England vs Spain

England meet the World and European champions Spain on Saturday night (kick off 17:15), in what promises to be one of the more exciting international friendly matches. Both teams have qualified for the 2012 Poland-Ukraine European Championships, finishing top of their respective groups (England in Group G with 18 points from 8 games and Spain in Group I with the maximum 24 points from 8 games). Because both teams have qualified, expect the game to be an experimental one, with both sides testing players and formations in preparation for Euro 2012.

Spain are considered one of the best teams in the world at the moment. In the last two games against England (also friendlies), Spain have been victorious (2-0 at home in 2009, and 1-0 in England in 2007). Vicente del Bosque’s team have lost only once in their last 5 games, against Italy. England managed just three draws and 2 wins, btu I guess aat least that means they’re unbeaten?!

Whilst there will be plenty of world-class players on show at Wembley, Wayne Rooney won’t be playing. Manchester United’s striker was been left out of the squad because the red card he received against Montenegro will rule hi out of the Euro 2012 Group Stage matches, and Capello wants to find new options. Captain John Terry is also unlikely to play, with Capello keen to shield the player from further media attention after the police and Football Association investigations looking into alleged racist abuse.

Another important player that will miss this game is Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, who is out with an ankle infection. Rio Ferdinand was overlooked, as was Liverpool’s Andy Carroll. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the omission of Manchester City defender Micah Richards who has been in good form for the Premier League leaders, but was snubbed in favour of Glen Johnson. It will be interesting to see whether new-boys Jack Rodwell and Daniel Sturridge make an impression.

Spain’s squad contains a whole load of World Cup winners, including four Premier League players. Chelsea striker Fernando Torres, despite his indifferent start to the season, and his team-mate Juan Mata are both in the squad, and are joined by Manchester City’s midfielder David Silva, and Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina. Barcelona have seven players in the squad including former Arsenal midfielder, Cesc Fabregas, who returns to London for this game. Primera Liga leaders Real Madrid have only four players on the team.

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RESULT BET
England are far from favourites to win the game, which makes for some interesting odds. If you fancy the Three Lions to beat the World Champions you can get them at 4.65 (Paddy Power). A more sensible bet, especially given that England have drawn so many games recently, is that the teams will finish level – available at 3.4 (Ladbrokes).

BEST BET
It’s difficult to pick a goalscorer for England, especially when we can’t predict who will line-up in attack – Welbeck, Agbonlahor, Young and Bent are vying for just a couple of spots. We can be sure, however, that David Villa will be on the pitch from the start, and that he is the main Spanish goal threat. At 2.2 to score anytime (Bet Clic) we think he is good value.

Come on Eng-er-land!

United vs Sunderland

Who would want to play United at Old Trafford on the 25th anniverary of Fergie taking over as manager. The crowd will be charged up, the manager will be charged up, and most worryingly for Sunderland, the players will be charged up – they want the celebrations to go with a bang rather than with a whimper!

It’s difficult to predict how United will line up. The past few games have been all about keeping clean sheets, to the extent where Wayne Rooney has been deployed as a hard-running midfielder, and the team don’t seem to have the ‘attack, attack, attack’ attitude of days gone by. Obviously this is a post-City hangover, and with Nemanja Vidic back in the centre of defence, the team is slowly starting to settle. We can still see Rooney dropping back into midfield for most of the game this Saturday though, with Chicharito forced to fend off the scraps up-front on his own.

It looks like Patrice Evra is going to miss the game because he is at his brother’s funeral (RIP brother Evra), which means that Fabio will be given a chance to excel at left-back. Given Patrice’s defensive perfromances so far this season, Fabio has a good chance of retaining the spot if he excels. That has to be some motvation!

Sunderland will be without United old-boy John O’Shea who is injured, but Old Trafford will welcome home Wes Brown. Sunderland have yet to impress so far this season, and if current form is anything to go by, it should be a relatively comfortable game for United.

