Welcome to NextBet’s first weekend preview, where we take a light hearted look at the upcoming action for the weekend, which we hope will leave you with a smile on your face and a bulge in your pocket (calm down Tulisa).
What better place to start when looking for some value than St James’s Park or The Wonga Arena, as it could be called next season if Mike Ashley doesn’t keep up with the interest rates next year. Southampton have been playing in rare cavalier fashion for a team scratching around at the bottom of the table and will be buoyed by an impressive 3-1 win against an abject QPR outfit last week. Newcastle’s form has been sketchy this season, a home defeat against Swansea last Saturday when Pablo Hernandez showed that Danny Simpson certainly doesn’t have the X Factor : was symptomatic of their inconsistency. Although they rested several players for last night’s ITV 4 Cup game, their involvement in that competition has taken its toll on their smallish squad already and Southampton look a good value bet for this St Mary’s match up.
Bet 365 offer 13/10
on the home side taking the spoils.
Crystal Palace’s form is second to none and Leeds United’s has been as impressive as Jimmy Savile’s shellsuit collection. The two teams meet at Elland Road this weekend and an in form Palace side look like a good addition for your weekend coupons.
SkyBet offer 11/8
on Holloway’s men continuing their extraordinary run of form. “Have a bang on that”, as someone who doesn’t work for SkyBet is fond of saying. Norwich City are another form team, however there is a marked difference between their form at Carrow Road and on the road, they seem to travel as well as Delia Smith’s venison pies, so don’t expect them to take anything at Goodison this week, despite the home side missing their magnificently haired talisman and part time ‘Saved By The Bell’ extra Marouane Fellaini. Other form sides who will look to extend their unbeaten runs include Charlton Athletic, Leyton Orient and Northampton. All well worth a look this week.
If ever there was a banker, it comes this week at Old Trafford where a sparkless QPR head to the ‘theatre of dreams’ – although the atmosphere in a theatre is normally more lively. QPR – the only side in the four leagues yet to pick up a win. Djibril Cisse has replaced Joey Barton as the hardest man on Twitter this week after offering to fight a fan on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday, like a poor man’s Craig David. The said supporter responded by asking Cisse if Wednesday was shooting practice. Bang bang. There is little value to be had in backing a home win but
Bet 365 offer a tasty 2/1
on there being more than 4.5 goals in this game. The Britannia is not the most welcoming of venues and Fulham are a team that struggle when they don’t have home comforts. Coming off a respectable 1-1 draw in ‘El Hoofico’, look to add Pulis’ pugilists to your weekend coupon.
There’s potential for a right old cockney tear up at White Hart Lane on Sunday and this game ‘Defoe’ looks primed for AVB taking the 1,2,3 points. The Hammers have failed to score in five of their last seven games against their London rivals,
a 2-0 Spurs win is offered at a tasty 7/1 by Sky Bet
. Spurs do look good value in a fixture where they have won seven of their last ten games overall. A win would take the pressure off Villas Boas, a man who gets a harder time from the press than George Osborne, despite being a much better dresser and having a notepad which says coach’s notebook on. As they say in the Scouts, ‘be prepared’.
We’ll leave this week’s preview with a look at some key men who may or will be missing in action this week. We mentioned Everton missing the powerhouse
Fellaini
previously. Arsenal will miss
Theo Walcott
this Saturday against Aston Villa, Villa’s collection of Championship upstarts and bargain basement foreign journeymen have looked particularly porous in defence the last couple of weeks and will be relieved that the erratic speedster is absent. West Bromwich Albion will miss key midfielder
Youssuf Mulumbu
for their Saturday lunchtime trip to the Stadium of Light, I have a sneaking suspicion that this could be a factor in their recent impressive form ending.
Hopefully you enjoyed our first light hearted inspection of this weekend’s festivities and have found some potential sources of extra revenue, or if not at least a few good jokes. I’ll leave you with these startling revelations : Fernando Torres averages 2.75 goals per Chelsea manager and by the year 2020, you’ll never be more than six feet from an ex Chelsea coach. Scary stuff.
Written by Jamie Ellis , published 23rd November 2012.
