Premier League betting – Stoke vs Wigan

Stoke City vs Wigan Athletic betting odds, tips & free bets

Stoke City: League Position: 9th, League Form: DWDWL

Stoke City’s season has been over since Yaya Toure smashed a left footed drive into the back of their Wembley net as Manchester City took the honours in the FA Cup Final last weekend. The midweek clash between the same two sides was a walk in the park for Tevez and his Manchester City teammates, and Tony Pulis’ men have little to play for coming into this last tie. 

However, they are not a team to be taken lightly in front of their own fans and, without doubt, Pulis will not let his troops end the season on such a low. Their home form, WDWDWW from their last six home games, suggests they are finishing the season strongly at The Britannia Stadium. Kenwyne Jones has found his feet lately too, with five goals in the past eight games, joint top scorer at the club with 12 goals. 

In fact, other than the pride of their own fans, the only thing they are fighting for is a first top ten finish in the top division since 1975.

Matthew Etherington and Jermaine Pennant are both fighting injuries to be fit for this last game, although it would be easily understood if neither was risked for a game holding no importance to the side, whilst Robert Huth is not expected to recover from a knee ligament strain. 

Wigan Athletic: League Position: 19th, League Form: WLDDW

The fight for survival reaches the final hurdle this Sunday for Wigan, and having been out of the bottom three for only three weeks in 2011, they can only be happy to be going into the final day five-way battle with a chance of survival. Their comeback last week at home to West Ham turned them from relegation fodder to serious players in the last day drama, and can look at the other teams involved, see their fixtures and think themselves safe with a win.

For a team so inconsistent they have lost only two of their last eight, but they have struggled all season for goals (only Birmingham have scored less) and have kept only one clean sheet since the turn of the year. Much depends on star turn Charles N’Zogbia, who has five goals in his past five games, and dictates everything good coming from Roberto Martinez’s side. 

Wigan have a clean bill of health going into the game, and now they must do the job themselves if they want to stay in the Premier League. 

Match Prediction: Draw – 3.6 Bet365

The final day drama is near impossible to predict, what with the inconsistent performances, the desire of the teams the relegation candidates are matched with and the pressure on each and every player, but a point away at the fortress that is the Britannia Stadium may end up a great result for Wigan, enough to hoist them above Blackpool and Birmingham considering their tough away fixtures. 

Stoke will fight, and are not a team to be taken lightly however little importance this tie may really hold for them. Wigan fans should worry if they go a goal behind, they are not hosting the shambles of West Ham this week, and Stoke have not lost a league match in which they opened the scoring this season. They will also not want a memorable season to fade so tamely, and it may be that their awful defeat to Manchester City was embarrassment enough to motivate them ahead of this game. 

And for all the glory of such a comeback last week, Wigan looked the team most likely to lose as the game opened up like a basketball match. West Ham had glorious chances only seconds before N’Zogbia scored the decider. They are defensively weak, and Stoke will bombard their opponents, looking for each and every weakness. 

The in form Kenwyne Jones and Charles N’Zogbia seem the most likely to score and both could be worthy of a bet depending how you think the game may go. 

Highlighted Bets:-

Over/Under: Over 2.5 Goals – 1.91 Stan James
First Goalscorer: Kenwyne Jones – 7.5 Victor Chandler
Correct Score: 2-2 Draw – 15.00 William Hill
Both Teams to Score: Yes – 1.73 ToteSport
Blackpool and Birmingham to be Relegated: 2.88 Bet 365

By Chris Wilkerson

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Champions League Final betting – Man United v Barcelona

Man United v Barcelona betting preview, odds and tips

Manchester United: League Position: Champions, Form: LWWDW
Teams Beaten in Knockout Phase: Marseille, Chelsea, Schalke

Like their opponents, Manchester United come into this game with a league title claimed with a few a game or two remaining and able to condition themselves towards this massive tie.

Looking at the side they’ll play, if there are no surprises or tactical changes then the big games of weeks gone by, the league and Champions League ties against Chelsea and first leg at Schalke, would suggest they’ll stick with a flexible 4-4-2 headed by Rooney and Hernandez. The midfield, by this logic, would be Valencia, Carrick, Giggs and Park. A case has been made for the inclusion of Darren Fletcher, who missed out on the 2009 final in which these two teams contested, and whose absence was credited with much of United’s struggles in that game.

This their third final in four years, and United are the only unbeaten team in this year’s tournament. They’ve also the best defence, conceding four goals in 12 games. They will need all their defensive steel to win this tie, and there’s no doubt this will be their biggest test since that tie in 2009.