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RESULT BET
United are at a stingy 1.25 to win Paddy Power), with the bookies clearly thinking that Sunderland are in for a hiding. The bookies favourite score is a 2-0 United win, but we’re going to play safe by calling a 2-1 win (9.0 at Ladbrokes).

BEST BET
With everyone super-charged for the game, we expect United to be on the romp from the very first minute. With Chicharito able to grab a goal out of just about anything, we were tempted to be on him as first goalscorer, but are instead backing a United/United ht/ft at 1.67 (Bet Clic). Come on United!

As ever, let us know your hot tips too! :)

Liverpool vs Swansea

Saturday’s game offers Liverpool a great opportunity to break into the top 4 ahead of the international break. With both Spurs and Chelsea stuttering in recent weeks, now is the time to start putting wins together, and move on up.

Liverpool are in good form at the moment – unbeaten in their last six games, with four wins – and it looks like Carroll and Suarez are finally striking up the partnership that King Kenny envisaged all the way back in January. With Bellamy on the bench, there is certainly greater competition between the strikers, and a bigger attacking threat going forwards.

Unfortunatley Steven gerrard’s return has had to be curtailed, this time an ankle infection is causing the trouble, though he should / might be back once th international games have been played out. When we do finally get him playing in the team we will start to look like genuine contenders, but for now w’ll have to make do with Henderson and Adam, who, to be fair, have done reasonable well so far.

The biggest disappointment so far has been the effectiveness of Stewart Downing – an expensive £19m buy from Villa who has yet to create too many assists. With Carroll in the first team proper this might all change, but in all truth the quality of the man in the middle has never been an issue, the ball just simply doesn’t make it into anything like the right areas when he crosses it in!

Swansea are an entertaining side, and are comfortable on the ball. In fact, they keep possession better than everyone but Chelsea and Arsenal in the league, which may well make for a frustrating afternoon for Liverpool fans. That said, they seem to do better at home than on the road, with lowly Norwich amongst the teams to win by two goals or more when the Swans are the visiting side. We’re quietly confident.

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RESULT BET
Liverpool are expected to win against Swansea, with bookies offering a measly 1.36 on a home win (Paddy Power). It means we’re forceed to pick the score instead, and with Suarez in good form, we’re plumping for a 3-1 vitory, available at a cool 11.0 (Ladbrokes).

BEST BET
Liverpool are normally quick out of the blocks when they have the Kop screaming them forwards, so gambling on a Liverpool/Liverpool ht/ft seems good value to us (at 1.8 with Bet Clic).

As ever, let us know your hot tips too! :)

West Brom vs Liverpool

After last week’s disappointing result against Norwich, when they were held to a 1-1 draw, Liverpool really need to start picking up maximum points – they currently lie in 6th, a full 10 points behind Manchester City. Thankfully both Chelsea and Manchester United dropped points too last week, but Liverpool missed out on the chance to capitalise on it.

Liverpool created chances against the Canaries last Saturday but struggled to convert them – Luis Suarez actually set a new Premiership record for having 10 shots in a game without scoring. By the looks of Wednesday’s performance, when Suarez put on a stellar show and scored two goals, including a late, late winner, the Uruguayan striker has solved his striking issues.

All of which puts Liverpool in good shape – Gerrard is back, the midfield has started to settle, with Jordan Henderson playing an integral part in the Carling Cup win, and the defence seem to have it pretty much nailed.

West Brom enter the tie in good form, with last week’s derby win over Aston Villa (at Villa Park) showing that they have both the resolute defending and goal scoring needed to progress. Former Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has made the Baggies difficult to beat, especially at home, but they still seem to lack the partner up-front for Odemwingie. It should be a close game… (live on ESPN in the UK)

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RESULT BET
In spite of playing away from home, Liverpool are firm favourites (at 1.83 with Paddy Power), and at those odds we’re happy just to back them. If you wanted a score bet, we fancy 2-1 (8.5 at Ladbrokes).

