[Sukha Spence]

Quite simply, I set aside E20 of my wage packet a week, study, analyse & try to obtain a sizeable profit with a few bets (sometimes, they can be a little audacious) so hopefully I can share with you my ups & downs & offer my personal tips.

This week, I have three bets on of a total valuation of E10:

Arsenal vs. Bolton - First Goalscorer, Abou Diaby - E2 @ 15/2
Currently one of the form players for Arsene Wenger who has secured a very respectable 5 goals & an assist over the course of the first half of the season. A word of caution however would be that, Diaby may sit a lot deeper in the Arsenal midfield now that Alex Song has departed for the African Cup Of Nations so Diaby may have to be more disciplined in terms of his surges forward. However, against a Bolton side who haven't kept a clean sheet this season, I would fancy Diaby to break the deadlock.

Manchester City vs. Manchester Utd - Man City to win First Half/Man Utd to win by Full Time - E5 @ 33/1
To be honest, I couldn't believe the odds available on this, especially after United being humiliated & humbled by Leeds at the weekend. Expect a revamped and highly motivated Ferguson side with a point to prove against his "noisy neighbours". At the same time, this is a match of great significance & first difficult challenge Roberto Mancini has faced thus far. I anticipate a tense first half for United which will be Ferguson will remedy at half time with words of inspiration to incite a United comeback & victory

Stoke City vs. Fulham - Sanli Tuncay To Score Anytime - E3 @ 13/5 (Note: First Goalscorer @ 7/1)
Important game for Stoke because of their horrid run of results over the Christmas period & I can see a Stoke win to nil despite my respect for Roy Hodgson's solid Cottagers. Tuncay has started to break into the team recently especially given Ricardo Fuller's inability to be potent in the Premiership this season & James Beattie seemingly still a little out of favor. Tuncay hasn't set the world alight since his summer move from Middlesbrough but he is a player of quality & could be the difference maker tommorrow night.

[Artur Boruc Ulsters No 1]

Nice Shot spence on Tuncay the Turk.

[Stigletz]

You fucking legend,

£130 richer because of you

[Castello]

You put £50 on Tuncay to score because of Spence's sayso?! Fair play Spence

[Timeout]

Great shout on tuncay. I'll be having some of diaby anytime myself too.

[Sukha Spence]

I edited my second tip relating to the postponed Carling Cup because I found a more enticing prospect at a surprisingly good 33/1.

I put my bet on Tuncay to score first so I cashed E24 which is not bad at all. Also, if anyone fancies an additional flutter to replace the postponed Man United/Man City Carling Cup tie, I'd invest in a heavy Arsenal victory at the Emirates tonight. Arsenal may be without Cesc Farbregas but Aaron Ramsey is beginning to show potential to be a future Premiership star, Andrei Arshavin rarely goes more than a couple of games without scoring, Eduardo is coming back to reasonable form & the aerial prowess of Thomas Vermaelen & William Gallas should be worrying for a Bolton side who are managerless & leak goals. There's also an interesting special on Andrei Arshavin scoring & Kevin Davies receiving a yellow card @ 11/2.

[Sukha Spence]

OK, I'll post this early so I can edit accordingly as it appears that a few games this weekend are delicately poised due to adverse weather conditions. Irrespective of all that, hopefully I can continue my 100% accuracy (1 bet, 1 success due to the postponement of the other games )

Sunderland vs. Bolton - To Score Two Goals Or More, Darren Bent - E3 @ 7/1
Before I say anything else, I will like to reinforce the point that Bolton Wanderers have cost me a small fortune when it comes to betting & I can't tell you how many times they have ruined my accumulators so be warned. Anyway, unless you have been living under a rock, you will be aware of Bent's prowess in front of goal this season. 13 goals this season in the Premiership, twice that of his strike partner Kenwyne Jones & three times that of a currently injured Andy Reid. Also, aside from one game, Bent has scored in every Sunderland victory this season. Despite Sunderland's poor form of late, Bolton are in managerial limbo & even if Owen Coyle takes the reins by the time Saturday comes around, it will only increase my confidence in this bet. Coyle's Burnley played an attacking, free-flowing style of football that often leaves their defence vulnerable & an attempt to do the same at Bolton could prove to be a disaster. If you're looking for value this is a very reasonable punt with extremely decent odds. If you're faith in Bent isn't as strong as mine, I'd look toward either Jordan Henderson or Steed Malbranque to pitch in with a goal at any time, but I'll be banking on Bent.