Barcelona: League Position: Champions, Form: DWDDW
Teams Beaten in Knockout Phase: Arsenal, Shakhtar, Real Madrid

A team that has been part of much debate over the best club side of all time with a player considered maybe the best of all time, is there any team capable of stopping the Catalan giants.

Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Villa, Puyol, Pique and more, a list of the best players in the world right now in a perfectly formed team, playing fantastic attacking football is argument enough to back this side, but the stats back it up. They have scored the most goals this season in the competition (27), have the highest pass completion rate (90.9%), two players who have completed over 1,000 passes in Sergio Busquets and Xavi, they have scored at least once in each of their last 20 Champions League games and Lionel Messi is top scorer this season, like he has been the past two seasons, with 11 goals.

The beautiful football is balanced with a unique pressing game that forces their opponents onto the back foot immediately even when they do win the ball back. In fact, with their short passing game you’ll see players are generally never more than 10 yards from the ball, thus comfortable to close down possession straight away. Defence whilst on the attack.

Match Prediction: Barcelona Win – 2.05 William Hill

The match will be won in midfield, and Manchester United will have to be at their all time best individually and collectively to cope with Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets, who will be joined by Pedro and Messi from the attack.

Giggs, the man who made all three assists in the quarter final ties against Chelsea, was a bystander Rome 2009, and whilst his influence on this United team has only grown, his powers are on the ball. It may say much for the intent of Ferguson’s side if the 37 year old Welshman remains in the side, as he surely can’t compete with the speed of passing in the Barcelona midfield. Carrick has also been a revelation in the Champions League for United this year, but he hardly has the hustle and bustle to combat the triumvirate of Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta.

If United stick with Rooney and Hernandez up top it’s so very important that Rooney is disciplined in the task of stopping Busquets receiving the ball from defence with too much time, whilst Hernandez must stop the roaming sweeper play of Pique, who will look to start attacks from defence like an extremely deep holding midfielder.

And can Ferdinand and Vidic deal with Messi’s striker role, in which he barely occupies them and drops deep into midfield? Too high up and Villa and Pedro can be slipped in from the wings. Too deep and Messi and Iniesta get space to run at the defence, and the midfield to attack link gets more space to play in.

All in all there’s too much for United to do defensively against a team with a pretty good defence should they mount a counter attack. Messi will relish the big game atmosphere, see 2009 and his flying header or his solo effort at Madrid in the semis, and is always the man to watch. He’s the best player in the world because you can’t plan for his game, you can’t plan for an attacker beating four defenders and going through one on one.

Highlighted Bets:-

Over/Under: Under 2.5 Goals – 1.67 Sky Bet
First Goalscorer: Lionel Messi – 6.00 William Hill
Correct Score: Barcelona Win 2-0 – 9.5 Coral
Barcelona to lift the trophy – 1.5 Bet 365

By Chris Wilkerson

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Torquay vs Stevenage Playoff betting

League 2 play off final betting preview

At the start of the season if you would have said that these two would be fighting for a place in League 1, most people would have called you mad, but yet two years since both were in the Blue Square Premier League they are fighting it out at Old Trafford for a spot in League 1

Torquay

Torquay’s season has been a good one; they managed to overcome play off favourites Shrewsbury with a 2-0 victory at home and will be going to Old Trafford with nothing to lose, two years back they were in this position in the Blue Square Premier League and they overcame nerves and won their promotion who’s to say they can’t do it again?
Chris Zebrowski leads their scoring charts with a good return of 15 goals and opened the scoring in the victory over Shrewsbury in the 1st leg. The odds of him doing so again are favourable at 8.5 on Bet365 so why not have a look in and see. Torquay have kept clean sheets in both their playoff fixtures and are good value to do so again in the final with odds of 3.2 on ToteSport

Stevenage

Stevenage have had a dream season on a league they thought they would be out of their depth in, but down to some clever loan signings and a never say die attitude embodied by captain Mark Roberts. Stevenage’s talismanic midfielder John Mousinho will need to be on song if Stevenage are going to come out of this game with anything, his 7 goals this season have been enough to propel Stevenage to 7th in the league 2 table. He has odds of 13.0 on SkyBet to open the scoring and could earn you a few bob if he recreates his exceptional form this season. Mark Roberts has been known to come up with the goods in the big games and could be a clever bet to score the last goal at odds of 41.0 on ExtraBet.

Stevenage go into the game as slight underdogs and have better form in the second half of the season so would be the best tip to get promoted at odds of 1.95 on PaddyPower.

