World Cup 2010 - English Bets: Chapter 1

The World Cup is only one week away and there are a lot of interesting bets involving not only the English national team but also the Premier League teams. Yep, even during off season.

Fabio Capello finally named his selection of 23 players and Walcott axe was the only surprise. As England has a relatively easy group - a win over USA on the first of the group will practically ensure their place in the knockout stage. England will probably have to meet France somewhere on the road to the semis, but with its current squad, a win over the Frenchmen shouldn't be a hard task. If this will go according to plan and if English players will be able to finally show their talent on the biggest stage in the world - winning the World Cup itself is a real option. Placing a bet on this to happen has a great value with odds of 7 decimal. Now all that is left is to prey for Rooney’s groin to recover…

We will do our best to bring you with bargain bets throughout the World Cup starting tomorrow when we’ll show you some value bets in bets involving players, Premier League Teams and the World Cup!

By the way, 15% of BetUknow users predict England as winners, come and place your World Cup bets in BetUknow's new predictions game, The Predictor Challenge

A tight competition

8 matches to go till the end of the Premier League season and things at the top of the table are still unclear. Just as it seemed that we’re heading to a Manchester United – Chelsea battle all over again, Arsenal came from behind, grabbed a couple of wins and took advantage of both United and Chelsea slip-ups to form one of the tightest championship fights we had in recent years.
It would be very interesting to see how Chelsea handle the unexpected elimination from the Champions League at such an early stage. This shocking home defeat to Inter Milan can cause a sort of a turmoil Chelsea can find themselves on the losing end of a couple of matches, resulting in forfeiting the title. This weekend is a huge test for Carlo Ancelotti’s lads.

While Arsenal has a relatively easy home match against West-Ham united (even though the mini London derby is never too easy), Chelsea plays against Blackburn in Ewood Park in a tough match. 71% of BetUknow's members predict Chelsea as winners. Nevertheless, the most interesting game of the week sees Manchester United host Liverpool. Man Utd are on a great run (well…actually Rooney is in a great form, and that's enough), while Liverpool cannot manage to win more than 2 matches in a row, falling one point behind the fourth Champions League spot. The majority of BetUknow members predict that Manchester United will win the match, and, quite frankly, this looks reasonable.

Come choose your winners here BetUknow

A crucial period

As I see things, we are now entering the most crucial period of the season. The players are in great conditions, the Champions League is back and the FA and Carling Cups are getting to the crucial stages.
This month will supply us with the answers whether Arsenal is to remain a title contender, alongside with Chelsea and Man Utd, can Liverpool fight back for 4th place, battling Aston Villa, Manchester City and Tottenham to it, and also - which teams will run safe and which ones will fight against relegation, as only 4 points separate the 5 last teams in the table (excluding Portsmouth).

Well, this weekend will get us closer to the answers. Chelsea host Arsenal for a crucial match on Sunday – a win for the blues and Arsenal can forget about the title race. A day before that will see Liverpool host Everton in the Merseyside derby, and their level of performance they showed last week, in their unconvincing win over Bolton, won't be enough. Liverpool must win and perform well if they want to play Champions League football the next season. In two other matches, Burnley host West Ham and Sunderland host Wigan and these teams need the points to start their escape from the relegation zone.

56% of BetUknow members think that Liverpool will win the Merseyside derby, and more than 60% predict Chelsea to win the London derby. Place your fantasy bets to win real prizes @ Betuknow

Happy new Premier League year

The Christmas is here and we are about to enjoy 5 straight days of English football. Due to the congestion of the matches during this period of time, good performances are the key to keep your season on track. Take Chelsea, for instance, they have to win both their matches in order to maintain the 4 points gap at the top of the table, since no less than 4 of their players will be leaving for the African Championship games.
Portsmouth must also try and win as many points as they can before the departure of Kanu, Dindane and Belhaj, while Manchester City with new manager Mancini must win in order to prove that they can truly leave Hughes' saga behind and start a new era. So in conclusion – some team will have a merry Christmas while other will… uhhh… won’t!