Wigan vs. Aston Villa - First Goalscorer, Gabby Agbonlahor - E2 @ 6/1 (Note: Refund if he scores at anytime but not the opener)
Villa were exceedingly unlucky against Liverpool & were left stunned by the impact of Cesc Fabregas when he came off the bench to inspire an Arsenal victory, but I see Aston Villa bouncing back here especially with revenge on their mind after Roberto Martinez's side put them to the sword in his debut as Wigan manager. The Wigan defence has been rather poor, conceeding 13 goals in their last 5 games & who needs any reminding of their humiliating performance against Tottenham. I wouldn't necessarily invest heavily on a Villa win because usually after a hefty defeat, Martinez usually earns a respectable result in the proceeding game. For example, after the defeat to Tottenham, Wigan saw off Sunderland, keeping a clean sheet in the process. After being humbled by Portsmouth, they bounced back to earn a credible draw against Fulham. Finally, after being destroyed by Arsenal, they rallied to defeat title-chasing Chelsea. So, by that logic, they should give Aston Villa a game. Nevertheless I'm confident Agbonlahor can break his spell of 4 games without a goal by utilising the dangerous Villa counter attack against a defensively fragile Wigan. With Ashley Young in "so-so" form & John Carew not being guaranteed a first team start (bizarre, in my opinion), I feel Gabby is the best value to score first.

Hull City vs. Chelsea - First Goalscorer/Scorecast, Frank Lampard/2-0 Chelsea - E3 @ 20/1
Chelsea maybe without Didier Drogba & Michael Essien due to the African Cup Of Nations, but I very much doubt Phil Brown's side can upset the odds in this game. Out of the 3 bets here, I'd place the least faith in this one because it requires such a precise result, but when I see the name Frank Lampard & the odds of 20/1 against what seems to be a relegation bound team, I can't help but be tempted.

[Scott Tennorman Must Die]

Spence, if these come up. Will you marry me?

We can have little Scots-Irish kids, who without doubt would be alcoholics!

[Sukha Spence]

Well, all three of my bets have been decimated by the unfortunate weather conditions so I have come up with a tantalising replacement.

Birmingham City vs. Manchester Utd - First Goalscorer/Scorecast, (0-1) , Wayne Rooney - E5 @ 18/1

I went to Boylesports yesterday to put my money behind a Birmingham win with odds of 11/1 but as I was writing the ticket , my hand started to jitter. Now, either I'm developing some kind of motor neuronal disorder (!) or more realistically I realised my heart was ruling over my head. As much as I would like to see Birmingham continue their 11-game undefeated streak & further add to the problems of Alex Ferguson's United, I just can't see them losing today especially after last weeks embarrassing, shambolic defeat at Old Trafford against Leeds. It's the nature of champions to rise to the occasion & answer their critics & I forsee United narrowly escaping St.Andrews with all three points. Of Birmingham's six defeats this season, all but one came by a losing margin of one goal. United also have the privelege of starting two recognised centre backs in Wes Brown & Johnny Evans in a defence which is will also contain the world class Patrice Evra at left back & Rafael most likely on the right. It's also important to realise that despite their injury crisis in defence, it's not as if United have been leaking goals left, right & centre with the Fulham game being the one exception. Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney has been in reasonable form scoring three in the last five along with three assists in that period as well. United earn my backing today & because I'm interested in a heavy profit, 18/1 on Rooney snatching the winner is too much of a temptation. For those of you less inclined to gamble, a United 1-0 win is at long-ish odds of 5/1.

[Sukha Spence]

OK, I'll try to redeem myself for losing on the Birmingham/United game but offering advice on the City/Blackburn game.

