Sunday FA Cup picks

Hhhhmmm well Leeds didn't do me any favours yesterday by drawing with Arsenal and then Middlesbrough managed to disappoint. Oh well win some lose some.

Today the really big game will be the match up between Manchester United and Liverpool. I'm not buying that Dalglish will provide the turnaround even though it offers a ray of light to the Liverpool fans. My calls are pretty straight-forward this Sunday:

United to beat Liverpool
Chelsea to beat Ipswich
Manchester City to beat Leicester (although this one makes me nervous)
Spurs to beat Charlton

and then for good measure South Africa to beat India in the first T20 cricket fixture.

Don't forget - if you haven't opened an sports betting account you can open one at Sportingbet or Voltbet.com and be betting from as little as R5 a punt!.

Happy punting.

Saturday soccer punts!

So another weekend of football is here before things start winding down for the festive season. A last chance to make a few bucks.

I finally got around to open an account with Voltbet.com and was surfing around for something which offered a bit of value for punters.

The only international soccer bet which really jumps out at me is Spurs playing host to Chelsea and favouring the home side for a win.

Chelsea are going through a shocking run of form and just don't look like a team which is gelling. Spurs on the other hand appear to be riding high on self belief.

Voltbet are offering me 18/10 on Spurs which I think are tasty odds.

On the domestic front I am backing Kaizer Chiefs to beat Free State Stars but I think it should be a really entertaining game.

Happy punting.

English Premiership is here!

Well the English Premiership is finally back in action this weekend and we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the betting especially with some world cup performances still fresh in our minds:

Chelsea and Manchester United remain the favorites and big-spending Man city are also proving surprisingly popular despite an average 2009 season.

Here is the pre-season betting as listed on World Sports Betting:

Spurs vs Blackburn

Fancy a punt on the English Premiership this weekend? This looks like it could offer some value for money:

BWIN Sports Betting & Gaming Click Here

Tottenham host Blackburn this afternoon in an English Premiership match at White Heart Lane. Spurs are sitting 4th on the log with a positive goal difference of 23 while Blackburn are sitting an uninspirational 12th with a negative goal difference of -15.

Spurs are obviously the favourites to win and you can get 5/1 odds on them winning 2-0 with World Sports Betting.

But if you think Spurs have the ability to score more than 2 goals you are being offer 70/1 on 3-0 and 100/1 on 4-0 / 4-1 or higher…

Goals on the cards in Spurs vs. Villa fixture

The Mighty Mighty Aston Villa are up against Spurs tonight in a fixture that has a lot of promise with both sides pushing for European qualification.

My prediction is that there are going to be a lot of goals in this match up and the odds look really attractive for those with a risky appetite:

From World Sports Betting:

• 2-2 (15/1)
• 3-1 (18/1)
• 3-2 (25/1)
• 2-3 (35/1)

I’ve put a few bucks down on each of these permutations.

Come on Villa you good thing!

English Premiership Predictions

Another weekend of the English Premiership is here.

After Manchester Uniteds shock loss during the week, we expect Fergie to have read them the riot act and I wouldn't be surprised if they bounce back hard.

Arsenal were good last weekend and Portsmouth are probably not relishing their trip to take on the Gunners.

For the Sunday game we're backing Chelsea to trip up against Fulham for a draw and for Monday we're betting with our hearts not our heads to say Villa will trip up Liverpool

These are the picks for the Saturday through to Monday games and recommended score-lines:

Saturday
Wigan vs Manchester United - United Win: 2-0
Arsenal vs Portsmouth - Arsenal win: 3-0 / 4-0
Birmingham vs Stoke - Stoke win: 1-0
Man City vs Wolves - Draw: 1-1
Hull vs Bolton - Hull win 1-0
Sunderland vs Blackburn - Draw: 1-1

Sunday
West Ham vs Tottenham - Spurs win 2-1
Burnley vs Everton - Everton win 1-0
Fulham vs Chelsea - Draw: 1-1, 2-2

Monday
Aston Villa - Win 1-0 or 2-1

Weekend English Premiership predictions

From The Betting Hub blog

The eagerly anticipated start of the new season of the English Premiership is here and it is being viewed as potentially one of the most open in many years.

