Tag: Liverpool

Premiership Preview Feb 28th – March 1st

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

What a miserable week that was for British teams in Europe! Manchester City and Arsenal are on the ropes in the Champions League while Liverpool, Tottenham and Celtic all went out of the much-maligned Europa League. City really should be dead and buried but Lionel Messi’s incredible double miss left their hopes dangling by a thread. There was no such reprieve for Arsenal and they will need to produce something spectacular to get out the hole that they have dug for themselves against Monaco.

Premiership leaders Chelsea play Tottenham in Sunday’s Capital One Cup final as Jose Mourinho bids to win his first trophy since re-joining the Blues. It can hardly be called a drought after one season but they won’t have it easy having lost 5-3 against Spurs in the league this season. Mourinho’s side will also be keeping an eye on title rivals City who could cut their lead to just two points if they win at Liverpool on Sunday.

It was ironic that Mario Balotelli was substituted before the penalty shoot-out, one of the few things that the Italian is good for. Perhaps not the most inspired piece of management by Brendan Rodgers but he won’t care if they can beat City on Sunday. The Premiership title holders seemed to be back firing on all cylinders after scoring nine goals in two Premiership matches but they looked clueless against Barcelona. If in doubt, go for the draw seems the best policy.

That could apply to a number of games this weekend with the clash between Stoke and Hull and London derby between West Ham and Crystal Palace looking evenly matched. The Hammers have flattered only to deceive on a number of occasions in recent weeks and their failure to hold on to a 2-0 lead at Tottenham last week summed up their season.

Man United stumbled against Swansea but should get back on track at home to Sunderland. There is no sign yet of the miraculous form that took the Black Cats to safety a year ago, but it is still early days in the relegation battle. Everton could end up being the sole surviving British team in Europe and they travel to Arsenal who must be stunned by their Champions League defeat. Will the Gunners be able to resume normal service? 11-2 looks a big price for Everton.

High-flying Southampton were disappointing against Liverpool last weekend and could suffer a further blow at West Brom on Saturday. Albion are looking much better under Tony Pulis and 5-2 under-estimates their chances.

West Ham v Crystal Palace DRAW @5-2 Ladbrokes

Man United to beat Sunderland @2-5 Paddy Power

Stoke v Hull City DRAW @5-2 Totesport

West Brom to beat Southampton @5-2 BetBright

Liverpool v Man City DRAW @13-5 Bet365

Everton to beat Arsenal @11-2 William Hill

Europa League Preview February 26th

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Liverpool, Everton, Tottenham and Celtic are in action in the Europa League on Thursday as they bid for a place in the last sixteen. Although this competition is the poor relation of the Champions League, it can still provide plenty of entertainment as the Celtic versus Inter Milan tie illustrated last week.

Inter cruised into a 2-0 lead before Celtic hit back and a see-saw game ended 3-3. The Italians won’t be taking anything for granted in the second leg and look a solid bet to go through. Italian teams are famous for their ability to defend slender leads so it was surprising to see them ship three goals at Celtic Park. Argentine striker Rodrigo Palacio scored twice in the first leg and has been rested this week. He is worth supporting in the goalscorer markets.

Everton will be going through the motions when they host Young Boys with a 4-1 first leg lead. Romelu Lukaku scored a hat-trick in the reverse fixture but was unable to produce the same clinical finishing in the Premier League at the weekend as the Toffees scrambled a 2-2 draw at home to Leicester. They shouldn’t need him tonight as it is virtually a dead rubber and one to avoid, betting wise.

Liverpool still have work to do in Turkey against Besiktas with only Mario Balotelli’s controversial penalty to defend. The arrogant Italian grabbed all the headlines in a dour encounter at Anfield and it would be no surprise to see him heading for pastures new in the summer. Besiktas aren’t anything special but they are good enough to make Liverpool work hard for a place in the next round. The best bet may be Liverpool in the “draw – no bet” market.

Tottenham are level with Fiorentina after a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane. Mauricio Pochettino tried to rotate his squad for the first leg but ended up in no-man’s land with a poor result and his side being extremely fortunate to salvage a point against West Ham. He is now trying to save enough for Sunday’s Capital One Cup final against Chelsea and his team selection will tell us how serious he is about this competition.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see his plans blow up in his face with this match stretching to extra-time or even penalties. I think Spurs will go through but it may cost them at the weekend.

Liverpool to win DRAW NO BET @4-5 Coral

Inter Milan to beat Celtic @8-13 SkyBet

Rodrigo Palacio to score at any time @8-5 Paddy Power

Tottenham to qualify for last 16 @6-4 Bet365

Premiership Preview Feb 21st – 22nd

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After last week’s FA Cup matches, the Premiership returns this weekend as Chelsea and Man City renew their chase for the title.

The Blues maintained a 7-point advantage thanks to Willian’s 89th minute winner against a stubborn Everton side last week. They are at home to struggling Burnley while City welcome Newcastle to the Etihad in the late kick-off. Chelsea will be eager to apply the pressure on Manuel Pellegrini’s side by stretching their advantage to ten points.

