(20/03 15:00) Wigan v Burnley : Graham Alexander Win @ 19.00

Premiership

What would Burnley give for an away win at this point in time. They are on a terrible run at the moment and away from home they’ve picked up just 1 point on their travels. That came in an entertaining 3-3 draw at Eastlands and the story of that game has been replicated on visits to stadiums up and down the country this season. They have problems scoring goals having found the back of the net on 11 occasions away from home but 8 of these came in just 3 games; 3 in the match mentioned above, 3 at Upton Park where they conceded 5 and 2 at Villa Park where again they conceded 5. They have conceded a massive 46 goals on the road and all season they have left themselves open for the best attacks in the country to take advantage of it.
Thankfully at Wigan they won’t be facing one of the better strike forces in the division and Wigan have only scored more than once in two home league matches. They do however know how to grind out a result and although not prolific the likes of Rodallega, N’Zogbia and McCarthy will make them pay if they exhibit any of the sloppy defending that has blighted their league campaign so far. Wigan won the 1st encounter at Turf Moor 3-1 but anything could happen here. Both sides have shipped in 60 goals this season but if you think an encounter between these two could result in goals, you only have to take a look at the stat about Wigan rarely scoring many at home.
This match is a massive No Bet for me. Anything could happen and most probably will. Burnley have to win away from home at some point and Wigan cannot be backed with any confidence at the moment. I might just have a small bet on Graham Alexander to score. The veteran midfielder is always good for a goal and will be on penalty duties once more tomorrow.

  Bet on Graham Alexander at 19.00

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(20/03 15:00) Sunderland v Birmingham : Darren Bent Win @ 6.00

Premiership

Bent’s a very streaky player when it comes to scoring and can bang in 10 goals or more in a run before going 10 games without scoring. After his hat-trick against Bolton he seems to be finding his touch again and it wouldn’t surprising to see him score a few more before the end of the season. He’s one of these players that regularly scores 20 goals a season and at the end you wonder how he did it because of his barren runs.

  Bet on Darren Bent at 6.00

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(20/03 15:00) Sunderland v Birmingham : Draw Win @ 3.30

Premiership

It couldn’t have gone much better for Birmingham and Alex McLeish this season and who would have forecasted it? They sit just behind the 4 sides battling for 4th, in and around the likes of Fulham and Everton, and keep proving week in, week out it’s no fluke. Last week they came back from 2-0 down against Everton to draw 2-2 and have already won 5 times on the road this season. The likes of Wigan, Stoke, Hull and lately Pompey have all been beaten on their home patch so it would be no surprise to see them do it again on Saturday. The front pairing of Benitez and Jerome have been in good touch recently with 11 goals and the majority of those have come away from home where they are not as tightly marked and can use their pace to better effect.
All the pressure will be on Steve Bruce and Sunderland. A promising season has turned into a shambles as they went from 6th place in the league down into the relegation battle. They showed more fight in their last home match drawing 1-1 as they succumbed to a late Adam Johnson goal, with goalkeeper Craig Gordon putting in a brilliant performance between the sticks, and they currently defend an unbeaten home record since losing to Aston Villa back in December. However, they are not without their disciplinary problems with both holding midfielders having a tendency to pick up cards very easily. Cattermole is back in the squad for this match but his partner Cana is still out after picking up his 10th yellow card of the season in their 4-0 home win over Bolton.
Sunderland have drawn the majority of matches recently at home as they find difficulty in breaking free from the relegation battle and I expect little else tomorrow. The best bet is the draw.

  Bet on Draw at 3.30

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(20/03 15:00) Stoke v Tottenham : Draw Win @ 3.30