Chelsea and Manchester United are viewed as the favourites but neither side appears to have the same quality and "steel" they have had in previous years.

These are our picks and our recommended score margins in brackets for todays fixtures:

Chelsea vs Hull - Chelsea win (2-0, 4-0)
Aston Villa vs Wigan - Villa win (2-0)
Blackburn vs. Man City - Draw (1-1)
Portsmouth vs Fulham - Draw (0-0)
Stoke vs Burnley - Stoke win (2-0, 2-1)
Wolves vs West Ham - West Ham win (0-1)
Bolton vs Sunderland - Sunderland win (0-1)
Everton vs Arsenal - Everton win (1-0, 2-0, 2-1)

And for Sunday
Manchester United vs. Birmingham - Man Utd win (2-0, 3-0)
Tottenham vs. Liverpool - Tottenham win (1-0, 2-1)

Happy hunting punters!

Sports Trader picks

The English Premiership is really starting to get exciting and some big name fixtures on the cards:

Sports Trader makes its picks for the weekends fixtures.

Saturday 21 February
Aston Villa v Chelsea - Draw
Stoke v Portsmouth - Stoke win
Arsenal v Sunderland - Arsenal win
Bolton v West Ham - West Ham win
Middlesbrough v Wigan - Middlesbrough win
Man Utd v Blackburn - Manchester United win

The Aston Villa vs Chelsea fixture is the pick of the Saturday fixtures. We're calling a draw here which might irritate the Chelsea fans but we think it's a fair call.

Sunday 22 February
Fulham v West Brom - Draw
Liverpool v Man City - Draw
Newcastle v Everton - Everton win

Man City have the capacity to surprise and we think they are going to surprise Liverpool at Anfield this weekend.

Everton are on hot form and they should be able to put one over Newcastle.

Monday 23 February
Hull v Tottenham - Tottenham win

Tottenham are back in the game and should be able to beat Hull even away from home...

English Premiership predictions

Fun and games in the English Premiership and Man Citys somewhat audacious bid for Kaka just adds to the entertainment...

Six points separate the top four sides and any dropped points from here on in are going to be costly.

Sports Trader takes a look at the weekend fixtures and makes its picks:

Saturday 17 January
Blackburn v Newcastle - Blackburn win
Bolton v Man Utd - Man Utd Win
Chelsea v Stoke - Chelsea win
Man City v Wigan City - Draw
Sunderland v Aston Villa - Aston Villa Win
West Brom v Middlesbrough - Middlesbrough Win
Hull v Arsenal - Draw

Arsenal fans won't like it but we're backing Hull to hold them the Gunners to a draw.

Blackburn have had a shocking season but Newcastle have looked sorely off the boil so we're expecting Blackburn to take advantage of home-ground advantage.

Sunday 18 January
West Ham v Fulham - West Ham win
Tottenham v Portsmouth - Draw

Can Spurs' get any worse?!

Liverpool host Everton on Monday and we're calling for the draw...

Premiership picks - 8 / 9 November

The next round of the English Premiership is here. Sports Trader makes its Premiership picks for the weekend

Saturday fixtures:
Wigan v Stoke - Draw
Arsenal v Man Utd - Arsenal win
Sunderland v Portsmouth - Draw
Hull v Bolton - Hull win
West Ham v Everton - Everton win
Liverpool v West Brom - Liverpool win

The pick of the weekend is the Arsenal vs Manchester United fixture. Despite Arsenal's loss to Stoke, we're quite bullish on their chances against Man United. We're backing them for a win here.

Hull should stay on track with another win and Everton should have the beating of West Ham.

Sunday fixtures
Blackburn v Chelsea - Draw
Aston Villa v Middlesbrough - Aston Villa win
Man City v Tottenham - Draw
Fulham v Newcastle - Draw

We're probably going to upset the Chelsea fans but we don't think they're going to get the job done against Blackburn. The loss to Roma during the week and some nagging injury issues should count in Blackburns favour.

Aston Villa should carry on their winning ways.

Manchester City are taking on the rebounding Tottenham side in what should be an interesting match up. We're predicting draw.

