Football Betting
Premier League Betting
Despite their excellent start to the season, Burnley now sit just inside the Premier League relegation zone. It gets no easier for new manager Brian Laws as, after a baptism of fire at Old Trafford, his side face Chelsea this weekend.
After a short blip before Christmas, Chelsea have been in superb form over recent weeks, even without leading scorer Didier Drogba who has been on African Cup of Nations duty. However, Burnley have lost just once at Turf Moor this season and so there will be a few tempted by the 10/1 about them beating the league leaders on Saturday.
Are Manchester City still in the title hunt? They are twelve points behind the leaders with two games in hand and so if they keep up their excellent recent form they could still be contenders. Roberto Mancini’s side face Portsmouth this weekend and are 3/10 to see off the struggling south coast side.
Portsmouth are five points adrift at the bottom of the table and have scored just five goals away from home in the league. It could be another long afternoon for Avram Grant’s side.
There were times not very long ago when fixtures between Arsenal and Manchester United were the games of a season. The arrival of Chelsea and Liverpool mean these matches no longer command the expectation of old, but the result in this fixture will still go some way to determining the likely destination of the Premier League crown.
United continue to grind out results without ever being convincing and have Wayne Rooney to thank for keeping them in the title chase. Arsenal have a great home record, however, and look good value at 7/5 to win and leapfrog their Northern rivals.
Championship
Such has been the fall from grace of these two clubs over recent seasons that a fixture between Leicester and Newcastle could almost be more associated with rugby union than with football.
Nigel Pearson has done a great job at Leicester although they have won just two of their last seven league matches and sit outside the play-off zone. The addition of the ex-Newcastle winger Nolberto Solano will also give Pearson some much-needed experience as he looks to take the Foxes back to the Premier League.
Newcastle have been in good form of late although they lost striker Marlon Harewood to a broken metatarsal last week before crashing out of the FA Cup at West Brom.
This is a tough match to call. Newcastle have drawn four of their last six games and so a draw here at 23/10 may be the call. The 15/2 about a 0-0 draw also has some appeal.
Scottish Premier League
After their strong second half performance at St Johnstone last weekend, Celtic closed the gap on league leaders Rangers to seven points. This weekend the Bhoys travel to New Douglas Park to face Hamilton looking to keep up the pressure on their Glasgow rivals.
Whilst Hamilton sit tenth in the table, New Douglas Park is a difficult place to go and get a result. It took a 78th minute Nacho Novo goal for Rangers to win there two weeks ago, and so this may not be as straightforward a fixture as Tony Mowbray would like. Celtic are 4/11 to win and 11/2 to repeat Rangers’ recent 1-0 triumph.
Elsewhere, Rangers host Falkirk and Hibernian play St Mirren.
Scottish Premier League Betting
La Liga
It’s ‘as you were’ in La Liga after the top two both won last weekend, although Barcelona may well extend their league at the top of the table after this week’s round of matches.
Cristiano Ronaldo was both hero and villain for Real Madrid last time out after scoring twice against Malaga before being sent off for breaking the nose of visiting defender Patrick Mtiliga. He will be missed as Real travel to the Riazor on Saturday for a tricky looking fixture against Deportivo La Coruna.
Deportivo sit fifth in the table and have won six times at home already this season. I like the 9/4 about Miguel Ángel Lotina’s side further denting Madrid’s title ambitions with a win in this one.
Barcelona travel to Sporting Gijon in terrific form having won their last three league games 5-0, 4-0 and 3-0. Gijon are missing the midfield goals of Miguel – sold to Birmingham earlier this month – and so even at 1/5 it’s hard to look past the champions in this one.
On Sunday, Malaga make their second journey to Madrid in a week to face improving Atletico. I’d take the home side at 2/5 in this one.
Eredivisie
Two of the great Dutch powerhouses meet at the de Kuip on Sunday as Feyenoord take on Ajax.
Feyenoord are still in the bizarre situation where half their team are aging legends whilst the other half are bright young starlets. Signing players in-between must be coach Mario Been’s priority. Ajax have improved under Martin Jol and will need to win here to keep up the pressure on both PSV and FC Twente.
African Cup of Nations
The 27th African Cup of Nations reaches its climax this Sunday with our tip, Egypt, now the favourites to make it a hat-trick of titles.