Premiership

It’s getting to crunch time for Tottenham in their quest for 4th place. Coming up in the run in are tough away games at Man City, Man United and here at Stoke as well as home ties versus Chelsea and Arsenal. The three teams around have easier run ins but as proven all season every team is capable of dropping points in places where you wouldn’t have expected. At Stoke you would expect Tottenham to face a stern test as last season’s 2-1 win for the home side testifies. It’s a task made all the harder by the loss of Jermain Defoe in training and he joins the likes of Huddlestone and Bentley from the players who have been in the line-up recently. They do have adequate cover up front with the likes of Pav, Crouch and Gudjohnsen available to play and it’s probably more important that the midfield remains intact. The likes of Palacios, Modric, Bale and Kranjcar remain integral to the clubs success this season and the absence of one of those will be more keenly felt.
Stoke have a superb home record since their return to the top flight and have 4 games at home this season, 3 of those by the top 3. The sides in and around the 4th spot in the league have all left with draws and that highlights the size of the task tomorrow. Stoke welcome back Ryan Shawcross after his 3 match suspension and they will hoping helps them to a league double over Tottenham after riding their luck at WHL for a 1-0 win before Christmas. Stoke are currently on a run of just 1 defeat in their last 10 league matches but they have draw 6 of these. I reckon another draw is on the cards as I can’t see a clear winner in this. I don’t believe Tottenham are currently playing well enough to go to Stoke and get a win but I do believe their away record merits more praise this season than previous ones. They have only lost 4 and 3 of those came at Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.

  Bet on Draw at 3.30

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(20/03 15:00) Portsmouth v Hull : Portsmouth Win @ 2.20

Premiership

This is the last chance saloon for Portsmouth. Their 9 point penalty for going into administration was confirmed midweek leaving them 17 points from safety and in all honesty as good as down. But they have shown with their progress in the FA Cup that they are not a side to be taken lightly and on their day, especially in front of the Fratton Park faithful, they can cause sides problems. I expect a raucous crowd Saturday who will give their undying support to the players and I expect a fully committed performance from the side. After all they have their own futures to play and a place in an FA Cup semi-final side at Wembley.

Hull couldn’t have come into this game at a lower ebb. A decent performance against Arsenal led to the promise of a precious point only to be robbed at the death by a goalkeeping mistake and then the owner/chairman decide to get rid of the manager. Iain Dowie was installed on Wednesday but that doesn’t leave him with much time to get familiar with the players and bed a system down. I don’t believe Hull have the players to survive and I feel they will be joining Portsmouth in the Championship. The one player that can and does make a difference for them is Jimmy Bullard who can be magic at times and probably deserves to be at a better club than Hull.

A 2-2 draw at Fratton Park last season has been followed up with 2 goalless draws at the KC stadium since. I don’t expect this to be the same and I feel Pompey have a great chance to get the 3pts come Saturday.

  Bet on Portsmouth at 2.20

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(20/03 15:00) Everton v Bolton : Everton Win @ 1.57

Premiership

Everton are finishing the season like an express train. How they must wish they had have picked up more points in the 1st half of the season but I suppose the lengthy injury list just killed them early on. Now the likes of Arteta, Yakubu and Jagielka have returned their results and performances have picked up and they are more than a match for most in the division. Last week they went 2-0 up against a decent Birmingham before the home side pulled it back to 2-2 before full time and they probably saved their worst performance of the last couple of months for their visit to Tottenham, where they were beaten 2-1. In all honesty they could have got something form that game if the departed Landon Donavon could have converted an easy 2nd half chance at the far post which was easier to score than miss.

Bolton picked up their 1st away win since September in their 2-1 win at Upton Park two weeks ago and that was the 2nd of 3 wins they have picked up in the last 4 games as they plot a course to safety. That said they have been quite woeful in recent times in away games with 4-0 defeats at Tottenham in the cup and at Sunderland in the league. Add to the fact they have only kept one clean sheet on their travels this season and manager Owen Coyle’s away record with Burnley this season. I think he must have seen the opposition score at least 40 or 50 on his travels this season!!

Bolton have lost in 3 of their last visits to Goodison Park and on current form you would expect Everton to improve that record.

  Bet on Everton at 1.57

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(20/03 12:45) Aston Villa v Wolverhampton : Draw or Wolverhampton Win @ 2.88

