My Lock of the Week (30th Oct - 2nd Nov)

Good week in the league cup with all our selections coming through. If you backed them all you should have made a nice profit with odds of about 7/1. Bit disappointed that we didn't include Chelsea in it but it wouldn't have made too much of a difference as they were priced at around 1/5. Anyway, lets get on with this weekends EPL match selections:

Chelsea to beat Bolton (2/5)
After the two teams met in the cup last week you have to expect Chelsea to put another beating on Bolton this weekend. They might not do it in the same fashion as they did in the cup but we still expect a comfortable victory for the Blues.

Man Utd to beat Blackburn (1/6)
Blackburn have a swine flu outbreak in their squad at the moment and they are playing Man Utd at Old Trafford this weekend, talk about bad timing!

Man City to beat Birmingham (4/5)
Although Man City are playing away you still have to fancy them to take out the newly promoted team in this match-up. The odds are too good to turn down in our opinion

In Europe we'd only be looking at one match and that would be:

Real Madrid to beat Getafe (2/5)
Lost to a division 2 team mid-week in the cup but that just indicates where their priorities lie this season so I'd expect them to be back to business as usual on Saturday.

If you really want to, you can stick in a bit of a dodgy bet but we think it has quite a good chance of coming up trumps and that is Stoke beating Wolves at home on Saturday (10/11). Stoke can beat anyone at home on their day and Wolves will be one of the weakest teams to go there this season.

ALL SPORT ACCUMULATOR!

Starting with Football:

Chelsea (2/5)
Man Utd (1/6)
Real Madrid (2/5)

American Football:

Bear to beat the Browns (2/17)
Bears = good, Browns = bad, simple enough

Colts to beat the 49ers (1/7)
Very tempted to take the -12.5 handicap on this one, we'll make our decision on the day but hard to see the 49ers coming away from Indianapolis with anything here with the way the Colts have been playing recently

Chargers to beat the Raiders (1/14)
Raiders are so bad at the moment, was going to take the handicap on this but no way am I giving away -16.5 points, way too much. 14 point victory for the Chargers we think

New Orleans to beat Falcons (2/11)
The saints are scary good at the moment and scoring freely against everyone, last 2 games against the dolphins and giants were examples of their dominance this season and I expect more of the same against the Falcons this week.

That's what we'll be doing this week and you should get odds of around 11/4 which you could increase if you were to take a handicap on one or two of the teams if you wished. If we were to take any handicap this week it would be on Chelsea to lay another hammering on Bolton after their display midweek which would bring their odds alone from 2/5 to 11/10 for a -1 handicap.

Happy Halloween Gambling!

league cup = lottery (27th-29th Oct)

Who caught the Liverpool - Man Utd game on Sunday! great game and keeps Liverpool within touching distance of the leaders after a horrific start to the campaign. I hope you all opened totesport accounts last week and took the ridiculous odds of 8/11 on Lawrence Maroney scoring a touchdown any time during the New England - Tampa Bay game on Sunday because he delivered the goods and we all had 3 figure stakes on him to do so (one of us actually had a 4 figure stake on it!)

All Sport accumulator wasn't great this week with Lyon taking a hammering away to lowly Nice in the French league and the NY Giants coming up short against a good Arizona Cardinals team. Also, we really dropped the ball by forgetting to post our horse racing tip, it was a horse called "high heeled" and it romped home at 4/1, sorry guys!

Anyway, on to the "important" business of looking for some midweek betting to tide us over for the week (think we have a problem?). It's league cup football this week and as you may or may not know, most of the big teams don't take this competition very seriously and are prone to fielding, or as some like to say, "blooding" young reserve players (especially Arsenal). However, there are a couple of selections that we'll be keeping a close eye on. In general, no matter who you decide to bet on this week, you should leave you're bet until the teams for the match are released, typically this is done around 1 hour before kick-off. That way you can check if "little junior son on a bitch" is playing and avoid betting on the team.

Anyways, think I'll just be doing a double this week:

Tottenham to beat Everton (8/13)
One of the teams that will take this competition seriously as it is probably their most realistic chance of winning a trophy this season. Everton are a complete mess at the moment and the last thing they need is this competition as a distraction especially with them playing in the Europa league as well.

Blackburn to beat Peterborough (4/6)
Although Peterborough aren't that bad of a side they are not a premiership side and thus I have to side with Sam Allardyces men in this one since, like Tottenham, if they're gonna win a trophy this year, it will be this one.

You can get this double at 13/8 which isn't fantastic but we think it is your best chance of winning some money this week.

If you do fancy more value, we think the following will happen but we're not sure enough to put a stake on it ourselves:

Arsenal to beat Liverpool (6/5)
2 teams that couldn't care less about this competition so both will field weakened sides. Arsenal have some incredible young players and they should win this for the gunners, nice odds too.

Man Utd to beat Barnsley (4/9)
I really don't like this match-up. United will probably field a weak side but are they capable of over-powering an up-for-it Barnsley side at home who will be looking to cause an upset? probably!

If you do add these two teams to your bet you will get odds of around 15/2 which is excellent in our opinion. Our advice, stick a large stake on the original double or put a smaller stake on all 4 games.

Happy Gambling

My Shoe-In of the Week (23rd-26th Oct)

Wow! what a f*cked up week in the Champions league on Wednesday night! Liverpool were a shambles after Gerrard went off injured after 25 minutes, Arsenal couldn't finish off AZ Alkmaar and let in a 93rd minute equaliser and Don't even talk to us about Barcelona. 24 shots to 3 shots and still losing 2-1!

Tuesday was a bit better but Porto scored an own goal to ruin our handicap bet on them as they ended up winning 2-1. We'd still go with Hamburg beating Celtic tonight though at around 5/4 in most bookmakers.

There is one stand-out bet for me this weekend and thats in the New England - Tampa Bay game - Laurence Maroney to score a touchdown at any time during the game on Sunday (8/11 Totesport.com), that price is insane, worth opening an account with them for just this bet!

In terms of soccer, there is a fantastic game between Liverpool and Man Utd this weekend. Liverpool are on a run of 4 loses but hopefully with the return from injury of Gerrard, Torres and new signing Aquilani they'll be up for this game. Still wouldn't go near it gambling-wise but should be a terrific game.

As for our soccer bets this weekend, in the premier league we'll be going with:

Tottenham to beat Stoke (4/9)
Fantastic price for a a team in-form against a team that's pretty useless away from home. No need to take a handicap on this one, 4/9 will do just fine!

Chelsea to beat Blackburn (2/11)
Should have taken the handicap on Chelsea mid-week as they smashed 4 past Athletico Madrid and they will have been a much bigger challenge that Blackburn will be. Chelsea do have a habit of winning a lot games 1-0 so we won't take the handicap on this one especially after a mid-week game.

Man City to beat Fulham (4/9)
Again, another great price for an in-form and improving side against a decent side but we think with Man City having home advantage that this will be too much for Fulham to overcome. Like the Tottenham game, no need for a handicap, we'll take this price all day!

These 3 are available at 6/4 on Paddy Power but we might add one or two games from Europe to add a bit more value.

France
Lyon to beat Nice (4/6) - brings accumulator up to just over 3/1
Made a mistake backing Lyon last week as they put out a weakened team in order to be ready for the Liverpool match midweek. This week however, top of the French league with the best goal difference against 2nd from bottom of the league with the worst goal difference. Our second top bet of the week after the Maroney bet.

Spain
Real Madrid to beat Sporting Gijon (4/9) - brings acc. up to just under 5/1
OR
Barcelona to beat Zaragoza (1/9) - brings acc. up to just over 7/2
If you want to live dangerously you can put in Real Madrid to beat Sporting Gijon away from home after a shambles of a performance mid-week. Looks like they're really missing Ronaldo at the moment but we still think they should win this match. We'll be taking this.

If you want something a bit safer go with Barcelona win comfortably at home to Zaragoza. If you do take Real Madrid you may as well put Barcelona in anyway.

So, our soccer bet for the week will be just over 11/2 and will include:

Man City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Lyon, Real Madrid and Barcelona

ALL SPORT ACCUMULATOR!!!

Much like last week, we'll be looking at mostly soccer and American football this week as theres not much else on at the moment

Soccer

Chelsea (2/11)
Lyon (4/6)
Barcelona (1/9)

American Football

New England to beat Tampa Bay (1/14)
Bit of a bad thing that Brady had the game that he did last week because no way are we taking a -15 point handicap, especially with the game being played in London but I still expect a PAtriots win here.

Indianapolis to beat St.Louis (1/8)
Manning and Co. head to St.Louis this week to pick up what will probably be their easiest win of the regular season. The hapless Ram's cam close last week against a poor Jacksonville and still came up short. This one could get ugly.

Giants to beat Arizona (10/31)
Expect the giants to get back to winning ways against the Cardinals after their first loss of the season last week. Arizona aren't playing bad this year but they're coming up against one the favourites for the Superbowl this year and the price is pretty good we think.

Warning:
New Orleans to beat Miami (4/11)
This all depends on the weather people! If its rain and the pitch is in a bit of a mess I wouldn't go near this game. Check the weather on gameday and then make the bet if you're confident in the weather!!!

This will give you odds between 7/2 and 4/1.

Happy Gambling!


P.S. I nearly forgot, any of you looking for a place to watch the NFL Live or any college American Football games get on to Chris's blog at:

http://fnnstreams.blogspot.com

He streams the NFL games live on Sundays and on Monday nights. Don't forget to tell him where you heard about his site!

My Lock of the Mid-Week (20th-22nd Oct)

Check out Manchester City's latest signing!

The All Sports Accumulator was nearly on at the weekend but the Jaguars let us down by only clinching an overtime 3 point victory over the still winless Ram's. The Patriots were scary good against the Titans in their 59-0 demolition and we might have to take the handicap on them against the Bucc's in London this weekend. Both Arsenal and Real Madrid won their games with a -1 handicap and, sure enough, Wigan were good enough to hold Man City to a draw so we're glad we stayed away from that one and we hope you did too! Any way it's Champions league this week and if you play safe you're guaranteed a return 99.9% of the time.

