Friday 30 September 2011

WEEKEND TIPS - 1ST OCTOBER

If you're like Carlos Tevez, you have plenty of money lying around and aren't doing much this weekend - so what better way to invest your cash than by betting on this weekend's football action. Here are Tactical Gamble's tips for matches in the top four divisions in England this weekend:


Tottenham to beat Arsenal - 6/5 (Boylesports, Bet Fred, Paddy Power, William Hill)
Leeds to beat Portsmouth - 19/20 (William Hill)
Preston to beat Leyton Orient - 23/20 (Sporting Bet)
Burton Albion to beat Bradford - 21/20 (William Hill)


A £10 accumulator on these four outcomes with William Hill would pocket you £175.89!


Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal (Kick off Sunday 4pm)

Arsene Wenger in 1996
Arsene Wenger celebrates his 15th anniversary as Arsenal boss with a trip to White Hart Lane this Sunday, as they face bitter rivals Tottenham in the first North London derby of the season. The fixture is traditionally one Wenger and his side have relished but results from previous seasons will mean nothing as his under-performing team face a rejuvenated Spurs side on Sunday.

Harry Redknapp’s side have put their poor start to the season behind them and have now won their last three league games without conceding a goal. The arrival of Scott Parker and the return to form of Luka Modric has Spurs purring again and having rested several key players during their midweek victory over Shamrock Rovers, the Spurs squad will be fresher than their opponents and confident of picking up all three points on Sunday.
Destined to score?

Clashes between these two teams have always produced goals and controversy and the presence of Emmanuel Adebayor provides an intriguing sub-plot to this iconic derby fixture. The Togo striker and is 19/1 with Unibet to repeat his infamous knee-sliding celebration from 2009 in front of the Arsenal fans this weekend. Or alternatively you can focus on the football and get odds of 5/1 that he’ll be the first goalscorer with Bet 365, Victor Chandler and Bwin.

Whilst Arsenal seemed to have steadied the ship somewhat with recent victories over Bolton and Olympiakos, Tactical Gamble can see them falling victim to a Spurs side whose ultra-attacking line up will be confident of getting goals against a leaky Arsenal defence who have conceded 12 goals on the road this season.

Leeds United v Portsmouth (Kick off Saturday 3pm)

Ross is Boss in the Championship
Portsmouth have struggled on the road this season, having only picked up 2 points in 4 games, and will be without several key players including Luke Varney, Dave Kitson and Aaron Mokoena. Meanwhile Leeds have continued their good form at Elland Road with 3 wins out of 4 and they have the Championships top scorer, Ross McCormack, in formidable form having scored 6 goals in his last 4 league games. With McCormack in a purple patch and a full strength squad playing in front of 30000 home fans, Simon Grayson’s side should be comfortable victors this Saturday and Portsmouth could be in for a grim time up north.

Leyton Orient v Preston North End (Kick off 3pm Saturday 3pm)

Mellor - 7 goals in League One
Last week, Leyton Orient stunned Huddersfield (and this site!) with a late comeback against Huddersfield to earn only their third point of the season. However Tactical Gamble predicts lightning won’t strike twice and think the O’s will struggle to pick up their first win of the season against high flying Preston on Saturday. Phil Brown’s side are enjoying their best start to a campaign since 1952 and have Neil Mellor banging in goals, so Preston will fancy their chances of picking up all 3 points against bottom side Orient - and adding more goals to the 10 they have already netted away from home this season.

Burton Albion v Bradford City (Kick off 3pm Saturday 3pm)

Paul Peschisolido’s Burton Albion play host to the struggling Bradford City this Saturday and will be looking to bounce back from their disappointing loss to Gillingham last weekend. The Brewers are unbeaten at home so far this season and their injury concerns at the back have been eased by the signing of experienced defender Kevin Amankwaah on a free transfer. Their opponents Bradford have had a dreadful start to the season and have lost their last three games in League Two and look certain to be embarrassed on Saturday – and not just because of their shocking pink away kit!

Thursday 22 September 2011

The weekend is upon us again and what better to spend your hard earned money on than by betting on the weekend fixtures in English football. Here are Tactical Gamble's pick of the games in the top four divisions:

QPR to beat Aston Villa - 11/8 (Bet 365, Bodog, Ladbrokes, Sky Bet, Victor Chandler)
Middlesbrough to beat Ipswich - 8/11 (Coral, Ladbrokes)
Huddersfield to beat Leyton Orient - 1/2 (Coral, Ladbrokes)
Crawley to beat Aldershot - 6/4 (Bet 365, Coral, Ladbrokes, Victor Chandler)

A £10 accumulator on these four games at Ladbrokes would win you £153.84!

QPR v Aston Villa (Kick Off, Sunday 4pm)

Barton and co have been the catalysts for QPR's recent form
QPR fans haven't seen a Premier League victory at Loftus Road since 1996, but hopes are high ahead of Sunday's clash with Villa. After a disastrous opening result against Bolton, QPR have picked up 7 points from their last 4 games and now lie in 9th place. Their squad looked inexperienced and threadbare after the first three games of the campaign but the signings of experienced players such as Joey Barton, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Anton Ferdinand have added much needed quality and experienced to the team and produced immediate results. An impressive display at home to Newcastle was followed by a resounding 3-0 win against Wolves and Neil Warnock's men seem to have been given a new lease of life thanks to their deadline day signings and look a decent bet to secure their first league win of the season.
Villa, meanwhile, are currently unbeaten in the league and Alex McLeish has enjoyed a steady if not spectacular start to his tenure at Villa Park. However they have not won in their last four outings and looked unimpressive as they slumped to a defeat in the Carling Cup against Bolton in midweek, so they look as though they could fall victim to a resurgent QPR on Sunday afternoon.