Chelsea fought out a 1-1 draw in Paris on Tuesday, albeit with a rather negative display. Diego Costa looked a bit rusty after his three-match ban for the stamping incident against Liverpool and will be looking to improve on his performance on Saturday. Burnley have been playing well without much reward in recent weeks. Even if they do break the Chelsea back line, the chances are that the Clarets will concede. The value may be in the goalscorer market with Juan Cuadrado impressing in his limited playing time so far. This could be the ideal platform for the Colombian to open his account for the Blues in a comfortable home win.

City should beat Newcastle, especially now that Sergio Aguero has rediscovered his shooting boots. Two goals against Stoke should have cleared away any cobwebs and he can hit the target again so ensure that City hang on to Chelsea’s coat tails.

There are two cracking games on Sunday with Tottenham facing West Ham and Southampton at home to Liverpool. The Hammers took a beating at West Brom in the Cup while Spurs spluttered to a 1-1 draw against Fiorentina in the Europa League. Sam Allardyce’s side have been suffering with injuries recently and could be on the receiving end of another hiding at White Hart Lane. Mauricio Pochettino tried to rest Harry Kane on Thursday, ironic considering he was a regular starter in Europe at the start of the season before forcing his way into the side. No prizes for imagination but Kane can score in another home win.

Liverpool have scraped a couple of nervous victories with goals from Mario Balotelli recently and it will be interesting to see whether he makes the line-up on Sunday. He did himself no favours with his insistence on jumping the queue to take the penalty. Southampton were unlucky not to get a result at Anfield at the start of the season and can make amends here.

Juan Cuadrado (Chelsea) to score at any time @9-4 Betfred

Chelsea 3 Burnley 1 @12-1 Bet365

Sergio Aguero (Man City) to score first @7-2 Betfair

Sergio Aguero to score 2 or more goals @19-5 Boylesports

Man City 4 Newcastle 2 @50-1 Betfred

Tottenham 3 West Ham 1 @14-1 Coral

Harry Kane (Spurs) to score first @7-2 Coral

Southampton to beat Liverpool at 8-5 Paddy Power

Europa League Preview 19th February

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After the opening matches in the last 16 of the Champions League, attention switches to the Europa League with Everton, Liverpool, Spurs and Celtic in action on Thursday.

24 teams have battled through the group stages to reach the last 32 and have now been joined by the Champions League “failures”. Chelsea won the trophy in 2013 after being eliminated at the group stage and Liverpool will try to emulate them this season.

Brendan Rodgers has got to prioritise the Premier League, FA Cup and this competition but there are excellent reasons to pursue all three. Their recent victory over Tottenham revived hopes of a top four finish while the Europa League winners now qualify for the Champions League. Having missed out on a Capital One Cup final, the club are intent on providing Steven Gerrard with a grandstand finish in the FA Cup.

They face Besiktas in the first leg at Anfield with the familiar figure of Demba Ba returning to the scene of his breakaway goal for Chelsea that all but ended Liverpool’s title charge last season. Besiktas finished above Tottenham in their group and should provide the Reds with a tough test, especially if Rodgers fields a weakened team. Daniel Sturridge is certain to be involved at some stage but I don’t expect this to be plain sailing for Liverpool.

Roberto Martinez has managed to end Everton’s miserable run of form in recent weeks, largely by playing defensive football. They came within moments of keeping a fourth consecutive clean sheet against Chelsea having shut out Liverpool. They will surely adopt a similar policy when they travel to Young Boys, a dangerous opponent with seven consecutive European wins. Their impressive group form included a 2-0 win against Napoli and they could prove too good for the Toffees with home advantage.

Tottenham are at home to Fiorentina, a side that includes Micah Richards, Alberto Aquilani and Mohamed Salah. The latter has already opened his account since joining the Italian side from Chelsea in January. They beat Sassuolo 3-1 on Saturday and will give Mauricio Pochettino’s side plenty to think about here. However, Fiorentina have only kept one clean sheet in twelve and Spurs have enough fire power to gain a first leg advantage.

Celtic face Roberto Mancini’s Inter Milan at Celtic Park and will need to grab a lead if they are to have any chance of progressing. They won their eighth successive match when beating St Johnstone on Saturday while Inter have also improved recently on the domestic front. They are still languishing in mid-table and struggled through the group phase but could have enough class to win away from home.

Young Boys to beat Everton @19-10 Totesport, Betfred

Inter Milan to beat Celtic @31-20 BetVictor

Liverpool v Besiktas DRAW @16-5 BetVictor

Tottenham to beat Fiorentina @5-4 Bet365

FA Cup Fifth Round Preview

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Betcirca football followers were 20 points up on Wednesday night’s Premiership games after we correctly forecast the score for the matches at Old Trafford and St Mary’s. Profits could easily have been doubled had Branislav Ivanovic broken the deadlock at Stamford Bridge. Unfortunately he had one disallowed, blazed another over the bar and had a decent shot saved by Howard in the Everton goal.

