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Weekend Footballby Ben, last updated 2006-02-23 08:13:12Gerry's PicksBy Gerry McDonnellThe Jewell of DenialHere's a question for all you deep thinkers. Can a fairytale really have a happy ending? Imagine the classics today; Cinderella could never marry the prince, the problem of female binge drinking coupled with a march towards a 24 hour boozing culture simply wouldn't allow her to leave the ball by midnight. Sleeping Beauty would be literally a 50/1 shot to get a decent kip with all the ASBO ridden teenagers roaming the streets, and if Jack is gullible enough to swap a cow for a handful of magic beans, he'd be well advised to steer clear of the betting exchanges. I ask this question because Wigan's charge to the Cup final is nothing short of a modern day fairytale, but like the examples above, a happy ending is highly unlikely. I would love to see Wigan win it, I've always been a fan of the underdog, although the wife usually needs convincing. The head must always rule the heart when punting though; Man U demolished Wigan 4-0 in the league, a reversal is unlikely. Get on United at 8/13 to win the match in 90 minutes. Van Nistelrooy had the cheek to berate Harry Kewell for going down easily last week; he'll be having a pop at Celine Dion next for having a long face. Van the man is a worthy favourite at 7/2 to open the scoring in the Cardiff showpiece; he's 9/2 to bag a pair. Gary Neville's had a bad week, he's been fined £5,000 by the FA for doing the Haka in front of devastated Liverpool supporters, and news has just broke that the police are struggling to find the identity of the burger throwing scally, although they've safely ruled out Wayne Rooney. It's 12 games without a goal for Roon the loon, the big lad's due, he's available at 5/4 to score at any time. Whatever the outcome on Sunday evening, Wigan's charge to Cardiff has brought a little romance back to the Cup, and win or lose, the great sport of football will be the winner. Or to be more factual, football and Man Utd will be the winners, Wigan will lose heavily. A 3-0 win for United is available at 10/1, give it some thought. Back to the Premiership, before the Barcelona match, Jose Mourinho compared the Chelsea pitch to an ugly scientist. I took offence to that, my wife looks a lot like Stephen Hawking. However, I'm not one to hold a grudge, especially as Jose's boys will make me a few quid this weekend. Pompey have played Chelsea five times in the Premiership, the Champions have won either 2-0 or 3-0 every time. At 11/4 for either outcome to occur, my valueometer has just exploded. Newcastle are like a new team since Graeme Souness left, unfortunately, still not a very good one. The stats show a dramatic improvement for the Toon since Souey was chopped, but there's a question mark over the Villa and Southampton wins. Everton are the visitors to St James' Park and their recent form is sensational; not for the first time, I'm playing away from home. Tuck in to the Toffees at 2/1. Liverpool should be backed at 1/2 to see off Man City; as soon as Psycho handed Robbie Fowler to the Reds on a silver plate, sod's law demanded that he'd break his goal scoring duck against the team that gave him away. By the way, don't pass this on to Steve McClaren; he'll probably bid £3 million for the duck. How quickly things change. On a cold day two weeks ago, McClaren was an awful manager who couldn't be trusted in the transfer market and a relegation battle was on the cards. Today, it's a little bit warmer. Luckily for Boro, Albion are in an even worse state, McClaren's men are the call at 7/4. The Cup final weekend specials: (all bets are 90 minutes only) "Filthy Rich" - Kieran Richardson to be booked 5/2 "Crazy horse" - Van Nistelrooy to be booked 10/3 "Bull fighting" - Jimmy Bullard to be booked 9/2 "Raging Bull" - Jimmy Bullard to be sent off 66/1 "Fletch lives" - Darren Fletcher to score at any time 5/1 "Flyin' Giggs" - Ryan Giggs to score in the first half 12/1 "Camma Roon" - Henri Camara and Wayne Rooney both to score 8/1 Quote of the week: "Sometimes you see beautiful people with no brains, but you see ugly people who are intelligent scientists. Our pitch is a little bit like that." Jose Mourinho, the King of the analogy. Stat, you're a liberty: Portsmouth have scored just eight goals at home this season, that's the lowest figure in the Premiership, the Football League, the Conference, and alarmingly for Pompey fans, the Scottish Leagues. Acc of the week: Birmingham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd and Middlesbrough form the accer this week, I can't say they'll all definitely win, even though they will. Weekend Betting: Birmingham v Sunderland Saturday 25th February 15.00 Birmingham 4/7 Draw 12/5 Sunderland 9/2 Get on: Birmingham The Blues have won four of their last five at St Andrews; Sunderland have lost their last three matches away from home. Match Special: Birmingham to keep a clean sheet 10/11 Blackburn v Arsenal Saturday 25th February 15.00 Blackburn 9/5 Draw 9/4 Arsenal 6/5 Get on: Arsenal The Gunners have won their last six matches against Blackburn without conceding a goal; three of the last four have finished 