The start of April always brings with it the tim eof year when things get a bit more serious in the football world. Those teams trying to get out of their league, those trying to stay in their league and those trying for the Premier League title.
As I look at my bet from 1 January (18/1) on Man U , QPR, Brighton and Chesterfield I sit in the comfort that 3 of the 4 look certain to win their leagues. Man U are the ones in doubt as the premier league this year has been somewhat upside down!
For those attempting to get out of trouble, I fear for Preston and Scunthorpe in the Championship, Plymouth in League 1 (despite a bet at 9/2 for them to go down) and almost dead and buried already Barnet and Stockport.
Again the premiership is fairly wide open although Balckburn have the worst form of any team in the League and at 2/1 to go down is the stand out bet of the weekend.
Turning to the matches this weekend my selections are as follows.
Yeovil and Bristol Rovers are scrapping for survival, Yeovil have won their last 3 games 2 of those away at Exeter 2-3 and at Orient 1-5. Bristol are stuck in the bottom 4 and I think if Yeovil win on Saturday that should just about be enough for them so will go out with extra incentives.
10/11 for Yeovil to win.
Barnet look like they are dead and buried and tomorrow could see the start of the end for them. They are 5 points behind Burton and have played 3 games more. Tomorrow Burton host Barnet for the biggest 6 pointer of both teams season. I expect Burton to keep up their good home form and take this one. As a foot note I hope the appointment of Martin Allen helps both Martin and Barnet and I hope they both make a swift return to the League 2 if they do eventually go down.
At 23/20 its too big to miss.
Runaway leaders in league 2 are Chesterfield. Chesterfield recently drew 2-2 at Barnet so are due a return to winning ways. Port Vale sit on the edge of the playoff picture but I doubt they will remain there after tomorrow.
At 5/6 chesterfield are for me.
Finally Exeter host Dagenham. Anyone that has followed my blog this year will know that Exeter are one of my "go to" teams when I am looking for a win. I have had reasonable success with Exeter this season, they have won on 8 occasions at home this year and should see a Dagenham team that are another team languising towards the wrong end of the table. Dagenham could end up at the end of the season being the beneficiaries of Plymouths 10 point deduction but will need a few more points for that to happen. I dont think these will come at Exeter so I again go for Exeter to win.
5/4 is a big price for this home banker!
On a foot note, i read this week that if you had laid £100 against Tony McCoy on all of his horses that were 4/1 or shorter for the past 4 years you would now have £30,000!!!!
its an interesting stat but its 4 years late!
Good luck with your weekend fixture selection.
The £1 yankee pays £75, the £10 accumulator will net just shy of £170.
It will be nice to get back to some regular action again this weekend after the pick n’ mix of cricket and football in last week’s blog. With hindsight, I am not surprised that Wales failed to find the net against England last Saturday, but I was certain that Graeme Swann would be England’s top wicket taker against the superb Sri Lankans. As it turned out, the luckless Swann (and England) couldn’t grab a single wicket in the end and the game petered out into somewhat of a stroll for Muralitharan and co.
ReplyDeleteIf only I had spotted the McCoy bet a few years back, eh Martin? I wonder how that stat holds up if you tried a similar gamble with Ruby Walsh’s noble steeds over the past 4 years? Having trawled through the markets, there are a few ‘quirky’ bets you could try now though – Arsene Wenger to succeed Sir Alex is 66-1, but following your Tottenham’s 9-1 rout of hapless Wigan in the Premiership in 2009, how about the current odds of 40-1 for any top flight side to hit the net 10 times in one game this season? Two lucky punters did actually scoop £10k when Spurs achieved their landmark victory and the same fixture is being played out at the JJB Stadium this Saturday!
Finally, did you know that if you felt like backing a family member to, say, play cricket for England, then William Hill will offer you current odds of around 1,200-1? I’ll leave you with that thought.
Before I get too ambitious though, it’s back to the hum-drum of the footie world. My selections this week are all ‘goals crazy’ and as follows:
Charlton v Leyton Orient (3/4 goals crazy)
There have been goals for both sides in this fixture over the last seven meetings, which span the last 30 years. This season though, Orient have been something of a revelation away from home and are in great goal scoring form on their travels. I backed Charlton to score last week and I am doing so again, despite their mid table position and inconsistent form. Orient will be looking to quickly forget a 1-5 home drubbing by Yeovil in midweek, so what better time to get back on the goal scoring trail?
Crewe v Cheltenham (4/5 goals crazy)
Another of my favoured teams to bet on, Crewe continue to have a good home record and boast a total of 36 goals to date. Cheltenham have hit the net at least once in their previous four games and their 15th position in the table is down to a somewhat leaky defence rather than a misfiring strike force. History says that Cheltenham have out-scored their opponents by 19 goals to 16 since they took their place in the football league some nine years ago, so the goals crazy option seems a good choice for me here.
Torquay v Lincoln (8/11 goals crazy)
They have played each other 66 times and there have only been four 0-0 draws. The recent form of both sides also indicates that this could be a high scoring game too. The Gulls have only failed to score twice in 20 league games this year and are pushing ever closer to securing a Play Off place. For their part, The Imps have only failed to score three times in 21 league games in 2011, so surely the goals crazy option is the way to go here? I’ll apologise now if this one goes wrong Martin!
Bath City v Gateshead (4/6 goals crazy)
And finally it’s back to non-league football and a Gateshead side who have flattered to deceive of late. Nevertheless, an excellent away goal tally makes this one worth a punt in my view, despite the fact that in 14 meetings, both sides have only both scored three times! It’s the current form I am backing though, as Bath have one of the best goal scoring totals at home outside of the division’s top three.
The £1 Yankee pays £48.06. Good luck with your selections too......