Manchester City vs. Blackburn Rovers - Scorecast,(2-0), First Goalscorer: Carlos Tevez - E5 @ 16/1

There's little doubt in my mind about a City victory tonight at the City Of Manchester Stadium, it's merely a question of how to extract the most value out of the game. Blackburn Rovers have been utterly atrocious on their travels this season, only amassing 5 points from a possible 30 & in terms of goalscoring they are one of the poorest in the Premiership with only 4 goals in their last 8 games. Rovers should be encouraged by the return of their star performers of the season, David Dunn, but their squad for the most part has underperformed this season with Paul Robinson their only other reasonable performer. Conversely, under Roberto Mancini, City look a lot more solid which is partly as a consequence of a straight forward run of fixtures which has seen them take maximum points without a goal conceeded. City will be without a host of first-team players including Stephen Ireland (injury), Shaun Wright-Phillips (injury), Wayne Bridge (injury), Joleon Lescott (injury), Kolo Touré (African Cup Of Nations) & Emmanuel Adebayor (possible compassionate leave after returning from African Cup Of Nations), but I think they will have plenty in reserve to rise to the challenge tonight. My tip centres on recently named Premiership Player Of The Month, Carlos Tevez who has been in tremendous form of late & has notched up 7 goals in his last 10 appearances & has been City's standout performer. As well as this, he takes his fair share of freekicks as well as penalties.

For the more conservative gamblers among you, there's a tempting offer of Martin Petrov to score & Manchester City to win at 3/1 & City win with a clean sheet at 13/10. I will be putting money on all three of those & hopefully with a little luck I will be over E100 in the green.

Note: All my betting is done with Boylesports in case anyone is wondering...

[AndyAnsah]

To be fair, the one team winning at half time/the other team winning at full time are ALWAYS 28-1 at least, so it's always worth a flutter of the odd quid if doing a football bet.

My main tip though is to avoid "scorecasts" like the plague.

In theory, first scorer then score is an accumulator. So essentially if, say, Rooney is 5-1 to score first, and Man Utd 2-0 is 4-1, then the odds should be 29-1. The problem is, you get stiffed by the bookies who make them "specials" and reduce the odds accordingly.


My recommended bet is betting on draws - a Premiership draw is almost always 2-1 at least, so 3 draws usually offers 26 or 27-1 at least - so pick 3 games to be a draw with £4, and you'll be taking back over a ton if you get it right......

[Sukha Spence]

Stoke City vs. Liverpool - Stoke City to win, E10 @ 5/2

In all honesty, despite the general consensus among football fans as well as Liverpool fans themselves, I doubt many would have predicted how much of an ongoing disaster this season is proving to be for Liverpool. To add to their woes, Fernando Torres is out of action until the end of February with torn knee cartilage, Steven Gerrard is out for two weeks with a torn hamstring & Yossi Benayoun has fractured ribs which will put him out of contention for a month. Now, in my opinion, that's all three of Liverpool's potential match winners out the game at the Brittania Stadium which is a hostile environment at the best of times & that's not even beginning to talk about Stoke's direct, intimidating style of play.

Maybe Liverpool fans can help me out but with those three injuries, I struggle to even select a starting eleven & formation that Benitez can choose with hopes of snatching three points. Liverpool are coming off a helpful purple patch in the Premiership because they did eventually rise to meet the challenge of Mick McCarthy's Wolves albeit in an unconvincing manner & they undeservedly stole three points at Villa Park but I can't see Liverpool making it three in a row here. Confidence will be low & the fact that Reading took them to 120 minutes combined with the early Saturday afternoon kickoff should signal pending defeat. Stoke City themselves ended a horrible run of three straight defeats by squeking past Fulham but did their level best to throw it away. Stoke have lost three games at the Brittania Stadium this season & two of those were against Man Utd & Chelsea while the other was against the quite remarkable Birmingham. Stoke, generally speaking, don't score too many goals & a scrappy one-nil victory would be my prediction for Saturday in a game not the footballing purists among you. Even if Rafa Benitez is forced to debut the decent Maxi Rodriguez, I think it will be a difficult weekend for Liverpool & for their supporters. I'll be tipping a Stoke victory but for those of you out there who don't want to play it that safe, Stoke City are 6/1 to keep a clean sheet.