I chose to highlight a couple of tight and herd-to-predict matches, as you can find great odds in them:

Fulham-Tottenham (2.9/3.3/2.5) - (bwin, Expekt, Ladbrokes) It'll be interesting to see whether Tottenham can break into big 4 and continue their great form after 2 wins in a raw, one of them an impressive 3-0 over Manchester City. Still, they run into high flying Fulham, who are on a 5 match unbeaten run, and winning their last home match 3-0 over Manchester United.

Sunderland-Everton (2.4/3.4/3) - (Ladbrokes, Ladbrokes, Expekt. The Black Cats won only once in their last nine games and have slipped into 10th position. This is a huge opportunity for them to try and get back on track, showing the same skills that helped them climb up the table on couple of months ago. Still, they have a high obstacle in the form of Everton. The Toffees struggle to find their form, earning a dull home point with Birmingham a week after a huge 3-3 away draw at Chelsea. This inconsistency means they hover only 2 points above the relegation position. You don’t have to be too witty to realize that Everton must win in order to revive their Premier League inspirations

BetUknow members predict a draw in both matches. You can try and take these two bets, as one is enough in order to make some decent profit.
Place your fantasy bets @ BetUknow

This season shows that anything can happen

This season’s Premiership offers a chance for everyone. Unlike previous years, where the top 4 used to hammer every other team, this season see them concede points on regular basis. Last weekend saw Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool lose points on home soil. If that wasn’t enough, the midweek matches saw both Chelsea and Liverpool struggle to beat much inferior opponents as Portsmouth and Wigan.
Still, in contrast to Chelsea and United, which top the table, Liverpool form not only sent them all the way down to 6th place, 5 points adrift of Aston Villa in 4th, but it also canceled Liverpool main strength of recent years – playing at Anfield. You don’t have to be rich or even too strong to take points from Liverpool at Anfield, as the draw results with Manchester City and Birmingham suggest. As long as this won’t change – Liverpool should not even dream of making it to a Champions League spot.
Still, why Rafa is pondering of how to solve this, he’ll have to wary on his Saturday trip to the south the face the rejuvenating Portsmouth. Since Avram Grant was appointed things calmed down a bit, but there is no doubt he has his work cut out for his, as Pompey’s squad lack the quality and depth. Surviving in the Premier League will be a miracle as Pompey look too weak, but if Grant want to keep this dream alive – he has to come up with something from the home match with Liverpool.

It’s not surprising to see the bookies consider Liverpool as clear favorites for this one (1.55 @ Bwin), but this season shows that anything can happen. BetUknow bettors predict Liverpool as winners, share your thoughts with us @ Betuknow

Liverpool's lost season

The 16 teams which qualified to the next round of the Champions League were determined yesterday, and the absence of Liverpool from this list is amazing, consider the relative weakness of this year’s Champions League. In recent years Rafa Benitez knew that as long he completes a good Champions League campaign will give him the support and confidence from his owners and supporters, regardless of his achievements in the Premier League.

But now, with the Champions League campaign over, Rafa will have to start and bring results from Liverpool's next matches in the Premier League. Not an easy task for a team that lies 12 points behind league leaders Chelsea, to say the least, but that’s the only way for him to save his job at Merseyside. Well, he’ll have his work cut out for him, as his next match sees Arsenal coming to Anfield.

In my opinion there is nothing Rafa can do to save this bad season. Moreover, at the moment I can't even see Liverpool finish in the top 4. The squad it too thin, the players are not good enough and, apparently, Rafa has lost his magic. A win on Sunday might be the first step in the right direction, but a defeat will probably make Rafa a dead man walking, leaving Aston Villa, Tottenham and Manchester City to fight on the 4th and last Champions League spot

BetUknow members predict that the match will end in a draw (3.25 @ Expekt). Predict the outcome of this and other Premier League matches here:
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A crucial match for Liverpool

This Premier league weekend brings us a couple of interesting and crucial matches. Let’s take a look at two of them:

Liverpool vs. Manchester City-
Liverpool host Manchester City in a match which will determine the rest of the former's season. In recent seasons, Liverpool's focus was set on the Champions league. It seemed that all Rafa Benitez was aiming for was to win the Champions League, and if this wasn’t enough – he saw the Premiership as a way to qualify to next season’s Champions League. Winning the title wasn’t as important to him as seeing Liverpool drawn to the groups stage of the Champions League.
Alas, it looks that only a miracle will get Liverpool to the Round of 16, and although miracles are quite fond of Liverpool, we find it hard to see this happen. At the same time, Chelsea have opened an 11 point gap from Liverpool at the top of the table and Liverpool’s season is so bad so far, that they find themselves 6 points adrift a Champions League spot. Since Manchester City are also fighting for a place in next year’s Champions League, Liverpool face a must-win situation here.

Sunderland vs. Arsenal-
Sunderland, which show great form since Steve Bruce took over, play against Arsenal. Arsenal play the most exciting football this season and if Sunderland want to keep their run and challenge for the Europa League spot, they will have to take some points from Arsene Wenger's talented team.
According to the bookies, Sunderland chances to win the match are not high, with odds of 6.2 it seems like no one really thinks they will take all 3 points. Still, this looks like a good way to make some money if you really believe the Black Cats are capable of producing a shock result…

Place your fantasy bets now - BetUknow

Chelsea vs. Manchester United

I know that this is still an early stage of the season, but the match between Chelsea and Manchester United on Sunday is crucial to the championship battle.
Both teams secured a place in the Champions Round of 16 and can now set their focus on the Premiership title. Well, at least till February. Chelsea are the current leaders of the Premier League, with 27 points, but Manchester United are breathing down their necks in second place, with only two points separating them.
As their league position shows, both teams have started the current season in great form, despite the taking only a point from their last Champions League matches.
A 5 points gap will give Chelsea a great advantage in the Championship title race and while knowing that, BetUknow community believes that Chelsea are the better team and will be the happier side at the end of the day.

Surprising Results

The last couple of weeks brought some surprises in Premier League: Stoke winning at White Hart Lane, Wolves taking a point back home from Goodison Park, Chelsea's two away losses to Aston Villa and Wigan and Liverpool's impressive performance in their home match with Manchester United.
That was quite a long intro, won’t you say? The reason for me to do so what to practically get you ready for this statement: “I have no idea how this weekend's fixtures will end!!!”. Fulham host Liverpool, Portsmouth seeking their 2nd win at home against the unpredictable Wigan Athletic, Everton looking for a win against Aston Villa in order to narrow the 6 points gap between them, and London's derby between Arsenal and Tottenham can go either way. No easy matches on the line. In fact, there are no easy matches in the Premiership this season…
Still, let’s focus on the Arsenal – Tottenham match.
Arsenal are coming to the derby in a good form, winning 4 out of their last 5 matches. Tottenham, on the other hand, have gained only 4 points out of 9 from their last 3 matches, which put their great start to the season in perspective…
BetUknow's community sees Arsenal as the derby winners. What do you think ?

3 Interesting Matches

After a short break, the Premier League is back with a lot of top action in this weekend’s fixtures.
Chelsea travels to Villa Park on a mission to keep the gap between it and Manchester United, as the red devils play at home against Bolton.
Liverpool is playing away against a high-flying Sunderland squad who’s enjoying a great start to the season. Liverpool must win in order to keep the championship hopes alive as a 9 points gap could sabotage their chances of winning the title, even at such an early stage of the season. This match also features the league’s current top goal scorer Fernando Torres (8 goals) and the person right on his tail, Darren Bent (7), in a battle to find the net.
Another interesting match this round is between Tottenham and Portsmouth. Pompey lost 7 of their first 8 matches, if they continue with their current form they will see themselves in the same position at the end of the season (a championship spot). It would be interesting to see whether Avram Grant, former Chelsea manager and Pompey's new director of football, will be able to put them back on track.

Use BetUknow's widget to predict the winner in the Pompey vs. Spurs match: