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