Hi, my name is Tom Mallows, online sports writer with Betfair.
I am guest writing on this blog where I shall be previewing all the weekend games in The Championship along with the Carling Cup Final.
In addition, I will also be looking in detail at a couple of the weekends LIVE TV games.
Every fortnight, I will bring you all the latest football odds, preview the biggest matches, and hopefully try and win you some cash with my 'best bet' football tips.
A fortnight ago I had a 4 home win multiple bet come in, (see my article on 12th Feb) as Birmingham, Bristol City, Preston & Arsenal ALL won their respective games as I predicted.
'My tip of the weekend' was in the FA Cup tie between Coventry and Blackburn. I fancied the Sky Blues to turn over their Premier League opponents 2-1 at Ewood Park at odds of 20/1, and all was going swimmingly until Rovers' Chris Samba scored an equalizer in the third minute of injury time. C'est la vie!
This week the Championship returns with a full set of fixtures along with a Wembley date for Man Utd and Spurs. Here’s my pick of the action:
Carling Cup Final - Man Utd v Tottenham
Sunday 1st March KO 16:00 LIVE ON SKY
Go to Betfair for all the latest football betting on the 2009 Carling Cup Final.
With the World Club Championship already in the bag, United take their second step towards an unprecedented quadruple on Sunday with a clash against Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham. The London club face a battle just to stay in the Premier League and after playing two games already this week, you could forgive Redknapp for not seeing this as a priority.
Current Match Odds:
Man Utd 4/9 Tottenham 9/4.
Scorecast:
Man Utd 1-0 13/2 2-0 13/2 3-0 15/1
Tottenham 1-0 12/1 2-0 37/1 3-0 89/1
My 'best bet' prediction:
I’m sure Spurs will put up a brave fight and will not relinquish their hold on the Cup easily, but I think United have to much quality for Spurs all over the park and I can't see an upset on Sunday.
Man Utd 2-1 Tottenham @ 8-1
Sheff Utd v Birmingham
Sunday 1st March KO 12:15 LIVE ON SKY
Alex McLeish’s Birmingham need to re-discover their shooting boots if they are to secure automatic promotion after firing blanks against Palace and Coventry in recent weeks. Sheff Utd are in the hunt for a play-off place, but have struggled to find any consistency this year.
Current Match Odds:
Sheff Utd 6/4 The Draw 12/5 Birmingham 9/4
Scorecast:
Sheff Utd 1-0 7/1 2-0 12/1 3-0 30/1
Birmingham 1-0 17/2 2-0 16/1 3-0 49/1
The Draw 0-0 9/1 1-1 6/1 2-2 17/1
My 'best bet' prediction:
Birmingham are nine points and five places better off than their opponents and despite their striking woes I’m backing them to come away with a narrow win.
Sheff Utd 0-1 Birmingham @ 17/2
The best of the rest:
Fancy a sections list this weekend?
A multiple bet can win you some 'serious' cash.
Here are my tips for this weekend’s matches:
Home Wins:
Bristol City v Blackpool
Burnley v Sheff Wed
Reading v Nottm Forest
Swansea v Charlton
Wolverhampton v Plymouth
Away Wins:
Doncaster v Derby
Barnsley v QPR
Watford v Crystal Palace
Southampton v Cardiff
Draws:
Preston v Ipswich
Norwich v Coventry
My Tip Of The Weekend:
Neil Warnock's Palace make the short trip to Vicarage Road on Saturday, to take on a recently rejuvenated Watford side under the stewardship of Brendan Rogers. However after holding Birmingham to a goalless draw on Tuesday night, I fancy 'The Eagles' to take all three points.
Palace to win 2-0 at decent odds of 18/1.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Classic Football Quotations said by Football Fans or made about Football Fans - Part One
When we won the league in '89 it was the most cosmic thing that had ever happened. Better than any orgasm ever - EMMA YOUNG, an Arsenal fan, as quoted in Tom Watt's, The End: 90 Years of Life on Arsenal's North Bank, 1993.
At 6.45 the Millwall supporters were taken under escort towards the stadium. As they passed a public house, a group of 30-40 males came out, and bottles and glasses were thrown and pub windows smashed. After a while it became apparent that both groups were from Millwall and each thought the other were Bristol City supporters - REPORT from the National Criminal Intelligence Unit, before a match at Ashton Gate, 2001.
The only point worth remembering about Port Vale's match with Hereford on Monday was the fact that the attendance figure, 2,744, was a perfect cube, 14 x 14 x 14 - LETTER from a 'Disillusioned Supporter' to Stoke-on-Trent's Sentinel newspaper, 1979.
Adrian attends Bromley Comprehensive and is a keen goalkeeper. In his spare time he likes listening to music and playing computer games. His favourite players have left the club. - CRYSTAL PALACE programme on the mascot for a game v. Leicester, 1999.
It wasn't so much the death threats or the vandalism, but when you sit with your family in the directors' box and hear a couple of thousand people chanting 'Gilbert Blades is a wa*ker,' then you feel it's time to go - GILBERT BLADES, on resigning as Lincoln chairman in Anton Rippon's book Soccer: The Road to Crisis, 1982.
It's the right of every Englishman to fall asleep if he wants, particularly if he is watching Arsenal - JUDGE Michael Taylor quashing a fan's conviction for drunkenness after he dozed off during a match, 2004.
I went with two friends to watch Forest's game at Barnsley. It cost over £60 to watch the football equivalent of what French farmers have been feeding their cattle - LETTER to Nottingham's Football Post, 1999.
Man offers marriage proposal to any woman with ticket for Leeds v. Sheffield United game. Must send photograph ( of ticket ) - ADVERT in Yorkshire Evening Post as Second Division title race came to the boil, 1990.
I don't think it's much fun when 50,000 spectators are singing 'Posh Spice takes it up the ar*e' every weekend - VICTORIA BECKHAM on the TV documentary Victoria's Secrets, 2000.
At the Worthington Cup Final, when there was trouble on the pitch, with Robbie Savage involved, there was this guy behind me yelling: 'Savage, you cheating, long-haired, gypsy Welsh c*nt.' I had to turn to him and say: 'Oi mate, less of the Welsh.' - PAUL WHITEHOUSE, comedian, actor and Welsh-born Tottenham fan, 1999.
(To see more classic quotations made by Managers, Chairmen and Players alike posted on this site previously, type Quotations into the search box in the top left hand corner of the page).
Saturday, February 14, 2009
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