Category: Football

FA Cup Semi-Final Previews

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

FA Cup holders Arsenal face Reading on Saturday with Liverpool playing Aston Villa on Sunday in the semi-finals at Wembley.

The Gunners are the in-form team in the Premiership and have stormed into second place. They are now going in pursuit of leaders Chelsea who have been far from convincing in recent weeks. The clash between Chelsea and Manchester United could open the door for an unlikely Premier League title for Arsene Wenger’s side who host the Blues next weekend.

In the meantime, they will look to take another step towards retaining their treasured silverware in the FA Cup against Reading. With eleven victories in their last twelve matches, confidence could not be higher at Arsenal. They have Olivier Giroud almost scoring at will with ten goals in as many matches and a fully fit squad heading into the final games of the season. This time last year, Arsenal needed penalties to get past Wigan before stumbling to a two-goal deficit in the final. The pressure of ending their long wait for a trophy seemed to be almost too much.

They are now free from such concerns and I cannot see them faltering against an out-of-form Reading. Since sneaking past Bradford in a replay, Reading have lost three of their last four matches. They have failed to score in almost six hours of football and this looks set up for the Gunners to go through to the final in style.

Sunday’s clash between Liverpool and Aston Villa looks far more competitive with Tim Sherwood having led a revival in Villa’s fortunes. They are still fighting for their Premiership lives but the return to form of Christian Benteke has given them a very powerful weapon. When he is at his best, he can torment any defence in the league and Liverpool could be in for a difficult time.

Liverpool’s form has deteriorated in recent weeks and a top four spot seems to have slipped away from them. They are clinging on to the hope that Man City go into freefall and allow them to overtake them but it looks unlikely. Their extra motivation for reaching the final is to secure another trophy for departing skipper Steven Gerrard. On their best form, they should certainly beat Villa but it may be worth taking a chance on Benteke causing an upset.

Arsenal (-2.0 handicap) @15-8 Skybet

Arsenal 4 Reading 0 @12-1 Skybet

Giroud to score and Arsenal win @Evens Totesport

Christian Benteke to score and Villa win @13-1 Bwin

Benteke to score at any time @11-4 Ladbrokes

Villa to win by a single goal @7-1 Paddy Power

Premiership Preview April 18th – 19th

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The big match this weekend is the clash between leaders Chelsea and third-placed Manchester United in Saturday’s evening kick-off.

The Blues are edging ever-closer to the Premiership title but still have United, Arsenal and Liverpool to play. A defeat at home to a resurgent United could still cause a few jitters with the winning post in sight. Had Chelsea gone into this match with a fully-fit Diego Costa, it would be very difficult to see them slipping up. As it is, not only is Costa out but there is also a doubt about the fitness of Loic Remy.

United are in buoyant mood after beating champions and neighbours City 4-2 last weekend. That game could signal the end of the brief reign of Manuel Pellegrini while Louis van Gaal looks set to achieve his goal of restoring Champions League football to Old Trafford. The return to form of former Chelsea star Juan Mata has had a great impact in recent matches and he could be worth a bet to silence the home fans on Saturday.

The Blues still have Eden Hazard and he is the kind of player to rise to the big occasion. Jose Mourinho will be calling on him once more and I’m sure that he would settle for a draw, just as he did when City visited.

West Brom are really struggling for form and face a tricky visit to Crystal Palace. Alan Pardew’s side have put up some brilliant displays recently and another defeat for Tony Pulis’s side could have them looking anxiously over their shoulders in the league table. Among those scrapping for survival are Leicester City who are at home to Swansea. They dug out an unlikely 3-2 win at West Brom last week and will fancy their chances of following up here.

Southampton’s season was in danger of falling away but Ronald Koeman’s side beat Hull decisively last week. They travel to Stoke who have little left to play for. A draw seems highly likely but Pelle’s first goal in months will have boosted his confidence and the Saints could come away with all three points.

Sunday’s games are Man City at home to West Ham and Newcastle facing Spurs. The two home teams are among the worst performing sides in the league at present so it is a brave man that takes 2-7 about City. They may struggle to a win but 11-2 for a draw looks tempting while Spurs should see off a lack-lustre Magpies outfit.

Crystal Palace to beat West Brom @20-21 Paddy Power

Leicester to beat Swansea @6-5 Ladbrokes

Southampton to beat Stoke @11-8 Ladbrokes

Chelsea v Man United DRAW @5-2 Totesport

Man City v West Ham DRAW @11-2 Bet365

Spurs to beat Newcastle @11-8 William Hill

Premiership Preview April 11th – 13th

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It’s a fantastic weekend of sport with The Grand National at Aintree, The US Masters at Augusta and the Manchester derby.

The Premiership action gets under way at 12.45 with Swansea against Everton but the action hots up during the afternoon. Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood will have mixed feelings as he takes his relegation-threatened side to White Hart Lane. The former Spurs boss looked as if he had just had six rounds with Mike Tyson by the end of Villa’s 3-3 draw against QPR on Monday night and he can expect another roller-coaster ride at his old club.

Tottenham remain a bit of an enigma, capable of producing great football but just as likely to disappoint. They were pretty poor at Burnley last weekend and their motivation must be in doubt with their season effectively petering out. I cannot see Villa going down and 5-1 looks quite tempting, especially with Christian Benteke back to his best.

Burnley had chances to take all three points last week and now face a resurgent Arsenal who are now Chelsea’s closest pursuers. Having produced a great run to move into second, I don’t see Arsene Wenger’s side slipping up here.

Other relegation-threatened sides in action are Hull at Southampton, Sunderland at home to Crystal Palace and Leicester at West Brom. All three are capable of picking up points but Hull look particularly wobbly at present. They are meeting the Saints at a good time as they have also seen their season dribble away in recent weeks. I just don’t know if Hull are good enough to take advantage.

The match of the weekend is undoubtedly the Manchester derby on Sunday with City in the unusual position of trailing their rivals by a point. City did not play badly at Crystal Palace but the Eagles rode their luck for a famous victory. Manuel Pellegrini is not exactly flavour of the month but he will surely be able to motivate his players for this one. A draw may be the outcome which will suit Chelsea and Arsenal above them.

The Blues have been flirting with disaster in recent matches but have managed to creep ever closer to the title. They travel to QPR who have found a new lease of life in recent weeks and this should be a very feisty encounter. A win here would be a fantastic result for Jose Mourinho’s side and what about John Terry scoring the winner? That would not go down well with Rangers fans!

The final game is on Monday night when Liverpool play Newcastle. The Reds stopped the rot with a hard fought win over Blackburn in the Cup in midweek. Fortunately for them, Newcastle have been playing poorly and are unlikely to cause them too many problems.

Southampton (-1.0) to beat Hull @13-8 Skybet

Aston Villa to beat Spurs @5-1 Bet365

Arsenal (-1.0) to beat Burnley @6-4 Paddy Power

John Terry to score first @20-1 Coral

John Terry scores and Chelsea win @7-1 Paddy Power

Man Utd v Man City DRAW @5-2 Boylesports

Liverpool (-1.0) to beat Newcastle @6-5 Skybet

Premiership Preview April 4th – 6th

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The Premier League returns after the International break and kicks off with the lunchtime clash between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates.

Arsenal have the incentive of moving above Man City into second place with the champions not due to play until Monday. Their recent form has been impressive, including their brave attempt to overturn a 3-1 deficit in the Champions League against Monaco. They could not quite manage the 3-0 win that they needed but I was impressed with their all-out attack that night.

Olivier Giroud is the man in form with Alexis Sanchez having gone off the boil slightly in recent weeks. Arsene Wenger has plenty of attacking options including Theo Walcott and they should be able to unlock the Liverpool defence. The visitors are currently on a run of six away games without conceding but the suspension picked up by Martin Skrtel could prove damaging.

Liverpool’s hopes of a top four spot will be severely dented if they lose this one with Manchester United also having improved in recent weeks. The Red Devils grabbed a 2-1 win at Anfield last time, courtesy of two goals from Juan Mata. The Spaniard has been steady rather than spectacular this season but produced a piece of individual brilliance to seal the points.

With Wayne Rooney also in good form, it is difficult to see Aston Villa coming away with anything from Old Trafford this weekend. Tim Sherwood should be able to steer them to safety and they still have the FA Cup to chase.

Jose Mourinho has been busy with his calculator and the Blues need six wins and a draw to seal the title from their remaining nine games. Those fixtures include Arsenal, Liverpool and Man United so they cannot afford to drop points at home to Stoke. They have a phenomenal record against the Potters but may start without Diego Costa. His hamstring is still an issue, although he is in Saturday’s squad.

Harry Kane did not hit the target for England against Italy but will still be basking in the glory of his goal against Lithuania on his debut. Tottenham travel to Burnley on Sunday and should be good enough to take all three points. Sunderland take on Newcastle in desperate need of points but they cannot expect any favours from their Tyneside rivals.

Man City could find themselves in fourth place by the time they face Crystal Palace on Monday night. They could be trailing Chelsea by nine points so they will need to dig deep to keep their title hopes alive. Sergio Aguero has a habit of bailing them out when they need it and he can do so again on Monday.

