George Riley is intrigued to see who comes out on top as two heavy-weights go head to head at the DW Stadium this weekend. Elsewhere, Saints aim to get back on track against Crusaders and the Tigers try to restore their pride in France.
FA Cup and International Football is behind us for the time being so “Mystical” Mike Norman is back with a preview of Saturday’s Premier League action. Best Bet: Back Villa HT/Villa FT @ 4.2 in Stoke v Aston Villa. Best Bet: Back Villa HT/Villa FT @ 4.2 in Stoke v Aston Villa Also: Back The Draw @ 3.4 in Birmingham v Everton; Back Bolton @ 2.24 to beat Wigan; Back Draw HT/Wolves FT @ 8.2 and Wolves HT/Wolves FT @ 6.4 in Burnley v Wolves; Back Any Unquoted Score @ 4.5 in Chelsea v West Ham Birmingham 3.2 v Everton 2.48 ; The Draw 3.4 It’s amazing to think that a win for Birmingham will take them just two points behind Liverpool – the side that have been favourites to finish fourth in the Premier League for most of the season. Brum have been brilliant under Alex McLeish , but so have Everton under David Moyes, and just because I don’t think either side deserve to lose I’m backing the draw today. It’s been nearly six months since Birmingham tasted defeat at St Andrews, and in that time they’ve conceded just five home goals so I’d have to favour a low-scoring game here. Under 2.5 Goals is available to back at 1.75 , whilst in the Correct Score market, the 0-0 and 1-1 scorelines can be backed at 10.0 and 7.2 respectively
Having lifted the Carling Cup, Manchester United now need to get back to business by winning the Premier League. Dan ‘The Betting Man’ Fitch expects them to take a step in the right direction, with a victory over Wolves. Best bet: United clean sheet @ 1.92.
Recommended Bets: Back a Man Utd clean sheet @ 1.92; Back Rooney to score first @ 4.0; Back Man Utd/Man Utd @ 2.0.
With Chelsea in action in the FA Cup on Sunday, Manchester United have the perfect opportunity to leapfrog them and return to the top of the table.
To do so they must travel to Molineux and take all 3 points from a Wolves side that are hovering just outside the relegation zone and fighting for survival.
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.
The Premier League is back in full swing after many teams had a prolonged post-New Year break. Most players and managers will be thankful of the extra week’s recuperation time but they must now hit the ground running. Best Bet: Back Birmingham (Draw no Bet) @ 1.95 Best Bet: Back Birmingham (Draw no Bet) @ 1.95 Also: Lay Chelsea to beat Sunderland @ 1.25 Back Any Unquoted @ 3.4 in Man Utd v Burnley; Back Tottenham Clean Sheet @ 2.0; Lay Wolves to beat Wigan @ 2.42 Chelsea 1.25 v Sunderland 16.5 ; The Draw 7.0 Everton, Portsmouth and Fulham have all exposed Chelsea’s fallibilities at Stamford Bridge at various stages and levels over the past month, imperfections which were previously unapparent.
Ed Nicholson continues to trawl through the Premier League over/under 2.5 goals markets in search of the best betting opportunities… “Goals are a rarity in general when either Liverpool play these days, or when Stoke take on any side at the Britannia Stadium.” Man Utd v Burnley Although Man Utd are not the offensive force they were a year or two ago, they are still capable of comprehensively beating an average or ill-prepared side at Old Trafford , as they demonstrated against Wigan in their last home game of 2009. Since then, their Cup team has lost to Leeds while their Premier League side were rather unfortunate to score just once against Birmingham at St Andrews, where they had double the number of Shots on Target (SOTs) than the home team managed and had a man sent off, yet finished the game the stronger when drawing 1-1. In total United have scored 24 goals at the Theatre of Dreams , which is surprisingly only the fifth best home record in the league; while they have conceded just eight goals.