3-0. Their form on the road is poor, but the Madrid result is a corner-turner. Match Special: Thierry Henry to score two or more goals 5/1 Charlton v Aston Villa Saturday 25th February 15.00 Charlton 11/10 Draw 9/4 Aston Villa 2/1 Get on: Draw The Addicks have won five of their last six home matches, and drew the other. Villa are unbeaten in seven away from home, a real toughie to call. Match Special: Match to finish 1-1 11/2 Chelsea v Portsmouth Saturday 25th February 15.00 Chelsea 1/7 Draw 9/2 Portsmouth 16/1 Get on: Chelsea Pompey have lost their last seven away from home in the Premiership, six of those games by two goals or more. Chelsea are a wounded animal, Pompey must pay. Match Special: HT Draw FT Chelsea 9/2 Newcastle v Everton Saturday 25th February 17.15 Live on Premiership Plus Newcastle 11/10 Draw 9/4 Everton 2/1 Get on: Everton It's three wins out of four for the Toon; Everton have won four of their last five in the league. Everton's form can stand close scrutiny. Match Special: Everton to win 1-0 15/2 Liverpool v Man City Sunday 26th February 12.15 Live on Sky Liverpool 1/2 Draw 12/5 Man City 11/2 Get on: Liverpool Liverpool have beaten Arsenal and Man U in their last two home matches, City are hit and miss away from home. Match Special: Robbie Fowler to score at any time 11/10 Bolton v Fulham Sunday 26th February 13.00 Bolton 8/11 Draw 9/4 Fulham 10/3 Get on: Bolton Fulham are running out of games to register a win on the road. They lost twice at the Reebok last season, a third spanking in a year is approaching. Match Special: Nolan and Stelios both to score 14/1 West Brom v Middlesbrough Sunday 26th February 15.00 West Brom 5/4 Draw 9/4 Middlesbrough 7/4 Get on: Middlesbrough Albion are not playing well, it's four losses and a draw from their last five matches. The Boro have won their last three away from home, 7/4 tempts. Match Special: Yakubu to score two or more goals 7/1 Man Utd v Wigan (Carling Cup Final) Sunday 26th February 15.00 Live on Sky Man Utd 8/13 Draw 12/5 Wigan 4/1 Get on: Man Utd United have won six of their last eight matches; the Latics are winless in six. This is United's only hope of a trophy this season, they're the weekend nap. Match Special: Van Nistelrooy and Rooney both to score 11/2 Bet with bluesquare Nigels Picksby Nigel RidgewayFOOTBALL******* UNITED A SAFE BET AT 8/13 Carling Cup Final, Man United v Wigan Su Feb 26 - 3.00 ko (SS1) Surprise results are memorable in Cup finals because they're so infrequent, and we shouldn't be betting on one here. Wigan (9/2) have done tremendously well to get this far by beating Bolton, Newcastle and Arsenal, but their most recent form has been more like what we expected from them at the start of the season - just one win in nine and one clean sheet in 13. They've also struggled to beat the top clubs this season. Sunday's point against Spurs was their first from eight games against teams in the current top five, including a run of five successive defeats, culminating in a 4-0 thrashing at Old Trafford in December. That was only a week after United's exit from the Champions League, and they could also catch United (8/13) on the rebound again here after their defeat by Liverpool in the FA Cup last weekend. The draw is priced at 13/5. You might want to consider backing United to have the lead at half time at 6/4, while in our First Goalscorer market, Wayne Rooney looks a good shout at 4/1, especially as we'll give you your money back if he scores the last goal in the game instead. He scored twice in December's 4-0 thrashing, although it was Rio Ferdinand who scored the opener, and he's 20/1 to repeat that feat, and 5/1 to score anytime here at bet365. Once the game goes live, don't forget to check out our 14 exciting live In-play markets. Carling Cup Picks: United to beat Wigan at 8/13 United / United @ 6/4 Wayne Rooney to score first @ 4/1 TOFFEES CAN RAID MAGPIES NEST AT 11/4 Newcastle v Everton Sa Feb 25 - 5.15 ko (Prem Plus) Everton are the form team in the Premiership at the moment thanks to a series of 1-0 wins, and look up to nicking the points at Newcastle at a tasty 11/4 (but be quick, this might not last too long!). Surprisingly, the Toffees have collected an impressive 16 points (with just eight goals) from their last six games, while Newcastle rode their luck in their recent victory against Villa. They can hardly brag about their home wins against Portsmouth and Southampton either, so we'll be backing the away win at 11/4, and chase even fatter odds by having a few quid on the 1-0 correct score at 8/1. Everton go into our Premiership acca this weekend, along with Chelsea (1/7), Birmingham (4/6) and Bolton (4/5), who host one of the worst away teams in the Premiership, Fulham. A £50 acca pays out £854.97 to a £50 stake, which includes a bet365 bonus of 5% (up to 60% more every weekend). Weekend Premiership Picks: Everton to beat Newcastle @ 11/4 Everton to win 1-0 @ 8/1 Birmingham to beat Sunderland @ 4/6 Bolton to beat Fulham @ 4/5 4-fold on Everton, Birmingham, Bolton and Chelsea pays £854.97 (£50 stake) - which includes a bet365 bonus of 5% ← Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 Next → |
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