Sports Betting Blog

Chris Hutchings is the 5/2 favourite with bookie Paddy Power to once again succeed Paul Jewell following the Derby County manager’s resignation today.

Having been placed in temporary charge at Pride Park, Hutchings is the bookie’s favourite to follow in Paul Jewell’s footsteps and land the job on a permanent basis just as he did in previous, if unspectacular, spells at Bradford and Wigan.
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MARK HUGHES is now odds-on to have left Manchester City before the start of next season with Wiliam Hill, who quote him at 8/15 to have left his position by then (11/8 to survive) – and he has also been cut from 11/4 to 5/6 by Hills to be the next manager to leave his club this season.’Sitting in the bottom three will not play well with City’s new owners and it will make it all the more difficult to attract big name players to the club to help achieve their ambition of Champions League football’ said Hill’s spokesman Graham Sharpe.
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Chelsea successfully came through a potentially nervous night on Tuesday night as they qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League thanks to a 2-1 victory over CFR Cluj. Despite taking the lead through Salomon Kalou shortly before half time, they were never at their best, and this was demonstrated as Yussouf Kone headed an equaliser to put the Blues on the brink of elimination. However, the introduction of Didier Drogba proved vital as he scored the winner 20 minutes from time to seal the blues’ place in the next round.
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Joe Kinnear’s side make the 345 mile trip south to Fratton Park on Sunday as they look to extend their unbeaten streak to five games. They are, however, searching for their first win in six games against Tony Adams’ side, who have certainly entertained their fans in recent weeks. The 2-2 draw with AC Milan in the UEFA Cup was the highlight of a five game streak that saw 20 goals, and Pompey will again look to striking pair Jermaine Defoe and Peter Crouch to lead from the front. Crouch was on target last week in the 1-1 draw at WBA, and Pompey will be looking to follow that up with a win here to take them to within a point of the UEFA cup places.
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Tottenham welcome Man United to White Hart Lane as they look to continue their revival under Harry Redknapp. They have won nine of the twelve games under his stewardship so far, and will certainly be looking up the table now, rather than over their shoulders as they were in the final days of Juande Ramos. The most notable development under Redknapp is the re-emergence of strikers Darren Bent and Roman Pavlyuchenko, who have notched fourteen goals between them since the change of manager at the end of October. Goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes is still causing some nervous moments at the back, but the return of Ledley King to the back four has restored some of the lost confidence.
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Arsenal could temporarily take third spot form Man United if they win in the North East, although their recent inconsistency will be a worry for Arsene Wenger. Despite their morale boosting 2-1 win over Chelsea two weeks ago, they have suffered two defeats in their last three games, and narrowly beat Wigan 1-0 in the other. Burnley beat a young side 2-0 in the Carling Cup, but it was a near full strength side that under performed against Porto in the Champions League in mid week.
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So anticipated is this Saturday’s finale that bookies Paddy Power are betting it will top the near 13 million viewers that pop Queen Britney pulled in two weeks ago. It’s just 13/8 with the Irish bookie that X Factor final night ratings peak as high as 14m!

Sharon McHugh, spokesperson for Paddy Power, said: “The X Factor Final is always a big audience puller but Beyonce is a massive coup for Simon Cowell. We’re expecting the bootylicious star to blow Britney’s 13 million away!”

As well as betting on how many viewers Saturday nights show attracts, Paddy Power are also offering a whole new range of ‘Final Night’ specials. X Factor fans can bet on anything from what word/phrase the judges will say first, to which act will shed a tear first. Alexandra is the 2/1 favourite to turn on the water works first.

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Bookie Paddy Power has cut the odds on Sunderland’s relegation following today’s news of Roy Keane’s departure. With six league defeats in a row Sunderland’s odds for relegation has already plummeted to 12/5. However Keane’s exit looks to be another damaging blow and Paddy Power has further cut the odds on the Black Cats going down to 2/1.  Not a bad bet considering after West Brom there are still two more places in the Championship.

Former Sunderland player Sam Allardyce is the early favourite at 4/1 to take over from Keano whilst Gordon Strachan, who started in the betting at 14/1 was almost immediately cut to 5/1 second favourite amidst rumours that Keane could be heading to Celtic.  I can’t sell Allardyce getting it.  After managing Newcastle I can’t see the Sunderland fans wanting a Newcastle reject. (more…)

WILLIAM HILL have slashed Arsenal from 33/1 to 20/1 to win the Premiership title following their win over Chelsea, who have been lengthened from 8/11 favourites to Evens, with Manchester United now 9/4 second favourites and Liverpool 3/1. ‘Arsenal started the match as 33/1 shots for the title, when they went a goal down they were 100/1 for the title, by the end they were a fifth of those odds’ said Hill’s spokesman Graham Sharpe, adding, ‘They also did us a big favourite by smashing the hugely popular weekend 7/2 treble of Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea all to win.’
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