Tag: "Ed Nicholson"

The Over/Under 2.5 Goals Column: Rooney’s absence should see the goals dry up at Old Trafford

Ed Nicholson looks at the big match of the weekend as Chelsea visit Old Trafford and Wolves’ trip to the Emirates in search of over/under 2.5 goals value. “With United casting one eye on their second leg quarter final match against Bayern Munich next week, and without the influential Wayne Rooney I can see United being quite tight and compact here. Chelsea too will want to get a result – and a draw is not a bad one for them. So a low scoring draw is foreseen.” Man Utd v Chelsea This game now has a completely different feel to it following Chelsea’s impressive 7-1 success against Aston Villa last Saturday and, perhaps even more pertinently, Wayne Rooney’s injury in midweek. And for those who have been saying that Man United have only performed so well this season thanks to Rooney’s tremendous form, this Sunday’s game against Chelsea will either go some way to proving them right or wrong. Obviously one match will be far from conclusive on that score, but it does just happen to be against Chelsea at a time of the season when losing any game could prove decisive in deciding league titles or relegation battles

  • Share/Bookmark
Apr 02, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

The Over/Under 2.5 Goals Column: Buck the market at Anfield and Eastlands

Ed Nicholson rummages through the stats to bring recommended bets for two matches involving Champions League chasers “Games between City and Wigan at Eastlands generally bring with them little goal line action and ultimately few goals. The past six meetings between these two in Manchester have seen four under 1.5 goal encounters with a 0-1, 1-0, 0-0 and 1-0.” Liverpool v Sunderland There is a country mile between Liverpool at home and Liverpool away. The Reds are a very decent free scoring side at home, as their results have proven over the years. Throughout this season they have scored 37 home goals in the Premier League – the fourth highest in the league, while they have conceded just 13 times – the fifth best defensive record of any team playing in front of their own fans this term. Steven Gerrard might not be in the best form of his life (there are rumours he needs an operation), but Fernando Torres has looked very sharp of late and it would be a surprise if he was not to beat the keeper at least once here after scoring three goals in his last four games. Fourteen of Liverpool’s 15 Premier League games at Anfield have either been 2-0 victories or contests where three goals or more have been scored

  • Share/Bookmark
Mar 25, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

The Over/Under 2.5 Goals Column: Goals at a premium at Old Trafford

Ed Nicholson looks at this weekend’s matches at Old Trafford and Craven Cottage in search of the over/under 2.5 goals value. “With them losing 1-4 at Old Trafford last time you can also be sure that he won’t want his players taking any chances early on. All of which means the chances of a low scoring game are increased – especially if the home team do get a defender sent off – which is more likely than not in this fixture, given the most recent 270 minutes of football data.” Man Utd v Liverpool Three of the last six encounters between these sides have ended in over 2.5 goals affairs but usually matches between these sides at Old Trafford are low scoring encounters. But with Liverpool having embarrassed Sir Alex Ferguson’s side 1-4 last year, there’s every chance that United will be extra motivated to win comfortably here. Despite Liverpool netting four times on Monday night against bottom club Portsmouth in the league, they still looked far from comfortable when defending and with Wayne Rooney in such scintillating form I believe United could score two or three goals – but I feel Liverpool will be set up to defend so that becomes less likely. But the quandary for the purposes of this column and those looking to place an “under or over” bet on this contest is whether Liverpool are capable of scoring against United’s defence – and the question has to be yes. Nemanja Vidic has been made to look fairly ordinary against Fernando Torres in recent head-to-heads and I believe that Torres well and truly scares the life out of him, and an ever-slowing Rio Ferdinand. The Serbian has been sent off in three consecutive games against Torres while Liverpool have beaten United in all three of those games

  • Share/Bookmark
Mar 18, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Over/Under 2.5 Goals Column: Old Trafford and Anfield in-focus

Ed Nicholson looks at a pair of key fixtures for two of the giants of English football “Given the return of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand to the heart of the United defence there must be every chance that Edwin Van der Saar will keep yet another clean sheet. If that was the case, we are asking the home side to score three times or more, which I feel is unlikely given the way that Fulham will be set up to play.” Manchester United v Fulham United looked toothless without Wayne Rooney last weekend when ultimately they were lucky to come away from Molineux with all three points. Much was expected of Dimitar Berbatov, but he looked poor and didn’t get into enough penetrating positions to score a goal. The Bulgarian is a frustrating figure and although he will score goals given the ammunition he is given, he is not one to rely on when thinking of being with the over 2.5 goal option. Undoubtedly Berbatov is better suited to playing at Old Trafford when all thoughts are on attack, but he still lacks confidence and if he was leading the attack I would be far happier to be layer rather than a backer of the over 2.5 goal option. United though, despite that 0-1 victory, are scoring in the league with 27 goals in their last ten – comfortably the most of any team in the league. At home they now netted 39 times and no team have conceded fewer than their total of eight. Their last six home league matches have been over 2.5 goal affairs (11 out of 14 in total), and they have not conceded a home goal for no less than 609 minutes

