Welcome to Next Bet’s preview of the weekend’s action, as we aim to provide you with a little ‘Something For The Weekend.’
This weekend’s fixtures may look on paper to be as appealing as turkey leftovers in a couple of slices of stale Warburtons but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as proven by the longevity of the Peter Crouch/Abbey Clancy relationship. We have sifted through the sorry looking set of fixtures to find you more value than a Boxing Day sale at DFS.
We’ll start off this week at White Hart Lane where Tottenham have been earning their spurs of late. This promises to be an interesting clash of styles, as they face a Stoke side who concede as often as ‘The Rock’ in an arm wrestling contest. Ryan Shawcross will be looking to avoid being attacked by Marouane Fellaini lookalikes down Tottenham High Road. Spurs’ home record has been impressive of late, with an improved defence I don’t expect this clash between The Culture Club and Wham to produce a goalfest. The
8/11 that Sky Bet offer on under 2.5 goals
looks more generous than Jermain Defoe at a Page 3 Christmas party.
Manchester City versus Reading looks like the archetypal ‘home banker’ – remember folks, bankers never die, they just lose interest. City have won six of their last nine at home and The Royals have won zero – a record as embarrassing as the Hilsborough charity tribute record. A Reading win here looks as unlikely as Mario Balotelli making a January move to Zenit St Petersburg. Brian McDermott has denied rumours that Fred the Weatherman has helped provide him with a list of potential targets for January. City purred majestically with arguably their performance of the season last week against Newcastle and the
7/5 that Paddy Power
offer on City scoring four or more looks more appealing than a bottle of Baileys to a single mum at Christmas.
Sunday’s clash at the Liberty looks like one of the weekend’s tastier encounters. The Swans are one of the more unpredictable teams in the league, however they are also one of the most entertaining. Despite the commonly perpetuated theory that the Red Devils rely heavily on their ‘fatman and robin’ combination, the fact that 15 different players have found the net for them this season suggest that they are not Robin reliant, however this is a tough one to call. Both sides feature in the top six for passing accuracy in the major European Leagues this season and the
4/1 that is offered by Paddy Power and Bet365
on Swansea enjoying a victory on the green, green grass of home looks good value boyo!
Some other things I’m expecting this weekend : Newcastle to pick up a long awaited victory at home to QPR – they have only won two out of the last twelve, however I expect the Toon to get in the festive spirit like a Geordie girl on the gobble at the Bigg Market (Bet 365 offer 11/10 on a Magpies victory) . If you dare to delve into the murky world of the Championship, I fancy Ipswich, Palace and Cardiff for victories this weekend, however I also fancied the ginger one from Girls Aloud before she went blonde.
Anyway, I’m off to contemplate a January scouting trip to the African Cup of Nations with Cheryl Cole whilst rewatching my ’2012′ DVD with the benefit of hindsight. I’ll be back next week with more suggestions for festive flutters, so don’t go cold turkey on me too early.
by Jamie Ellis
