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Football Betting
It is FA Cup Fifth Round time in England and Chelsea remain firm favourites to retain the Cup. The league leaders face 2008 finalists Cardiff City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and can continue their march in three competitions with a win at 1/6.
There’s a terrific south coast derby on Saturday as League One Southampton take on Premier League strugglers Portsmouth. Elsewhere, Stoke City were my early FA Cup tip at 40/1 and the Potters travel to Manchester City. Tony Pulis’ side are unbeaten in 2010 whereas City have hit a sticky patch after a promising start under Roberto Mancini. Stoke could make this difficult for City and the draw at 29/10 or even a Stoke win at 6/1 may appeal.
On Sunday, Bolton face Spurs at the Reebok Stadium and with hopes of a Champions League spot receding, the Cup could be Spurs’ best chance of glory. Crystal Palace put out a Midlands side in round four but Aston Villa should be too good and can be backed at 3/4.
Fifth plays first in the Championship on Saturday as Swansea host Newcastle. In Scotland Hibernian are a good value 13/2 to beat Rangers at Ibrox whilst Celtic travel to Aberdeen.
Golf Betting
India returns to the golfing spotlight this week as The European Tour revisits the world’s second most populous country for the €1.5 million Avantha Masters at the DLF Country Club.
Jeev Milkha Singh leads a strong home field for this event whilst Darren Clarke will want to continue his challenge for a Ryder Cup spot and is 14/1 to win here.
Cricket Betting
The qualifiers for the ICC World Cup continue this weekend alongside more one day action.
Australia look to be back to their best form and after a one day series whitewash of Pakistan they are looking to do the same against the West Indies. Ricky Ponting’s side are in action in Sydney on Friday.
India will be looking to bounce back from their first Test thumping by South Africa with a better performance in the second Test in Kolkata which starts on Sunday.
Rugby Union Betting
The opening fixtures of the Six Nations went pretty much to plan, with the only slight surprises being the margin of England’s victory over Wales and Ireland’s inability to run in more tries against a hapless looking Italy.
Scotland left themselves with too much to do against the Six Nations favourites France on Sunday but there was much to encourage coach Andy Robinson. The Scots travel to the Millennium Stadium on Saturday to face Wales who might have run England much closer had lock Alun-Wyn Jones not spent a long period in the sin-bin.
Wales can be a great attacking team on their day and whilst I expect them to beat Scotland, the Scots can keep it tight enough to overcome the handicap. Back Andy Robinson’s side with an eleven point advantage at 10/11.
There’s a terrific match in prospect on Saturday as France take on Ireland. The two leading Six Nations side go head to head with the home side the slight favourites at the Stade de France. Ireland showed glimpses of their form in their straightforward victory over Italy and this one is a very tough match to call. Whoever wins should go on to lift the Six Nations trophy.
England will look to continue their improvement with a win in Italy and the fifteen point start the home side benefit from on the handicap looks about right.
Rugby League Betting
The opening weekend of Superleague XV threw up some intriguing results, with surprise home defeats for both Leeds Rhinos and St Helens.
St Helens’ conquerors, Hull, face a tricky trip to Huddersfield Giants who opened their campaign with a win over Bradford Bulls. There should be a cracking match on Saturday as Castleford, fresh from that win over Leeds, take on a Warrington side fresh from a 58-0 win over Harlequins last time out.
Elsewhere, Wigan play Hull KR, Bradford face St Helens, Wakefield play Leeds and there’s a bottom of the table clash as Salford play Crusaders.
Tennis Betting
The ATP tour moves to the hard courts of Rotterdam this week for the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament.
A good field has assembled in the Dutch city, including world number Two Novak Djokovic and the in-form Russian Nikolay Davydenko. Gael Monfils and Tommy Robredo also feature, as does Robin Soderling who will be looking to finally win a match in 2010 after two first round defeats in his outings so far.
Andy Roddick leads the betting at the SAP Open in San Jose – the USA’s second oldest tennis tournament. And, in Brazil, Thomaz Bellucci will look to follow up his good win at the ATP Movistar Open last week with a win in Costa do Sauipe.
Horse Racing Betting
There’s good quality racing on Saturday from Warwick and Newbury.
Warwick hosts the Kingmaker Novices Chase which gives potential Arkle contenders a last run out. At Newbury, the Totesport Trophy Hurdle is an old fashioned handicap. Spirit River and Harry Tricker are likely to be competing for favouritism in this one.