Highlighted Bets

First Goalscorer Chris Zebrowski 8.5 Bet365
Torquay Clean Sheet 3.2 ToteSport
First Goalscorer John Mousinho 13.0 SkyBet
Last Goalscorer Mark Roberts 34.0 William Hill
Stevenage Promotion 1.95 Paddy Power

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Huddersfield vs Peterborough Playoff betting

League 2 play off final betting preview

Huddersfield

Lee Clark’s Huddersfield have gone 27 games without being beaten, they managed to scrape through the play-offs after an exciting 2 legs against Bournemouth which had to be settled from the penalty spot. The Terriers missed out on automatic promotion by 5 points but go into the final as the team to beat, they play physical football and will be looking to take the game to Posh over the 90 minutes. Top scorer Jordan Rhodes has scored 22 times in all competitions and is a certain starter alongside Arsenal loanee Benik Afobe, the pair have been on deadly form all season but it has been Afobe who has scored 4 in his last 4 games and is a good bet to score at any time in the final at Old Trafford at odds of 3.0 on Coral.

Huddersfield’s defence though is leaky and have conceded 12 in their past 6 games overall, so while they may be undefeated they are not infallible and one thing that you can count on against Peterborough United is goals so why not have a bet on both teams scoring at odds of 1.62 on SkyBet.

Peterborough

Peterborough’s season is really a tale of two halves, one half under Gary Johnson where the side only kept 2 clean sheets and the latter under Darren Ferguson who returned for his second spell at the club. His return has brought a renewed sense of happiness to the club and has led them to 9 clean sheets and a total of 106 goals over the course of the season, a truly staggering figure. They have been helped to this by League 1’s Player of the Year Craig Mackail-Smith who has netted a fantastic 34 times this season and only needs 2 more goals to reach a century of goals for the Posh, the odds of him scoring a brace are 10.0 on SkyBet so if you fancy the blonde haired workhorse to be the hero at Old Trafford why not have a punt.

The truly marvellous thing about the Posh though are that the goals can come from anywahere, midfielder George Boyd who has had a supposedly ‘quiet’ season has scored an astonishing 17 times this season, while Lee Tomlin made the step up from conference football with ease and has scored 11 times this season, captain Grant McCann showed his quality in the 2nd leg at London Road against MK Dons with a great free kick and a display of dominance at the centre of midfield. All of these men would be fantastic bets to score at any time but why not go for the underdog, the dark horse, the guaranteed starter who has already scored 4 this season from centre back, Ryan Bennet. Bennet is tipped at 34.0 on SkyBet to score the final goal in the tie, with Grant McCann providing the ammunition surely that’s worth a punt?

Anytime Goalscorer Benik Afobe 23.0 Coral
Both Teams to Score 1.62 SkyBet
To Score a Brace Craig Mackail-Smith 10.0 Skybet
Last Goalscorer Ryan Bennet 34.0 SkyBet

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Next Fulham Manager betting odds

Fulham Manager betting

Mark Hughes stepped down from his post as the manager of Fulham on Thursday night, amid speculation he was about to take up the vacancy at Aston Villa. Although it seems this may not now be the case, either way Fulham are still looking for a new boss. Hughes, and Hodgson before him were both good appointments for the West London club, as the Cottagers have enjoyed solid midtable finishes. It is important then that Fulham get it right again to ensure the solid building work can continue.

Martin O’Neill is the early favourite, and would be a popular choice after he enjoyed a good spell at Aston Villa, guiding them to several 6th place finishes. O’Neill has been out of work since leaving that post at Villa in August last year and is best priced at 4.5 with William Hill. Alan Curbishley is another early favourite with odds of 9.0 available at Victor Chandler.

Curbishley has been out of work since leaving West Ham in 2008, but is most known for the great work he achieved at Charlton when he won promotion to, and kept them in, the Premier League. Chris Hughton is another name in the frame, although slightly longer odds, with 21.0 available from Paddy Power. Hughton is a fairly young manager but achieved good things at Newcastle in getting them promoted and establishing them in the top flight.

Highlighted Bets

Martin O’Neill – 4.5 William Hill
Martin Jol – 6.0 William Hill
Alan Curbishley – 9.0 Victor Chandler
Carlo Ancelotti – 13.0 Paddy Power
Chris Hughton – 21.0 Paddy Power

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England U-21’s vs Ukraine U-21’s betting

England Under 21’s vs Ukraine Under 21’s odds

England under 21’s

Stuart Pearce’s can count themselves lucky that they left their last game with a point in hand against a Spain side that almost passed them off the pitch. Pearce’s tactics have been criticised, with many believing that success will only come to fruition if Pearce gambles with a 5 man midfield, which striker gets dropped though, Danny Welbeck who scored the winner on Monday or Daniel Sturridge who scored 8 in 12 games for Bolton last season. The odds of Welbeck scoring at any time are quite attractive at 2.8 on William Hill while Sturridge is backed at shorter odds of 2.2 on William Hill to do so, if you want to bet on both off these hot English talents to score at any time you can get odds of 6.5 on William Hill.

