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

LIVERPOOL 2 – 0 CHELSEA

A crowd of 44,238 fans watched Liverpool give the Premiership League leaders a 2-0 sting from goals by Fernando Torres in the 11th and 44th minutes. At 3/1 on the betting this was a nice one to get although no one really thought that Liverpool was ready at this stage.

Perhaps the point was made on Wednesday when Liverpool visited Wigan where they were held to a 1-1 draw. However we mustn’t cry over spilt milk. Liverpool are now in 9th position in the league. They should be in more positive frame of mind individually and as a team. It’s nice to see them getting back to where they should be.

FULHAM 1 – 1 ASTON VILLA

This proved to be a tough encounter as expected with Fulham just managing to snatch a share of the points in the 95th minute. The very late equaliser knocked the stuffing out of the Aston Villa players who thought the game was as good as done.

Coming up This Weekend

Aston Villa v Manchester United

Manchester United are the bookies favourites for this match with betting at 4/1 for an Aston Villa win, 4/5 for Manchester United and 11/4 for the draw. However the results of the most recent meetings, below don’t suggest that Man U should be the clear favourites. However the league positions at 2nd for Man U on 24 points and 10th for Aston Villa with 16 points is a more convincing argument.

Most recent meetings

28/02/2010 Aston Villa 1-2 Man Utd
10/02/2010 Aston Villa 1-1 Man Utd
12/12/2009 Man Utd 0-1 Aston Villa

Everton  v Arsenal

Everton are sitting 12th in the league with 15 points and Arsenal are 3rd with 23 points.

We did see a blip in Everton’s performance when Arsenal trounced them 1 – 6 at home for Everton. Arsenal are given the edge by the bookies at 5/4 with Everton sitting at 12/5 and 5/2 for the draw.

Most recent meetings

09/01/2010 Arsenal 2-2 Everton
15/08/2009 Everton 1-6 Arsenal
28/01/2009 Everton 1-1 Arsenal

As usual I like to keep you up to date with the leading goal scorers.

Have a nice week end.

BOLTON WANDERERS 0 – 1 LIVERPOOL FC

I had to stick with Liverpool to see if they could get themselves out of the relegation zone.
This they did achieve lifting themselves to a more respectable 12th in the Barclays Premier League, with the same points tally as Bolton who are in 10th place.

The Liverpool performance left a lot to be desired but the gods looked kindly on them to give them the 86th minute winner from Rodriguez.

I am not keen on the defensive 4-4-1-1 formation that Roy Hodgson is sending the team out.  It simply leaves strikers in hope of getting a crack at goal because they are isolated when the ball eventually lands at their feet.

Liverpool (3/1) face a big test on Sunday when they meet Chelsea (11/10). Draw (12/5)

Come on Roy let’s get this team firing on all cylinders.

Newcastle United 5 – 1 Sunderland

Sunderland suffered their biggest defeat on Tyneside since 1956 when they were trashed 6 – 2. The young Sunderland team having played their last seven games without defeat were no match for a Newcastle team who were on fire. The goal scorers were Nolan (26, 34, 75), Ameobi in the 4 minute of additional time in the first half and a penalty in the 70th minute.
Bent for Sunderland managed a consolation goal in the 90th minute.

Coming up This Weekend

BLACKBURN V WIGAN

This should be an interesting game as both teams hold 17th and 18th position in the league. Both are also sitting on 10 points with Wigan having the goal difference advantage.

The odds are 10/11 for a Blackburn home win, 4/1 for a Wigan win and 11/4 for the draw. I think Wigan could be good for this one.

FULHAM V ASTON VILLA

This match has the hallmark of a tough encounter with the odds standing at 7/5 for a Fulham win, 9/4 for Aston Villa and 12/5 for the draw. Both teams are on 12 points with Fulham sitting 9th in the league and Aston Villa sitting at 13th.

Fulham may enjoy the home advantage.

This would be my game of the weekend and I think that Fulham will pull it off.

Most recent meetings

30/01/2010 Fulham
0-2 Aston Villa
30/08/2009 Aston Villa 2-0 Fulham
09/05/2009 Fulham
3-1 Aston Villa

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)

Premiership Betting tip- West Ham have found it hard to score goals this season and looking at last season’s result they only managed to beat Wigan 1-0 away from home.   Ignoring these stats, PremiershipBettingBanter.com is going to predict goals, if Wigan can get in the goal scoring mood like they did on the opening day of the season and if they continue to let in the goals (just like the 5 against Man Utd), then over 2.5 goals is a possibility.  Back over 2.5 goals at odds of 2.44 on Betfair.