Premiership

These Midlands rivals meet at Villa Park for only the second time in the league in the last 25 years. Villa have had the upper hand in the recent encounters with 2 wins but when these sides met earlier in the season it was a Ebanks-Blake penalty which cancelled out a Gabby Agbonlahor opener for Villa in a game that ended in a 1-1 draw. The return now has implications for both ends of the table as Villa strive for 4th and Wolves try to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.
Villa come into this game on the back of just 3 wins in their last 10 league matches but they got the all important 3 points at Wigan in midweek and have a game in hand over 4th placed Tottenham, whom they sit just 3 pts behind. They are right in the mix but this is the time in the season where in the previous 2 seasons under O’Neil the season has started to unravel. Who can forget their fall out of the Champions League race last season as they ended the season with just 2 wins in their last 17 matches in all competitions. The Villa fans will be hoping lightening doesn’t strike in the same place for the 3rd season in a row but they signs are there. They have been conceding plenty in the cup competitions against lower league sides despite their progression to the FA Cup semi-finals and they have started to concede in the league too. Wigan found the net against them midweek whilst Burnley netted twice in their last match at Villa Park where incidentally that was only their 6th win this season.
Wolves will be happy to finish 17th. If you’d have offered that position to McCarthy at the beginning of the season he would have taken it gladly. At times the side have look below Premiership level but they have found ways to win and the morale boosting 2-1 win at Burnley last weekend will have helped. They have also put in some decent performances in against some of the top sides in the last month and helped themselves to a 1-0 win over Tottenham at Molineaux last month. I can’t see them fearing the match on Saturday as no-one expects to get anything and they can play with a certain degree of comfort. All the pressure is on Villa and Wolves have scored in 11 of 17 away matches in all competitions.
Feel a lay of Villa may be the way to go here.

  Bet on Draw or Wolverhampton at 2.88

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(20/03 17:30) Arsenal v West Ham : Arsenal #2-0 Win @ 6.70

Premiership

It’s been 6 seasons since Arsenal were beating all comers on their way to the last title. That’s 6 long seasons for their fans to see this young generation grow into a title winning contender and I believe they’ll be waiting at least another season before lifting the trophy again.

Despite Arsenal getting themselves back into contention I still don’t see them as credible rivals to Chelsea and Man U for the league this season and I expect them to drop points in places you would not expect in the run in. Their performance against Hull wasn’t the best, despite them getting the win and would still oppose them on the road. However, I don’t believe that Saturday will be one of those games where they drop points.

West Ham go to the Emirates desperate for points and desperate for a performance. They have failed to win on the road since the 1st day of the season and have lost their last 3 in the league. Two of those defeats came against Chelsea and Man U but the one that will really hurt is the home defeat to fellow strugglers Bolton.

The sides have met twice already this season with the league match at Upton Park finishing 2-2 whilst a youthful Arsenal side came back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 at West Ham in the FA Cup. Arsenal can welcome back captain Fabregas for this match and he is the one that makes them tick. He was missed against Hull and the performance proved that. With the captain restored to the midfield expect chance after chance to come raining on the West Ham goal and Hammers keeper Robert Green should be in for a busy afternoon.

After all that though, when you look at West Ham’s recent record at Highbury/Emirates it doesn’t look all that bad with 2 wins and a draw in the last 4 visits. Their 1st win in that run and their last visit to Highbury is better remembered for Sol Campbell walking out on Arsenal at half-time after losing his bottle and I seem to remember Bobby Zamora scoring the winner in their 1st visit to the Emirates although I can’t see it being the same story Saturday. Arsenal needing every point possible to keep in the title race and West ham are looking shaky. Going for a draw on the English Handicap with Arsenal 2 goal start so I am expecting a 2 goal margin for an Arsenal win.

  Bet on Arsenal #2-0 at 6.70

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(03/03 15:00) Greece v Senegal : Greece -0.75 Win @ 2.00

International

Senegal are another team on the slide. they have failed to reach the WC once more and even more embarassing was their failure to reach the African Nations finals.

Greece beat Ukraine in the WC playoffs and have qualified for their 3rd major tournament in the last 4 under Otto Rehagel.

An organised home side should have enough for an African side still coming to terms with the disappointment of missing out on two tournaments and in a rebuilding process.

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(03/03 19:45) Italy v Cameroon : Italy -0.5 Win @ 1.95

International

Cant really understand how the current World Champions can be just under evens for this match. The game is a friendly and is played in a neutral venue in Monte Carlo but surely the Italians will be there in force still as its not that far from mainland Italy.

Italy won the qualifying group to begin the defence of their title but it was by no means plain sailing. Ireland made it difficult for the Italians but they have an history of being below par in the qualifying and then when tournament time comes around they are starting to find their true form.

However, Cameroon seem a team on the slide and until Le Guen took over they were struggling to even qualify for the WC. In the end they won their games against Gabon and qualified for both WC and African Nations. Their campaign in Angola can be written off as a mess. The team looked very poor in their group and then they were beaten in the quarter-finals by the eventual winners Egypt.

I fully expect Italy here to record a low scoring win.

0 Comments and 91 Views