England’s young boys go into the match as hot favourites though with odds of 5/6 on StanJames, so a good performance can be expected from England’s young boys who are tipped as 2nd favourites to win the tournament behind the Spanish. If you do believe England are to dominate then why not have a flutter on England to be ahead at half time and win at full time at odds of 3.1 on BWIN.

Ukraine under 21’s

Ukraine’s tournament hasn’t started as well as they had hoped it would, the loss of influential captain Taras Stepanenko of Shakhtar Donetsk means that the Ukrainians will have to find a new captain for the game against the Three Lions. Ukraine nicked a goal in the closing minutes of their fixture against the Chech’s and if you fancy the same Ukrainian Maxym Bilyi to do so again at odds of 17.0 on Bet365 why not put a few quid on it.

Ukraine’s under 21’s performance in recent competitions has been good getting to the final in 06. England should be too strong for the relative footballing minnows of the Ukrainian side and expect the quality of these Premier League regulars to shine through in a game against relatively lesser opposition then they faced earlier in the week.  Players like Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair could puch for a start and could inject some life into a side that looked devoid of it on Monday.

Highlighted Bets:

Anytime Goalscorer Danny Welbeck William Hill 2.8
Anytime Goalscorer Daniel Sturridge William Hill 2.2
Anytime Goalscorer Double Danny Welbeck & Daniel Sturridge William Hill 6.5

Last Goalscorer Maxym Bilyi 17.0 Bet365

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England U-21’s vs Czech Rep U-21’s betting

England Under 21’s vs Czech Rep Under 21’s odds

England under 21’s

It is do or die for England’s young boys in Denmark, after their 0-0 draw with Ukraine they need to win against the Czechs to stand any chance whatsoever of progressing in the tournament. Defensive tactics have been mainly blamed for the failure to utilize the talent on offer and even with Stuart Pearce changing to a more offensive 4-3-3 there was little improvement. Danny Rose played as a left back for Spurs in the last few games of the season and was our left sided winger, Jack Rodwell is a defensive midfielder and Michael Mancienne is a centre back not a midfielder, so the lack of goals is hardly surprising. Daniel Sturridge had the best chance to give England the lead and must perform against the Czechs if England are to have any luck, the odds of him scoring a brace are tempting at 10.0 on PaddyPower.

England’s young boys need to pull out all the stops and go for broke in this make or break game, it has been suggested that the introduction of Scott Sinclair and Henri Lansbury could provide some creativity and feed Danny Welbeck who looked isolated up top on his own. Sinclair is tipped at 11.0 to score the final goal in the game on BoyleSports so could be a good bet for the game. England will be pulling out all the stops though, so if you expect them to improve and start scoring like they were tipped too why not bet on their being over 3.5 goals in the game at odds of 1.3 on Betfair.

Czech Republic U21’s

The Czechs played well in their fixture against the Spanish, but the quality at Spain’s disposal was extremely apparent as they passed the ball around them as if they weren’t there, enjoying more than 60% of the ball possession. The Czechs can look back at their first game win with confidence then, Borek Dockal provided the killer edge in their game against the Ukrainian U21’s so maybe he can be relied on to push the Czech youngsters into the second round. He has odds of 6.5 on William Hill to score at any time in the fixture.

Ex-Liverpool youngster Tomas Pekhart is a dangerous threat for the Czechs as well and is an almost definite starter, so with odds of 11.0 to score first could be a really clever bet. The Czech’s need only draw this match to go through though so they could play for a bore draw so why not bet on their being no goals in the entire game if you can see both defences being too much for each other when they meet in Denmark have a bet on 0-0 10.0 on Victor Chandler.

Highlighted Bets:

To Score a Brace Daniel Sturridge PaddyPower 10.0
Last Goalscorer Scot Sinclair BoyleSports 11.0
Over 3.5 goals Betfair 1.3
Anytime Goalscorer Borek Dockal William Hill 6.5
First Goalscorer Toms Pekhart 11.0
Correct Score 0-0 Victor Chandler 10.0

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Next Chelsea Manager betting odds

Chelsea Manager betting

Carlo Ancelotti was relieved of his duties on Sunday night after a trophyless season at Stamford Bridge. Roman Abramovich pulled the plug on the Italian’s reign and the Blues have now gone through 4 managers in 3 years. It’s clear that Chelsea need to go through a period of transition, with an ageing squad and some promising youngsters, a few additions in the right areas and they could be challenging for honours again next season. Who will be the man to oversee the changes then? Well Ancelotti was chosen as he had previous experience of winning the Champions League with Milan, the one trophy that eluded the club under their most successful spell with Mourinho, so Abramovich could go for the same strategy. The early favourite though seems to be the former Holland and Ajax manager Marco Van Basten, who is priced as 4.0 with Stan James. The Dutchman looks the most likely to take charge after already admitting he would be tempted by the opportunity.