Newcastle take on the hot and cold Fulham - we're calling a draw here.

Redknapp - "We kept going"

Harry Redknapp admitted we 'rode our luck a little' but felt the lads got their rewards for not giving up against Liverpool.

Leaders at start of play, Dirk Kuyt put the visitors 1-0 up with less than three minutes on the clock and it looked a tough task to turn things arund against a side that had won eight of 10 games and conceded only seven goals.

Boss Harry changed things around at half-time by introducing Roman Pavlyuchenko and Alan Hutton, switching to a 4-4-2 system.

We had to weather the storm in the first 10 minutes of the second half though as Liverpool hit the woodwork twice and wasted another two clear-cut chances to extend their lead.

The scoreline stayed at 1-0, however and we started to work our way back into it. The equaliser arrived via the head of Jamie Carragher from David Bentley's corner after 69 minutes and then, with the clock ticking into added time, Bentley's shot was saved by Pepe Reina only for Darren Bent to cut the ball back for Pavlyuchenko to slot home the winner.

"Liverpool are so difficult to play against," reflected Harry. "We started the game with one striker and Luka Modric in just behind and we'd passed the ball well in the last couple of games but in the first half we couldn't play the ball through Liverpool and get the ball up to him.

"They fill the midfield up so well with Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard drops off the front and there was no way out for us, the only way was back to our centre-halves, there was hardly a forward pass on.

"We changed it around at half-time and went with two strikers.

"We had take a gamble and I felt we had to be more direct, miss the midfield out and at least try to get a little pressure on them.

"We were 1-0 down but I said at half-time 'you can't tell me we haven't got enough ability in this dressing room to go out and score a goal ourselves' and told them we were still in it.


"Liverpool had some good chances and in the second half we rode our luck a little, for sure.

"We kept going and in the end when you keep going, when you don't give up, you get your rewards and that's what happened.

"The result gets us off the bottom as well and that's important."

Source: http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com

Open letter from Tottenham Hotspurs chairman Daniel Levy

Dear Supporter,

How quickly things change in football. Our pre-season form, our start to the transfer window and early summer signings had everyone optimistic for the season ahead. The last few days of that window and our poor start to the season has seen all that change. This has been a difficult period for the Club and many questions are being asked and much criticism levelled. I should like to update you on some important developments announced a short while ago, to answer some of your questions and also to outline our thinking as we look to improve our current position going forward.

We have faced many key challenges as we have progressed over the last few seasons and we have had to take important decisions at crucial times - without the wonderful benefit of hindsight and always under full public scrutiny. As such, they have been judgement calls. Some of our decisions and judgements may at times be unpopular with our fans but we always take decisions we believe to be in the best interests of our Club, at the time we make them, and for the right reasons. In many cases, it is simply not possible or practical for all of the factors involved to enter the public domain and I do understand that this can alter or impair the perception of why something has or hasn't been done.

Today, as formally announced by the Club, I have made one such important judgement call and in doing so I have taken some very difficult decisions. Relieving Juande Ramos, our Head Coach, and Juande's assistants, Gus Poyet and Marcos Alvarez, of their posts is not something I have undertaken lightly.

Unfortunately, our record of just three League wins since our memorable Carling Cup victory against Chelsea last February, combined with our extremely poor start to the season, led the Board and I to determine that significant change was necessary as a matter of urgency. We are grateful to Juande, Gus and Marcos for all their hard work - they are incredibly professional, committed individuals and I regret that their time in the Premier League has not gone as well as we had all hoped..

The English Premier League is an unforgiving competition - time was no longer on our side and was a luxury we simply could not afford. We have quite clearly not performed to the best of our ability for many months now and our poor run of form is not something we could allow to continue unchecked.

In appointing Harry Redknapp as our new manager, we are delighted to have secured the services of someone we have long since admired and whose track record and knowledge of all levels of football, including importantly the Premier League, is outstanding. I know Harry is relishing the opportunity of managing a Club he knows well, not least from his son Jamie's time here as a player and Captain, and of re-invigorating and restoring confidence to a squad of highly talented international players. With his great knowledge of the game and his excellent motivational skills, Harry has inspired his teams to consistently over-perform, whilst his preferred attacking style of playing the game sits comfortably with our Club's history, heritage and the type of entertaining football our fans want and expect to see.