BEST BET
We may have fell out with him last week (well, not really, but still…) but we’re still backing him to score again this week. Back Suarez as an anytime scorer at 2.2 (Bet Clic). Come on El Pistolero!

As ever, let us know your hot tips too! :)

Chelsea vs Arsenal

Now is probably a good time to play Chelsea. The board is in disarray after they lost their battle with their own fans for the rights to the stadum, John Terry is all over the papers for all the wrong reasons, and the team is suffering in terms of form, with manager Andre Villas-Boas struggling to come up with an attacking formation that works.

Arsenal, on the other hand, have both Thomas Vermaelen coming back, as well as an actual right-back in the form of Carl Jenkinson – it actually gives the defence a chance! They will not be being tested by Didier Drogba, who is suspended following his red-card antics last week, though Chelsea have a £50m replacement waiting in the wings…

Chelsea were taken to extra-time in the Carling Cup, so there may well be some tired legs out there on Saturday morning, whereas Arsenal were barely put through their paces by a lacklustre Bolton, which even afforded Wenger the chance to rest a few players.

Previous matches between these two London sides have resulted in mass brawls, which may well happen again this time around, with Ashley Cole set to take centre-stage once more. Chelsea will be organised, but Arsenal will dominate possession. It should be an interesting game…

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RESULT BET
We think this game has a draw written all over it (available at 4.0 with Paddy Power). If we had to guess, we’d say it will be a score-draw 1-1 (7.5 at Ladbrokes).

BEST BET
We know its going to be a contentious game, and we think that Chelsea will be up and out of the starting blocks early. Expect a few BIG challenges early doors. With this in mind, we’re highlighting the fact that you can bet on Ashley Cole to be carded (red or yellow) in the match at 2.75 (Bet Clic). Looks good to us…

As ever, let us know your hot tips too! :)

Everton vs United

After last week’s capitulation at the hands of Citeh (thats the last time we’ll mention it, we promise!), Manchester United have been likened to a wounded animal, just waiting to lash out at the next person who happens to walk through the woods. The only problem is that, in Everton, they have a formidable opponent, especially when it’s on their home turf.

It’s not the ideal opponent for a confidence-boosting win, and the blues of Liverpool always seem to try extra hard against United – they’ve taken points off us in each of the past 3 seasons. Whilst what we needed may have been some Premiership newboys ready for a good whipping, this game may actually help us out more in the long run. We may have gained some confidence from beating a plucky Swansea side 4-0, but in truth everybody would have been waiting for us to come up against a real opponent. Everton are just that.

It’s been very much a season of two halves so far for United – they powered out of the starting blocks in the early stages and took Arsenal to the sword, but ever since Tom Cleverly got injured against Bolton they have struggled to regain that luency and dynamism in the centre of midfield. With his return against Aldershot on Tuesday, at least we can rely on that for the game versus Everton.

Hernandez and Berbatov have impressed in recent weeks, and might be selected ahead of Wayne Rooney, who tends to be protected whenever the Reds head to Goodison. That said, Rooney was one of the few players who have played their hearts out in every match (I’m looking at you, Rio!) so maybe we can’t afford to be without him? It should be an interesting game…

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RESULT BET
It’s rare that Manchester United are ever offered at anything above 1.5 to win, but with the recent uncertainty they are available at 1.83 to win (with Paddy Power). We think those odds are high enough (and we’re not completely sure how well we’ll fare in a tough-tackling match but if you fancy a more exhilarating ride, we’re backing the Reds to run out as 2-1 winners (8.0 at Ladbrokes).

BEST BET
Given the fairly sloppy nature of the goals United have conceded over recent weeks (Basel, etc) we think that the chances are that Everton will score. In which case we think backing both teams to score at 1.82 (Bet Clic) makes sense. No, we don’t want them to score either, but…!

As ever, let us know your hot tips too! :)