Aston Villa v Wigan-Villa will be looking to win their 5th consecutive game against Steve Bruce’s wigan.  This will be an interesting game as these clubs have played each other 7 times and the home team has only come out as the winner once.  Lately Wigan’s away form has meant they have lost to Manchester United and Manchester City.

Betting tip- Last years corresponding fixture say Wigan beat Aston Villa 2-0, but Villa have already beaten Wigan once this season.  Looking on Betfair ‘Over 2.5 goals’ looks to be a tempting bet at odds of 2.1 (11/10).  With players like Zaki and Agbonlahor, there should be goals in this match. 

Also go for a small bet for ex-wigan player Heskey to continue scoring for Aston Villa at odds of 2.8 (to score at anytime).

Betting tip (losing)- Hull have shocked alot of people with their form, only losing 5-0 to Wigan this season.  But this has also overshadowed West Brom’s good start, their best in the Premiership.  I’m going to bet against Hull in this game, there’s no doubt they deserve to be where they are in the league, but they’ve had that bit of luck on their side to get those good results.  Back West Brom to win at odds of 2.34.

Wigan v Aston Villa-This will be Martin O’Neill’s 100th game as manager of Aston Villa.  Villa may find this fixture difficult, only winning 1 out of the 6 games they have played against Wigan.  Steve Bruce’s men played well against Liverpool last week and were unlucky not to to come away from Anfield with at least one point.  Last season Aston Villa took the three points in this fixture, winning 2-1.

Betting Tip (winner)- If I was to bet on who was going to win this match then I would be leaning towards Wigan.  But I’m more interested in the the ‘Over 2.5′goals market for this fixture.  With Villa only keeping 1 clean sheet in 16 away matches and with both teams capable of scoring goals, I’ll be going for over 2.5 goals, priced at 2.04 on Betfair.

Chelsea v Liverpool-  Liverpool have shown the character that’s needed to win the Premiership in the last two games, they’ve managed to win both matches despite trailing.  Chelsea on the other hand have been in great form despite missing key players, the game last week against Boro showed exactly why they are favourites for the Championship crown.  Liverpool will be missing Torres again due to injury and Robbie Keane may also miss the match. 

Betting tip (losing)- Liverpool have dropped the most league points to Chelsea compared to any other team they have played.  Both of these teams have been in great form, with 20 points each.  The blues are a force when playing at home with 86 games without defeat, although Liverpool were the last team before Arsenal to beat Chelsea at home.  This is a difficult one to call, but I find it hard to think that Chelsea will lose this game.  I’m predicting a draw, maybe 1-1, back the draw at odds of 3.3.

UPDATE- Last weekend produced a few shocks in my eyes and that’s not including Tottenham winning a game!!  I was wrong to think Hull would be able to keep up their good form of late and even more wrong to think Chelsea would not be beaten at home!  Liverpool have again shown that they are challengers to the title, but can they keep this good run going?  In the end it was only one correct tip out of three, Wigan v Villa produced over 2.5 goals as predicted.

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

Betting tip (loser):Liverpool have shown that they have the winning mentality to lift the Premiership this season with a come back display against Manchester City and Wigan may find it hard to breach the Liverpool defence if their top strikers Zaki and Heskey are missing.  The odds show that the home team are the big favourites to win this match (odds of 1.45).  It’s a risk to oppose the home team, but I’m predicting Wigan to get a point at Anfield, especially if key man Heskey plays.  The best option is to lay Liverpool, currently at odds of 1.46 on Betfair (so if you want to win £10 you will only have to put down the liability of £4.60).

UPDATE- Liverpool 3-2 Wigan. For long periods in the game it looks like this bet might just come off, anyone who bets in play may well have been able to trade out to guarantee profit when Wigan were in the lead.  But you have to give credit to Liverpool for the character they’ve show in the last two games when they’ve trailed (although no matter what Benitez says the sending off did help a little bit).  Also great praise has to given to Zaki at the moment I would say he is the most on form striker in the Premiership, what a great volley!

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