Manchester United vs. Burnley - Antonio Valencia to Score Anytime, E10 @ 2/1

I won't claim to know much about Brian Laws as a manager other than the fact that he threw a plate of chicken wings at one of his Grimsby players in his early managerial career. I was stunned by the appoinment myself especially after I glanced at his managerial record: relatively unsuccessful spells at Grimsby, Scunthorpe & Sheffield Wednesday. It's not exactly amazing pedigree. Everyone should know where the points are going here & it's just a question of how potent United are in front of goal. I think it could be a bit of a massacre especially after the humiliating defeat United had at Turf Moor early on this season but even under Owen Coyle, Burnley's away form was utterly dreadful. Burnley have conceeded 31 goals in 10 Premiership away games & it doesn't take a genius to work out that that amounts to conceeding just over 3 goals per away game

United are going through a little bit of a frustrating spell because whenever they put a run of victories together, an unexpected draw/defeat demoralises both the team & the supporters. It has been Birmingham & Leeds recently that have caused this frustration in the last few weeks & it was Fulham & Aston Villa before that. Luckily however, United's next two game are against Burnley & Hull City both at Old Trafford & six points from those games looks a certainty. Wayne Rooney has been one of the stronger performers this season for United & he flourishes against the weaker sides in particular. While I'm not entirely convinced Rooney is worth the 14/1 odds on him notching up his second hat-trick of the season, I would be confident with him scoring twice but unfortunately the odds aren't exactly the most appealing at 11/4. Therefore with odds of 2/1 I'd put my money confidently behind Luis Valencia. All 5 of his goals this season have come against bottom half opposition & he should prove a thorn in the side of Brian Laws in his first game in charge.

That's all for the moment but I'll return with one or two more in the coming days...

[Sukha Spence]

Bolton vs. Arsenal - Cesc Fabregas To Score & Kevin Davies To Be Booked - E5 @ 9/1

Huge admirer of Arsenal & in my opinion Cesc Fabregas is currently one of the best players in the Premiership as a whole judging by his performances this season & in my opinion he has been the star midfielder this season. Saying that, I do believe his return for the game against Bolton will be of huge importance to Arsene Wenger because not only can Fabregas single handedly lift Arsenal to victory but he also tends to bring the best out of the players around him. That's also why I kept Andrei Arshavin in my Fantasy Football team for this weekend (!). With 9 goals & 12 assists in the Premiership season so far, he is at the heart of everything positive about Arsenal & I think he'll score on his return to first team action on Sunday.

Despite the fact that Gary Megson has departed & Owen Coyle has been installed as his replacement, I think Bolton will have problems adapting the the style of play that Coyle favors especially against a side that could frustrated them like Arsenal who I'd expect to dominate the possession despite the game being at the Reebok. With that in mind, I think old habits will die hard on Sunday & out of frustration, I can see the Bolton players resorting to the long ball game at some point & a player in the mould of Kevin Davies is always liable to conceed bookings for his style of play. Davies has been booked on 7 separate occasions these season & a difficult game against Arsenal could cause temperment issues.

At 9/1, I feel it's well worth throwing your money on & I certainly will be.

[Sukha Spence]

Unfortunately, I couldn't post any advice for the midweek games because of a combination of college & work (which shall fund my weekend's gambling ). Anyways, the tips would have been useless because I lost a fair amount of money due Tottenham's sheer incompetence at Anfield (!) So in the interests of chasing money, here are my weekend's tips:

Wolves vs. Crystal Palace - Insurebet First Goalscorer, E10 Kevin Doyle @ 3/1

Crystal Palace's form of late suggests defeat at Molinueux as they are one of the Championship's most inconsistent sides which rarely has the ability to string consecutive victories together. However, they're a difficult side to defeat who are well in contention for a Play-Off berth & have a surprisingly strong away record with some dangerous players like Darren Ambrose & Victor Moses but I can't look past a Wolves home victory here.

Of all Mick McCarthy sides that have graced the Premiership, I think this is the strongest especially with influential players like Nened Milijas & Kevin Doyle. If Doyle starts at the weekend, I think he could be a thorn in the side of Neil Warnock's Palace all afternoon. Doyle is Wolves' top League goalscorer this season with 5 goals & always offers 100% in terms of committment & work rate for both club & country so at I think the Insurebet odds of 3/1 offered by Paddy Power are rather generous. If you're not interested in the security of the insurance bet, it's 9/2 for just First Goalscorer.