However, there are other names being suggested, including Guus Hiddink, who had a successful spell as manager of Chelsea in 2009. The current manager of Turkey is also fairly short odds and looks as though he could well be in the running. The best price on Guus Hiddink is available from Skybet with odds of 5.0 available. Another name in the running is Andre Villas-Boas, the young manager in charge of Porto, who learnt his trade working under Jose Mourinho. Villas-Boas is the youngster manager ever to win a European competition, he also won an incredible treble at Porto this season, setting a number of records on the way.  With all this in mind, Andre Villas-Boas is looking a good outside bet at 6.0 with Victor Chandler.

Some Highlighted bets

Marco Van Basten – 4.0 Stan James
Guus Hiddink – 5.0 Skybet
Andre Villas-Boas – 6.0 Victor Chandler
Rafa Benitez – 34.0 Stan James

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Swansea vs Reading Playoff betting

Championship play off final betting preview

Swansea

Swansea are reaping the rewards of their transfers this season as Scott Sinclair and Fabio Borini have performed so well this season with the former Chelsea man leading the clubs scoring charts with 24 goals. Sinclair isn’t the only threat though, with lethal marksman Borini on loan from managerless Chelsea and Darren Pratley who can score on their day also lining up. Swansea’s array of forward going talent though is complemented by their exceptional back five. Key man Angel Rangel will need to be in form at Wembley on Monday if he is to neutralize Reading’s quick wingers.

Swansea’s first play-off leg ended in the same result as Reading’s with a bore draw of 0-0 so with both teams maybe going for defensive stability over goals, goals, goals why not bet on it being 0-0 after 90 minutes at odds of 10.0 with StanJames.

Reading

Reading went into the play offs as the form team in the league but will to Wembley as the underdogs against a Swansea team who have performed so well this season. Shane Long has scored a fantastic 25 goals in all competitions so far this season and will be the favourite to score for the Royals in the final at Wembley, he may have gone 10 games with only 1 goal at the start of the season but since then the Irishman who cost a bargain 30,000 euros has been on stunning form. Over 60% of his goals have come in the first half of games so why not have a bet on him flying out of the traps again at odds of 7.0 on Victor Chandler.

The Royals play off campaign began in a bore draw at home against Cardiff which epitomized their defensive stability over the past season, and along with Swansea they have conceded the least goals in the league apart from winners Q.P.R so why not bet on their being less than 2.5 goals at odds of 1.67 with Victor Chandler.

Highlighted Bets

Correct score after 90 minutes 0-0 10.0 StanJames
First Goalscorer Shane Long 7.0 Victor Chandler
Under 2.5 goals 1.67 Victor Chandler

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Next Aston Villa Manager betting odds

Aston Villa Manager betting

Gerard Houllier left his position at Villa on Wednesday night due to concerns for his health. The Frenchman had only been in charge of Villa since the start of the season, but assistant manager Gary McAllister had to take charge of the final few games after Houllier was admitted to hospital with chest pains. The 63-year-old former Liverpool boss had previously had open heart surgery back in 2001 and so is taking time out of football to fully recover.

The hot early favourite to replace Houllier is Fulham boss Mark Hughes. Hughes is best priced at 2.25 with Coral to take the job after negotiating Fulham to Europa League qualification and a very good 8th place finish. Villa may look for some stability after a below par season but there are plenty of big names being thrown around. Carlo Ancelotti is one of those names, and a good shout at 8.0 with William Hill. The Italian has already expressed a desire to work again in England but it remains to be seen if he would be willing to move away from London.  Steve McClaren is the second favourite behind Hughes and looks a good price at 5.0 with Bet 365. The former England boss has been out of work since being sacked by Wolfsburg last year, but the 50-year-old did have a successful spell as manager of FC Twente , and could well be in the frame as no compensation would have to be paid.

Some Highlighted bets

Mark Hughes – 2.25 Coral
Steve McClaren – 5.0 Bet 365
Carlo Ancelotti – 7.0 Stan James
Roberto Martinez – 13.0 Paddy Power
David Moyes – 19.0 Paddy Power
Rafa Benitez – 21.0 Stan James

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