We have spent around £175m on new players over the last 3 years. The purchasing of players is a critical aspect of our Club and, given our current position, it is essential that we go into the January transfer window with absolute confidence in the advice being offered to the Board. Following a meeting of the Directors and a full review of our football management structure, I can also inform you that Damien Comolli has left the Club with immediate effect. Damien will not be directly replaced.

In my opinion, and with the benefit that comes with running our Club with and without a Sporting Director in the past seven years, the successful management of a football club is not about structures or job titles. As in most businessess, it's about people: their personal qualities, their knowledge, their experience, their relationships, communication skills, interaction with colleagues, leadership and, of course, their ability.

In Harry, we are also accepting with his appointment that now is the right time for us to move back to a more traditional style of football management at our Club. one which we believe will be capable of initiating our climb back up the Premier League table and to maintaining our challenge in the UEFA, Carling and FA Cup competitions.

However, I should stress that we are not in this current position because of any single factor or any one individual. Human nature often dictates the need to find someone or something to blame, but in these circumstances we need all our energies to be directed instead to supporting the team and improving our League position. Nothing else matters at this time.

That said, and without dwelling too much on last summer, I do also want to take this opportunity to address some of the other concerns you have raised. Many of the questions I have been asked and much of the reasoning for our poor start to the season has centred on our striker options. I do not believe this to be the sole reason, but I do feel it is important to set out the facts once again regarding the sale of two popular and talented strikers: Keane and Berbatov.

Robbie Keane's departure was undoubtedly the shock of the summer. I personally had an excellent relationship with Robbie and he was one player that I always thought would end his career at the Club. I know you all felt the same. I was as disappointed as any of you when he informed me that he wanted to join what he described as his favourite boyhood club. Against this background and despite his obvious professionalism, our coaching staff felt that it would be very difficult to expect Robbie to continue to be such a positive influence in our dressing room when he so clearly wanted to leave us. The decision to sell Robbie was therefore not a financial one, although in such circumstances it was vital for our Club to secure the maximum possible value for a player of Robbie's ability.

The sale of Dimitar was an entirely different matter. Dimitar first intimated to Martin Jol that he wanted to join Manchester United after just one season at our Club - and just 10 days before the end of the summer 2007 transfer window. At that time, the coaching staff's preference was to let Dimitar go and for us to replace him. This was not something I would allow - at any price - as I felt that Dimitar's request was completely unreasonable. From that moment on, we obviously knew we had an issue and we spent many hours over the course of the season that followed trying to persuade Dimitar to stay. I rebuffed a number of approaches from clubs , including Manchester United, this May and again in early July. Despite press stories to the contrary, there was no extended period of negotiation with Manchester United and their July offer of £20m was not increased until they contacted us again in the last few days of the transfer window.

The internal decision to sell Dimitar at the beginning of the window was premised on a suitable replacement being found and on the assumption that Dimitar couldn't be persuaded to change his mind. Under FIFA regulations, if a players signs a contract before his 28th birthday, he has only to serve 3 years of that contract before he can terminate it and join a new club. Whilst some compensation is payable under such circumstances the level of compensation is set by a third party body in accordance with predeteremined factors, and in Dimitar's case would have been but a small fraction of the fee we received from Manchester United. But even this was not the final determining factor in our decision to part company with him. Despite the potential cost to the Club and knowing that our efforts to sign an additional, experienced striker had failed, the final decision on whether or not to sell Dimitar was not a financial decision but a footballing one. It was felt that he had not been a positive influence on the pitch or in the dressing room and that this would continue.

The timing of the actual transfer of Dimitar was completely immaterial and unconnected to our bringing in a replacement for him. We had been aware for a long period that he was likely to leave and our negotiations to get the best fee for him was independent of our work to replace both him (as we did with Pavyluchenko) and Robbie, with experienced strikers.

The ultimate failure - as I have said before - of our dealings in this summer's transfer window was not about the departure of two good strikers, or because we have operated a structure that happens to have had a Sporting Director and a Head Coach, or because our financial parameters are too rigid - after all, let´s not forget that we did bring in much quality to enhance our current squad. Quite simply, we failed because we were not as decisive or as successful in identifying or replacing the two strikers as early as we should have been. Perhaps these insights will help once and for all to de-bunk the myths that have been perpetuated around these transfers.

There is also an inaccurate perception that our Club is run entirely for profit and that football is secondary. Success on the pitch is the sole determinant to the future of the Club and its financial stability, so it would be entirely counter-productive to have anything other than football as our first and foremost priority and it is ridiculous to suggest otherwise. At a time when football clubs are criticised for losing money and for their debt levels, I am surprised that we should be criticised for running our Club on a sound commercial basis and for making a profit. Thank goodness we do make a profit because it has significantly supported the progress we have made over the last seven years and has helped to make us one of Europe's most secure Clubs. I make no apologies for the fact that we reinvest the Club's positive cash flow in both players and infrastructure.

And so back to looking ahead and to redress our current position.

Firstly, in Harry, we have secured the services of an excellent Manager of proven Premier League quality. Harry will be working with a squad of quality internationals. We must not forget that this team, without the benefit of three additional players at the time (Pavlyuchenko, Corluka, Campbell), gave a more than creditable performance against the current League leaders. I have spoken to the senior players in recent days and I know the players share our frustration and I know they will dig deep to produce the performances we know they are capable of - they have our full support - and support for the team is absolutely critical at this time.

We have all been subjected to much criticism - myself, the Board, coaching staff and players - having now made what I considered to be necessary, sweeping changes to our football management team, we must re-assert ourselves, regain our focus, and answer our critics in the best way possible - by winning games again.

Secondly, we must prepare ourselves to take advantage of the January transfer window. Harry's experience of the UK and international transfer market will be of critical importance and I shall be looking to Harry for clarity on our priorities. As Chairman, and as previously in our former structure, I must, ultimately, rely on the knowledge and judgement of my technical staff to give me a clear football-based view and recommendation on our transfer targets.

I can assure you that everyone here, from the Board to our most junior staff member, shares the frustration and disappointment of the season so far, but I can also assure you that all of us in every area of the Club are doing what we can to help the players to produce the level of performance and the consistent good results our fans expect and all of us crave.

We have achieved too much over the last seven years - three successive qualifications for Europe, a League Cup win, Training Centre planning permission - and still more to announce - to allow this to be overtaken and thrown away overnight. We have suffered a set back and we have taken strong action.

I have received numerous e-mails and letters from supporters offering advice and suggestions on how the Club should be run and what we should and should not do. I do appreciate the time people take to write to me and when the e-mails or letters are constructive and not abusive, I can assure you that I read as many as I can. And I do take notice of your views. Indeed, I have been heartened by the fact that the over-riding response from our supporters has been one of determination to get behind the team. Too often in difficult times supporters can forget that their support is needed even more than ever. The team will tell you how much of a difference it can make to them on the pitch. White Hart Lane needs to once again become the fortress it was, not so very long ago. With your tremendous support it can.

Finally, I know I am sometimes criticised for appearing too business-focused, too uncommunicative, or simply for not being emotional enough when it concerns our team. The majority of our fans know that it's simply not my way to seek a high profile. I do not crave publicity, neither do I believe it is necessary to do my job. I would prefer our team to make the headlines, for the right reasons. We now have a manager who is a great communicator to players, fans and the media alike and I shall also, personally, look to keep you all informed and your questions answered as we progress through the season.

Your support has never been more important - and we are grateful to so many of you for the messages of support and encouragement the Club has received during this difficult period. Now's the time for all of us to pull together and to get behind Harry and the team.

Yours, Daniel

Yeah!

I'll be blunt - I take a lot of grief for being an Aston Villa supporter but finally the team looks like it is coming good!

I don't think anyone will call them a glamour side, but the win over Sunderland showed a bit of grit and class.

The side has played something ridiculous like 5 games in 13 days and they've managed to hang on to beat Sunderland yesterday despite looking dead on their feet.

Its pretty satisfying to see them in contention for Europe ahead of more fancied teams like Tottenham and Newcastle.

Gooooo Villa.......................