A word of warning: Doyle is not guaranteed a starting place as Mick McCarthy could easily decide to put out a weakened side for the FA Cup with the midweek away game at Anfield a mere 4 days later.

Stoke City vs. Arsenal - Arsenal To Win From Behind, E5 @ 9/1

I'll be honest, this bet is more to do with me chasing lost money but it's not a bad shout considering Arsene Wenger may field a weakened side against Stoke with the midweek game at Aston Villa to prepare for. Also, this will be a complete contrast in playing styles which will be especially difficult at the Brittania Stadium if the Arsenal prospects make up most of the starting eleven. But, the Arsenal youths have proved their worth in the past & I think they stand every chance of silencing the Stoke faithful with their slick football

Arsenal have shown a resillience this season they have not shown in the past & have also proven they have developed the ability to win without playing well. Against Everton, they showed the former & against Bolton they came from two down to leapfrog Chelsea at he top of the Premiership. Stoke, meanwhile, have scored in all but two of their home games this season with games against Manchester Utd & Birmingham the only exceptions. However, they have developed a tendency recently to conceed soft-ish goals. Thomas Sorensen committed a howler against Liverpool & against Fulham they almost contrived a way to throw away a three-goal

If you want to hedge your bets a little and/or if you think a Stoke upset is on the cards, I'd advise throwing your money behind a Stoke win with 1 or 2 total goals in the match at 15/2.

That's all for right now, I need to sleep because I have college in 4 hours (!)

[Sukha Spence]

Man Utd vs. Hull City - Scorecast: Wayne Rooney First Scorer & 3-0 Man Utd Win, E5 @ 18/1

OK, I accept that I'm not the best at predicting Scorecast & I also realise that the bookmakers probably earn a small fortune from arm-chair pundits such as myself who think they can predict these kind of results. However, I just can't help it when I'm chasing losses (!)

Boaz Myhill may have produced a goalkeeping masterclass last weekend at White Hart Lane but it would be an absolute miracle if he escapes from Old Trafford without picking the ball out his net at some stage. United are quite ruthless against Premiership strugglers when they visit Old Trafford & despite not playing anywhere near their capabilities last week, they still rattled in three goals against Burnley. Also, United made rather short work of Wigan (5-0), Wolves (3-0), Blackburn (2-0) & Everton (3-0). The way I see, United haven't been so convincing against the stronger sides of the Premiership & had to battle for victories against the likes of Man City & Arsenal while Sunderland & Aston Villa escaped with very impressive results. Hull City, however, aren't of the same calibre as those who have escaped Old Trafford with points this season & I see United sitting atop the Premiership table by this time tomorrow night.

Hull's away record this season has been as poor as it gets to be honest & have yet to register a victory. They have conceeded 26 goals in 11 games & their clean sheet against Tottenham last weekend was their only clean sheet away from home all season. A quick glance at their prospective defensive lineup should excite the attacking flair of players like Wayne Rooney, Dimi Berbatov, Antonio Valencia, Ryan Giggs & even the likes of Mame Diouf & Michael Owen who are likely to make cameo appearances with the critical midweek clash with Man City on the horizon. It should also be interesting (& rather amusing) to see how Kamil Zayatte & the utterly dreadful Paul McShane cope against the Likes of Wayne Rooney & Dimi Berbatov.

If you're not as tempted by Scorecasts, there's also a tempting Half Time Handicap on Man Utd (-1.0) which I think is at a very generous 19/10 while Berbatov, Owen & Diouf are all Evens to score at anytime. Also, if you manage to stumble across E100 at home, put it on United to win both halves.

[Castello]

Ouch, unlucky!! How much did you bet?

[Sukha Spence]

It wasn't that much of a surprise to see Hull City just collapse toward the end but that injury time goal from Rooney was fierce frustrating. I had a few bets on this game though so I actually came out in the green. I had E5 on the afformentioned Scorecast which was cruelly taken away but I had E20 on United winning both halves which earned a small profit & E20 on the Handicap betting that brought in E38 worth of a return so from this game alone I came out with a profit of about E20.