Arsenal to beat Liverpool @10-11 William Hill

Olivier Giroud to score at any time @13-10 Bet365

Man United (-1) to beat Aston Villa @5-6 Paddy Power

Juan Mata to score at any time @2-1 Totesport

Chelsea (-1) to beat Stoke @5-6 Paddy Power

Tottenham to beat Burnley @5-4 BetVictor

Harry Kane to score at any time @6-5 BetVictor

Sergio Aguero to score at any time @9-10 BetVictor

International Soccer – Italy v England Preview

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Although we landed five successful bets on the England v Lithuania match, we were left cursing as England failed to find one more goal to clinch our forecast 5-0 outcome. They now travel to Italy for a friendly International which should tell us more about the progress made by Roy Hodgson’s side in recent months.

Post-match quotes from Wayne Rooney suggesting that teams will start to fear England must be put down to over-enthusiasm from the skipper. I don’t think the Germans will be quaking in their boots just yet after a few comfortable victories against poor opposition. Germany have been spluttering themselves since Brazil and just about scrambled a draw at home to Australia while the likes of Brazil and Spain have plenty of problems of their own.

Italy beat England in the World Cup but showed a lack of adventure which ultimately cost them dear against Uruguay, albeit in a game marred by the Suarez biting incident. The Italians have a new coach and are going through a re-building phase so it should be fairly evenly matched. Had the game been at Wembley, you would fancy England to come out on top.

Of course, I have to mention Harry Kane as the hype machine has gone into overdrive after his debut goal. Hodgson will be under pressure to give the Tottenham striker his first full cap on Tuesday and that will provide him with valuable experience. I don’t like these friendly games much as a betting medium and a draw seems the safest option.

The pick of the evening’s International games has to be the clash between The Netherlands and Spain. The visitors will be spurred on by the prospect of revenge for that 5-1 thrashing in Brazil which effectively brought their World Cup dreams crashing down. They too are trying to rebuild and are likely to introduce some new players on Tuesday night.

Both sides struggled in their weekend Euro qualifiers, Spain scraping a 1-0 win over the Ukraine and the Netherlands rescuing a point in a 1-1 home draw with Turkey. The Dutch are without the influential Robben and Van Persie at present while Diego Costa is an absentee for Spain. I expect this game to be tight as well but Spain may just be good enough to grab the victory. The Netherlands are struggling under Guus Hiddink in his second spell with four defeats in seven games.

Italy v England DRAW @9-4 Ladbrokes

Italy 1 England 1 @11-2 William Hill

Spain to beat The Netherlands @6-4 Betfred

Netherlands 0 Spain 1 @8-1 Paddy Power

Euro 2016 – England v Lithuania Preview

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Marco Reus struck early for Germany against Australia to give Betcirca followers a 5-point profit but what a great effort by the visitors to draw with the World Champions. Admittedly it was only a friendly but it continues a worrying run of form for the Germans since their famous win in Brazil.

Attention turns to England on Friday and their Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania. England have already got one foot in the next round with four wins out of four and are not likely to slip up here. Roy Hodgson has not been blighted by the Premiership managers on this occasion and should be able to field a strong side.

A stray bit of paper indicating that Harry Kane will lead the attack was enough for the media to go into a frenzy but it is hardly a surprise. With 29 goals in all competitions and a relatively easy home game, this is surely the ideal time to see if the Tottenham man can fulfil his potential on the International stage.

He has come a long way from being a fringe player at the start of the season and is now the first name scribbled on the team sheet at White Hart Lane. Bookmakers are apparently dreading goals from the Spurs man on Friday with 20-1 proving surprisingly popular for a Kane hat-trick. I’m not sure if he will accomplish that on his debut but there are probably worse bets than the 4-5 that he scores during 90 minutes.

Let’s not forget the great form shown by Wayne Rooney since he took over the captaincy. He is also on hand for any penalty awards that go England’s way so is also worth considering in the goals markets.

Lithuania have beaten San Marino and Estonia but were thrashed 4-0 by Switzerland and this could be one of those nights when England can bag a few goals. The odds on 5-0 and 6-0 make plenty of appeal and that would underline England’s dominance in the group.

England/England H-T/F-T @1.45 Sportsbet

Over 3.5 goals @8-5 888Sport

England 5 Lithuania 0 @17-1 BetVictor

England 6 Lithuania 0 @40-1 Coral

Kane to score and England win @10-11 Ladbrokes

Rooney to score and England win @8-11 Ladbrokes

England to score 4 or more goals @5-2 Coral