On Tuesday we'll be throwing our money on:

Liverpool to beat Lyon (5/6)
Liverpool were unlucky to lose to Sunderland away at the weekend but with Gerrard back in the side and the match being at Anflied the odds are too good to turn down
Arsenal to beat AZ Alkmaar (1/2)
Even though Arsenal are away they should have little trouble disposing of the Dutch outfit considering their owner is bankrupt and their players weren't paid this week!
Barcelona (-1) to beat Rubin Kazan (3/10)
No explanation needed, I wonder if I can get -5 goals?!?!

The 3 of these are available at just over 5/2 and we think this is incredible value so get your money on now!

If you want to chance a longshot on Tuesday you could do worse than Dynamo Kiev putting one over on Inter Milan in the San Siro. Inter are perennial under-achievers in the competition and at 15/2 Kiev might be worth a bet (not in an accumulator though!)

Going on to Wednesday evenings action we'll be looking at:

Chelsea to beat Athletico Madrid (1/3)
Chelsea going well this season, had a slight set-back at Aston Villa on Saturday but Athletico have seemed to have gone backwards since last season so we fully expect a Chelsea win
Porto (-1) to beat Apoel Nicosia (4/6)
Veterans to the competition at this stage taking on competition debutants in Porto, this could turn into a riot if Porto find the net early, we're taking the handicap on this one

Struggling to find a third team we'd trust to get the job done but at 6/5 you could do a lot worse than backing these two on Wednesday night.

On Thursday night there are a couple of Uefa Cup matches (or "Europa League" matches as it's called now, what a sh*t name!). If we make a bit of money from either of the two previous nights we may throw some money on Hamburg away at Celtic at 5/4. If anybody has been following Celtic recently you'll know that they are a disaster at the moment and Hamburg are a decent side who we think will dominate Celtic.

Happy Gambling

My Shoe-In of the Week (Oct 16th-19th)

Soccer

Starting with the Barclays Premier League my "sure thing" selections for this week are:

Arsenal to beat Birmingham (1/6)
Man Utd to beat Bolton (1/5)
Everton to beat Wolves (2/5)

The three of them are available at around even money on Paddy Power but if you want a bit more value you could consider backing Arsenal in the treble at -1 (11/8) considering they've averaged over 3 goals a game so far this season and have a 100% record at home this season. Some other games that I may look at are:

Tottenham to beat Portsmouth (4/5)
Man City to beat Wigan (4/6)
Fulham to beat Hull (4/6)

Out of these three I would be most inclined to go with Fulham at home to Hull. Wigan are a different team every week so I usually don't go near their games either especially when they are at home, but I wouldn't be surprized to see a comfortable Man City win. I'd usually be confident with Tottenham away at Portsmouth but there is a derby feel to the match with Harry Redknapp going back to Portsmouth and Jermaine Defoe and Peter Crouch having played for the opposition recently also.

In terms of other soccer games in Europe that could add value to a soccer accumulator would be:

Spain
Real Madrid to beat Valladolid (1/8, maybe take the -1 or -2 handicap)
Unfortunatley Valencia are at home to Barcelona and I'm staying away from that one.

Scotland
Celtic to beat Motherwell (1/4)
Rangers to beat St.Johnstone (4/9)
N.B. both these teams have cost me large accumulators over the last few weeks so proceed with caution but I think these 2 are good value, especially Rangers

France
Lyon to beat Sochaux (1/3)

Holland
Ajax to beat Willem II (1/7)


My soccer bet for this week will be Man Utd, Everton, Arsenal (-1), Real Madrid, Lyon, Celtic, Rangers and Ajax. This should be around 13/2

MY ALL SPORT ACCUMULATOR

Not too much to bet on at this time so I'll be sticking with Soccer and American football for now

Soccer:
Man Utd (1/5)
Arsenal (1/6)
Real Madrid (1/8)

American Football
New England Patriots to beat Tennessee Titans (2/9)
Pittsburgh Steelers to beat Cleveland Browns (1/10, at -14 points you can get 10/11 but 14 points is a bit much to give up in my opinion)
Jacksonville Jaguars -10 to beat St.Louis Rams (10/11) , despite the Jaguars destruction last week I expect a good recovery against the lacklustre Rams
Green Bay Packers to beat Detroit Lions (1/8, again you can get 10/11 with the handicap but -13.5 points is too much to give away for me)

These are available at around 7/2 but again you could increase the value by taking any (or all!) of the soccer games at handicaps. You could also take the Packers and/or Steelers on a handicap also. Taking -1 on Arsenal and Real Madrid will bring the odds up to around 6/1. If you really want to live dangerously and take the handicaps on both Packers (-13.5) and Steelers (-14) in conjunction with the soccer handicaps you're odds would go up to nearly 20/1 but I think I'll stick with my 7/2 initial selection.

Good Luck!