Also, I correctly predicted a Barcelona 3-0 Valladolid scoreline & I had another E5 on the line for that. Ironically enough, I only put on the bet out of frustration at the United Scorecast. Paddy Power offered generous odds of 7/1 on that so I netted E40.

I also foolishly put E3 on a Scorecast for the Tottenham game which required Jermain Defoe scoring first & a 2-0 Tottenham win at odds of 16/1. Of course, Defoe then went on to miss a penalty, had a shot cleared off the line, missed when clean through all in the first half & was standing 3 yards behind Peter Crouch when Tottenham scored their first. Fortunately, I'll get a refund because Jermaine Beckford scored the last goal...

All in all, a decent day's game gambling but I feel aggrieved having missed out on E95 from the United Scorecast

Edit: Also, I'd like to thank Paul McShane, one of the worst defenders in the history of the Premiership (as a Newcastle fan, I know the look of useless defenders) for standing off Wayne Rooney as he slotted in his fourth goal.

[Sukha Spence]

You'll have to forgive the lack of predictions for the last two sets of fixtures as I've been gravely under the weather so I wasn't exactly in the gambling mood...

Hull City vs Chelsea - Scorecast: First Goalscorer: F.Lampard & (0-2)- E5 @ 18/1

I think it's safe to assume that all three points will be going back to London & while it's straight forward that Chelsea will secure a win, it's difficult to extract much value from the game especially considering that it's not yet known whether or not Didier Drogba will start his first game since returning from the African Cup Of Nations. If he does start, this could be an absolute stroll for Chelsea because his partnership with the highly impressive Nicolas Anelka has been used to devastating effect by Chelsea this season & we're also seeing the re-emergence of Frank Lampard's goalscoring exploits. All that combined with the fact that Michael Ballack, Florent Malouda, Ashley Cole & Joe Cole have all been contributing in terms of goals & assists seems ominous from a Hull City point of view.

Undefeated in their last eight games, Chelsea were a little out of sorts against Burnley but had more than their fair share of chances to make the result look more convincing. Chelsea are averaging about 2.5 goals per game in their last eight & against the weaker sides in the Premiership they have been rather ruthless with their stunning defeat against Wigan being the only exception. Before their trip to Turf Moor, they tore apart Birmingham & humiliated Sunderland & I think Hull will be realistically only interested in keeping the score respectable. If Didier Drobga is confirmed as being in the starting eleven I'd replace Lampard with him in the Scorecast because he has been outstanding all season long & prolific in front of goal with 14 goals & 8 assists to his name. Lampard though does have 10 goals with 9 assists & is first choice penalty taker & takes his fair share of freekicks. It's also worth keeping in mind also that Hull City have conceeded 4 penalties this season so far & with an error prone defence (the likes of Paul McShane & Anthony Gardner, it's always a possibility they could make that 5 tomorrow night.

Hull have had a difficult time keeping clean sheets this season with only three to their name & one of those against Tottenham came as a consequence of a ridiculously outstanding display from Boaz Myhill. Expect no such miracles against Chelsea however. They have conceeded on average about two a game in the Premiership & are nine games without a victory. In their nine home games this season, they have conceeded about 1.63 goals so they aren't complete pushovers & were only really dismantled at home by Man United (1-3) & Tottenham (1-5) so I doubt very much it'll be a complete rout & (0-2) is a fairly reasonable prediction.

If you want a little more a thrill I'd suggest putting your money on Stevie Hunt being the first player to see a yellow card. Hunt's a fiesty, workhorse that puts himself about the pitch & has history against Chelsea & Paddy Power offer tempting odds of 12/1 on him being the first to go in the book.

[Castello]

12/1, wow - very good shout!

[Sukha Spence]

Bolton vs. Fulham - Handicap Draw, Bolton (-2.0) - E5 @ 11/2 (Paddy Power)

To be honest, as a fan of Roy Hodgson & as much as I like to see his sides doing well in the Premiership, I'm confident in Owen Coyle's Bolton sweeping the three points rather comfortably against a Fulham side that still have difficulties on their travels.