The Premiership gives way to the FA Cup this weekend and the shock exit of Chelsea and Man City in the last round has left us with a rather bland set of fixtures. No doubt supporters of the sixteen remaining clubs would beg to differ so we’ll see if we can find some value bets for die-hard FA Cup enthusiasts.

The tie of the round is probably Crystal Palace versus Liverpool, Saturday’s late kick-off. The Reds survived by the skin of their teeth in the previous round against Bolton and struck late again in midweek against Spurs. That 3-2 victory has re-ignited their hopes of finishing in the top four so there must be danger of some squad rotation from Brendan Rodgers on Saturday.

If any Premiership team is going to be fully committed to the FA Cup you would expect them to be those in mid-table, not worried by relegation but too far down to be in contention for Europe. Crystal Palace fit the bill quite nicely and it may be worth taking Alan Pardew’s men to cause an upset.

The early kick-off sees West Brom host West Ham and I favour the home side to capitalise on the fact that the Hammers have endured two very tough matches in the past week. They were robbed of a victory in injury-time by Man United on Sunday but clung on with ten men against Southampton on Wednesday. They lost their goalkeeper to a red card and Andy Carroll picked up another knock so it could be a patched-up West Ham team that takes the field.

I don’t see Arsenal slipping up against Middlesbrough on Sunday and they can be backed to win comfortably and it should be a similar story for Man United at Preston on Monday. Van Gaal’s team selection is anybody’s guess so the goalscorer markets may be best avoided. It is difficult to predict the outcome of the game between managerless Aston Villa and rudderless Leicester while Stoke could struggle at Blackburn after their 4-1 home defeat by Man City.

Crystal Palace to beat Liverpool by one goal @9-2 Paddy Power

West Brom to beat West Ham @7-5 Bet365

Saido Berahino to score at any time @2-1 Betfair

Arsenal (-1.0 handicap) to beat Middlesbrough @6-5 Bet365

Man United (-1.0 handicap) to beat Preston @5-4 Bet365

Arsenal to pile the pressure on Pearson

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The Premiership title race took a big swing in Chelsea’s direction at the weekend with Man City stumbling to a draw at home to Hull City. There is still plenty of time for further twists and turns with the top two in action again on Wednesday night.

Tuesday night sees five of the bottom six teams in action with two relegation battles and Leicester visiting Arsenal. The Foxes have been in the news in recent days for media speculation surrounding the future of coach Nigel Pearson.

Pearson was involved in an undignified scuffle with Crystal Palace midfield James McArthur in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat. Rumours circulated that he had been sacked and four hours passed before the club issued a denial. The bookmakers see it as no more than delaying the inevitable and are already betting on Pearson’s successor.

A trip to the Emirates is not ideal for a manager under fire, particularly with the Gunners keen to erase memories of their weekend defeat in the North London derby. Arsenal led in that match through Mesut Ozil but two goals from Harry Kane allowed Spurs to leapfrog their rivals in the chase for a Champions League spot. With Tottenham facing a tricky visit to Anfield on Tuesday, Arsenal could easily repair the damage with a comfortable home win.

Arsene Wenger felt that the loss of Alexis Sanchez to a hamstring injury prior to Saturday’s game was a big blow. His leading scorer is fit to return to action and it will be very surprising if he is not in the starting line-up. With the likes of Ozil and Walcott approaching peak form, Arsenal can win this to pile further pressure on Pearson.

Tottenham have performed better in the big games than they have done in previous seasons but are still prone to the odd slip-up. Their recent record against Liverpool is abysmal but they managed to stop Chelsea and Arsenal in their tracks. The match is being billed as the clash between Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane but it is more likely to be contested in midfield. Liverpool lacked creativity against Everton in the bore draw at Goodison Park and could face another stalemate here.

The two relegation battles are difficult to call, particularly in the light of fine performances from Aston Villa and Hull at the weekend. Villa emerged with credit despite losing at home to Chelsea and ended their long wait for a goal just minutes short of eleven hours. Hull were desperately unlucky not to win at the Etihad and they will also be encouraged. A draw looks the most likely outcome.

QPR’s away form is the stuff of legends with no points in twelve matches. Sunderland are the hosts this time and Gus Poyet’s team could take a giant step towards safety with three points here. The signing of Jermain Defoe is looking like a good piece of business and the Black Cats are taken to edge it by a single goal.

Sunderland to win by a single goal @13-5 BetVictor

Jermain Defoe to score at any time @7-5 Paddy Power

Alexis Sanchez to score and Arsenal win @5-4 Ladbrokes

Arsenal 3 Leicester 0 @8-1 Bet365

Hull v Aston Villa DRAW @9-4 Bet365

Liverpool v Tottenham DRAW @29-10 Bet365