Middlesbrough v Ipswich Town (Kick off Saturday 3pm)

Thumbs up for Boro so far
Despite being knocked out of the League Cup in midweek, Middlesbrough are a team in great league form at the moment, having won 5 out of their last 7 games in the Championship. Boro had a disappointing campaign last year and fell well short of their promotion favourites tag but Tony Mowbray (left) seems to have instilled a new belief into the squad and has players like Marvin Emnes and Barry Robson playing at the top of their game to provide a potent attacking edge to the Teeside club.
This Saturday Boro take on an Ipswich side who have conceded 9 goals in 3 away games this season and who have yet to find any consistency this season. Speculation about the future of manager Paul Jewell is bound to have a negative effect on the Tractor Boys as they face one of the Championship's form teams and I expect Boro to run out convincing winners at the Riverside.

Huddersfield Town v Leyton Orient (Kick off Saturday 3pm)

Lee Clark's side have not lost in 34 league games and they will be confident they can extend that run against Leyton Orient this weekend. Huddersfield had a shaky start to the campaign but impressive displays against Sheffield United and MK Dons have shown that they are strong promotion candidates and their clinical attack of Novak, Lee and Arfield should ensure a comfortable victory against an Orient side jaded by their midweek exploits against Blackburn in the Carling Cup.

Aldershot Town v Crawley Town (Kick off Saturday 3pm)

Another team likely to be fatigued by their Carling Cup heroics are Aldershot, who qualified for the fourth round after an impressive victory over Rochdale on Tuesday. The Shots are unbeaten in 6 league games but their players will find it difficult to maintain their recent form against a Crawley side who have coped well with promotion, despite the odd hiding they have been given on their travels. Steve Evans's men will be fresh having not played in midweek and their odds of getting all 3 points against Aldershot are very generous indeed.

Thursday 1 September 2011

EURO TIPS - FRIDAY QUALIFIERS

Friday is the best day of the week, as Rebecca Black has made abundantly clear. This Friday though has been made even better by the fact there is wall-to-wall international football for your viewing pleasure, with some significant clashes happening in some of the Euro 2012 qualifying groups. Here are some of them:


Bulgaria v England, kick off 7.15pm GMT


England are currently neck and neck with Montenegro at the top of Group G and while they hope their rivals will slip up against the struggling Wales, Fabio Capello's men face a tough test in Sofia. Bulgaria have been disappointing in qualifying so far with only 5 points from 5 games and have struggled since the retirement of their long term talisman Dimitar Berbatov, but Lothar Matthaus's side will make life very difficult for England on Friday and the draw is best priced at 3/1 with Sky Bet, Totesport and Bet Fred
5 in 3 for Rooney so far this season



However England have looked most convincing when playing away from home in this qualifying campaign with resounding wins in Switzerland and Wales, so expect the Three Lions to walk away with three points in Bulgaria and with Wayne Rooney in imperious form for his club, he looks a decent bet for first goal scorer at 9/2 with Coral.




Ireland v Slovakia, kick off 7.45pm GMT


Probably the pick of Friday's matches is the top of the group clash between Ireland and Slovakia at the Aviva Stadium. Group B is currently as tight as Bill Kenwright's wallet with Ireland, Slovakia and Russia all on 13 points with 4 games to play which makes Friday's clash in Dublin of immense importance.


The Slovakian side are extremely defensive and will look to counter attack through their pacey wingers Vladimir Weiss and Miroslav Stoch, but goals have been scarce with the Slovaks so the 0-0 draw at 15/2 with Stan James is a real possibility.


Shane is no Long shot


However if there is one man who is more than capable of breaking the deadlock in this crucial game, its the in-form Shane Long. Giovanni Trappatoni has shown great faith in the West Brom forward by naming him in the starting XI ahead of usual regular Kevin Doyle and after scoring 2 out of 3 for his club so far this season, he looks a decent bet for first goal scorer at 11/2 with several bookmakers including Boylesports, Sporting Bet and Bodog.






Northern Ireland v Serbia, kick off 7.45pm GMT


The Windsor Wizard will need to produce some magic
His heroics in their last qualifier earned him the nickname 'The Derry Pele' and Pat McCourt can be found at 12/1 with Sky Bet to open the scoring at Windsor Park this Friday. This time, however, his Northern Ireland side will be up against considerably tougher opponents than the Faroe Islands as they take on Serbia, who will be without their captain and defensive leader Nemanja Vidic.


The atmosphere at Windsor Park will be electric as Nigel Worthington's side hope to secure 2nd place in Group C behind runaway leaders Italy and three points against group rivals Serbia would go some way to keep their Euro 2012 dream alive. However the Serbs have experienced players who will deal the atmosphere and last time around they defeated Northern Ireland 2-1, so they represent good value with Sky BetBoylesports and William Hill at 6/5 for the win this Friday.