yet to lose on the road this season and will definitely give Tottenham a hard test.  The last time the two teams played each other in the league, Spurs came out 1-0 winners, but that was in 1978!!

Betting tip (LOSER):Tottenham haven’t looked a threat upfront and it’s very hard to tell where the next goal is coming from, but Hull have yet to keep a clean sheet.  If Spurs can get ahead then they’ll have a chance at picking up the three points.  But I’ll be looking at the ‘Over 2.5 goals’ market and backing ‘Over 2.5 goals’ at odds of 1.81.   It might be interesting to also look into Fraizer Campbell to score against Hull, the team he was on loan to last season(if he starts).

Man City v Liverpool- Richard Dunne is an injury doubt for Manchester City, but Bulgarian Martin Petrov could start.  City have won three out of their six league games this season and Liverpool  can boast an unbeaten record. 

Betting tip (WINNER): City have not scored against Liverpool in the league for over 9 hour of football and the scoreline between the two teams has either been 0-0 or 0-1.  But I’m going to go against the odds here and back ‘Over 2.5 goals’ at odds of 2.28 on Betfair.  Liverpool have some fantastic attacking players and I will hoping(preying) that City can score at least one goal against their mean defence!!  Let’s hope in the selected matches it will be raining goals!!

UPDATE- It was one winning and one losing bet for the weekend, backing over 2.5 goals made an easy winning bet for the City match where the score ended up as 3-2 to Liverpool.  Although it was the Spurs match which let us down this weekend, Tottenham just couldn’t break down a resilient Hull defence. Backing over 2.5 goals in a Tottenham match may not prove to be so profitable this season with them finding it hard to hit the back of the net.

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

This fixture last season was Ramos’ first game in charge of Tottenham, the scoreline ended in a draw at 1-1.   Both teams have a poor opening day record, losing the opening fixtures for the last two seasons.  This game looks like it could be a tough one for Spurs, a draw may be the best to bet on if you are looking at the ‘Match odds’ market. 

Betting tip-  Darren Bent has been on great form in pre-season, which obviously means he will not score for the whole season!!  But I’ll be backing him in the ‘To Score’ market at odds of 3.1 today on Betfair, with Keane gone and Berbatov’s depature imminent, he will have to take on the scoring responsibilites.

In this volatile time of the year for clubs and players alike the usual issue of tapping up inevitably raises its ugly head. The image comes to mind of a smoke filled dimly lit bar with the likes of Ferguson, Wenger and Benitez, dressed in long trench coats and Trilbys and groups of innocent young men all shiny, with halos over their right feet. The trench coat clad managers shuffling up to the angelic players badgering them with all of their might and filling their heads with promises of goals, gold and girls.

In reality it seems that for the most part the players are totally in control of this wooing process. Take Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent dealings with Real Madrid. It seems that all summer long Real have been doing their best to woo Ronaldo onto their squad and whilst Ronaldo has made it public knowledge that a place at Real would recognise a life long goal for him, he continues to play cat and mouse, perhaps to drive the stakes up, or possibly to encourage a last minute offer from a more desirable club.

The career of a footballer is short and practicalities kick in. Some are driven by the love of the game, some by the money, and some by the desire to make their mark as a legend. But whatever motivates them, they have little time to make the dream a reality. Ultimately, as with any career, footballers want to get as far as they can as fast as they can, and clubs are fully aware of this.

Robbie Keane signed for Liverpool on Monday, and no one could deny that this is the best move for his career. Tottenham are a great side but their finances sometimes seem a little shaky, particularly now following their recent acquisitions, but Liverpool not only offer security, but also a chance to play Champions League football and the realistic chance of a League win at some point. The recent transfer of Peter Crouch, along with Keane’s record of being the all time leading goal scorer for the Republic of Ireland have left him with pretty much guaranteed place on the first team squad and his five year contract mean that the twilight years of his career are looking pretty good.
The £20 million offer from Manchester United for Dimitar Berbatov could also see another of Tottenham’s good players, also in his late twenties, making a great move to further his career, provided that the terms can be agreed. This does however leave Tottenham in a less secure position than at the end of last season.

Some argue that football has been reduced to a battle of the finances… he who has the most cash wins. This is of course true, however we also have to factor in the power that the players and managers have, not just financially either. Personally I feel that this whole tapping up issue is rather simple. It is merely just another tactic, in a game that was built upon them.