Fulham's sole victory on the road this season came against a Portsmouth side who at the moment look destined to be playing Championship football next season. Their other four points away from home came mostly against teams struggling toward the lower half of the table: Wigan, West Ham & Burnley as well as an impressive point taken from the City Of Manchester Stadium after coming from two goals down. It shows that Fulham are a diligent side that will rarely go down easily especially under a manager like Roy Hodgson but I think injuries have hurt Fulham as of late & they are without the influential Clint Dempsey along with Simon Davies, John Pantsil, Paul Konchesky & Andy Johnson. Plus, Bobby Zamora has only recently returned from injury & he may take some time to regain full match fitness. Fulham have lost ten of their twenty-four games this season & five of those defeats finished (0-2), so I fancy Bolton to overcome a minus two handicap to draw the game.

With regards Bolton, I have tended to avoid them in terms of betting but I think they have potential & more of an ambitious future with Owen Coyle at the helm. It's difficult to judge him thus far because he's had two difficult games against Arsenal to contend with as well as a trip to Anfield & the visit of his former side Burnley. Therefore, it's perhaps unsurprising that they have only amassed three points from a possible tweleve thus far but there have been signs of improvement in their style of play. A player indicative of this is the highly promising South Korean, Chung-Yong Lee who has started every game under Coyle thus far. He looks a real prospect & I'd back him to score at anytime at generous odds of 7/2 while he's 8/1 to be the First Goalscorer.

Stoke City vs. Blackburn - Scorecast: Sanli Tuncay, (1-0) - E3 @ 28/1 (Boylesports)

I decided to bet on this game because I think it requires the addition of a little excitement. In all honesty, this is likely to be a veritable borefest

Like Fulham, Blackburn have only a solitary away win this season & that came against Bolton. Their remaining points away from Ewood Park came against Wigan, West Ham & Hull City. Blackburn are not exactly renowned for their goalscoring nous & their top League goalscorer, David Dunn, is currently sidelined through injury. Their other leading goalscorers have proven inconsistent both in terms of form or goalscoring ability: Jason Roberts, Morten Gamst Pederson (both have three League goals) & El-Hadj Diouf (two league goals). Having scored only eight goals away from home this season & facing a side who can match them in terms of physicality, I'd commit my money on a low-scoring Stoke City win to nil & if there's any market on this being a frightfully poor spectacle, I'd put my money on that as well.

Stoke are a frustrating side to bet on because they have no set starting striking partnership. Ricardo Fuller & James Beattie appear to be out of favor, although the former did score twice against Arsenal in the FA Cup. Although, it was then baffling to see him only get 30 minutes against Sunderland (?). Other potential starters include Mamady Sidibe who has scored only a single goal this season & has the first touch of an elephant on ice & the criminally under-utilised Sanli Tuncay. Considering how this is set to be a low scoring game, I think the industrious Tuncay is value for money in scoring the solitary & winning goal whether he starts or comes of the bench

Accumulator - E10.00 (Paddy Power)

(1) Bolton to defeat Fulham at the Reebook Stadium @ 13/10
(2) Birmingham to defeat Wolves at St.Andrews @ 4/5
(3) Athletic Bilbao to defeat Xerez at San Mamés @ 1/2
(4) Inter Milan to defeat Calgiari at the San Siro @ 1/3
(5) Valenia to defeat Valladolid at the Mestalla @ 1/3

My brief rational behind each selection:

- Fulham are poor away from home with only one win this season on their travels & before the game against Portsmouth were without a win since November.

- Birmingham are the Premiership's surprise package & bounced back from a drubbing at the hands of Chelsea to earn a credible point against Tottenham. Wolves are on a run of five games without a win & were humiliated in the FA Cup thanks to a hat-trick from a right-back by trade & makeshift striker, Danny Butterfield.

- Athletic Bilbao are a solid midtable La Liga side at the moment while Xerez's away record reads won none, drawn three & lost six.

- José Mourinho hasn't lead any of his sides, be they Porto, Chelsea or Inter to a home defeat in 128 home games which covers almost an 8-year undefeated streak at home in League competition. Inter are also eight points clear in Serie A scoring on average two goals per game win nine wins & two draws at the San Siro this season.

- Valencia have only suffered one defeat all season at the Mestalla & that came against Real Madrid & they possess strike power in the form of David Villa who has 17 goals in all competitions this season. Conversely, Valladolid have only one win away from home this season & are on a winless streak of five games