  • Share/Bookmark
Mar 11, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Over/Under 2.5 Goals Betting: Burnley braced for tough afternoon at the Emirates

Should Arsenal be backed to run riot at home to the Clarets? How will United fare if Rooney sits it out at Molineux? Can Wigan shut out Torres? Ed Nicholson selects the best overs and unders bets from the weekend’s Premier League action.

“A 2-0 Arsenal correct score bet and over 2.5 goal strategy has been profitable over the season and I expect it to pay dividends once more this weekend.”

Arsenal v Burnley

Arsenal continue to score and concede goals both home and away. They have actually conceded the most goals of any top nine Premier League teams (14) while their 38 home goals scored is the third highest in the division.

Burnley meanwhile have conceded an amazing 43 times away from home in 14 matches, losing 13 times. They have managed just 10 goals in that time and this simply must be marked down as an over 2.5 goal encounter.

  • Share/Bookmark
Mar 04, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

The Over/Under 2.5 Goals Column: Making beer money from the Carling Cup final

Ed Nicholson gives us his best selections from this weekend’s Premier League fixtures and an intriguing Carling Cup final, where assuming Wayne Rooney can be kept relatively quiet, we should have a low-scoring encounter. “This season Aston Villa have the best defensive record in the Premier League having conceded just 21 goals in 26 games, while Man Utd have conceded just 24 in 28 matches. When sides meet with such good defences – regardless of how good their goal scorers have been and how many times the team has scored, it’s the defences that usually come out the best.” Stoke v Arsenal Stoke have beaten Arsenal twice at the Britannia stadium since winning promotion to the Premier League. Last year they surprised Arsene Wenger’s side by winning 2-1, and then embarrassed an admittedly weakened Arsenal side 3-1 in the FA Cup earlier this year. It seems that Tony Pulis has found the secret to beating Arsenal, and it seems to revolve around the same way Man Utd play them at the Emirates.

  • Share/Bookmark
Feb 26, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Under/Over 2.5 Goals: Will Rafa go for broke in battle for fourth?

The race for fourth spot reaches a crucial juncture when Liverpool go to Eastlands on Sunday. But will Rafa be bold or will he set his side up to defend? Meanwhile, with both defences playing well, should we back goals at Goodison

  • Share/Bookmark
Feb 18, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

The Over/Under 2.5 Goals Columns: Midweek goal drought

All three of Ed Nicholson’s midweek selections are “under 2.5 goals” affairs this time round but in which matches does he expect the goals to dry up? “Liverpool are past masters at defending as a unit in big games and although I have backed the overs in this fixture for the last three seasons, I am firmly with the under 2.5 goal option on this occasion.” Wigan v Stoke Stoke are very poor away from home and seem to rely on their ‘group’ defending to get them points as five draws from 11 away games clearly demonstrates

  • Share/Bookmark
Feb 09, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

The Over/Under 2.5 Goals Column: A low-scoring Merseyside Derby

Ed Nicholson’s attentions are turned to Anfield, the Stadium Of Light and Old Trafford this weekend as he goes about trying to decipher which matches will be “overs” and which will be “unders” this weekend. “Four of the last six encounters have been under 2.5 goal matches at Anfield, with an average of just 1.66 goals per game and the way Liverpool have been playing, this looks nailed on to be another low scoring contest.” Sunderland v Wigan The Black Cats looked a very poor team on Monday night when they limped unimpressively to a 0-0 home draw with Stoke – a side, remember, who have scored just four away goals all season

  • Share/Bookmark
Feb 05, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

The Over/Under 2.5 Goals: Seriously over-priced “overs” at the Emirates

Ed Nicholson casts his analytical eyes over this weekend’s Premier League over/under 2.5 goals markets and finds a good bet in the big match of the weekend.

  • Share/Bookmark
Jan 29, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post
Page 1 of 41234

Switch to our mobile site