Midweek Premiership Betting Preview for 26th January 2010

Bad news for Chelsea that they will be without the “Beast from the East” midfielder Michael Essien for up to six weeks with a knee injury and Stoke look about to seal the signing of David James from Portsmouth. Carlos Tevez and Gary Neville are continuing their war of words and gestures in the media and Harry Redknapp has been charged with tax evasion by the HMRC! Yet another dreary week for football! Here are the tips for Tuesday and Wednesdays Premiership matches early next week with football betting odds kindly provided by bwin.com. At the weekend the fixture list is the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Wolves 4.50 Draw 3.50 Liverpool 1.75

Liverpool appears to be teetering with disaster this season. The potential £13 million compensation package seems to be stopping Liverpool sacking manager Rafa Benitez and it is public knowledge that things are gloomy on Merseyside financially. Yet they bounced back with a somewhat unexpected 2-0 win over Tottenham this week. Wolves are deeply involved in the relegation fight and have lost their last three games. Expect a debut from their new winger on loan from RSC Charleroi Geoffrey Mujangi Bia. Ebanks-Blake will start up front for them according to manager Mick McCarthy who has rebuked claims there is a gambling culture at the club. It is painful times for both clubs but Liverpool should win. At 1.75 the odds for the away win are value. Strip away all the media coverage and speculations over both clubs operations and you have a top of the table team against a relegation candidate.

Bolton Wanderers 1.80 Draw 3.40 Burnley 4.35

This relegation match is important for both teams. Bolton have lost their last two games, both to Arsenal and were unbeaten for four matches before that. Unfortunately they lie in 19th position in the league and must make something happen quickly to avoid being relegated. Burnley are fifteenth in the league and defeat here could have them spiralling towards relegation also. David Nugent is going to extend his loan spell at Burnley and they will need his firepower up front. Burnley have drawn their last four matches at home and lost their last four away games. I think at 1.80 we can back Bolton to beat Burnley and I believe they will struggle to avoid relegation.

Tottenham 1.60 Draw 3.45 Fulham 6.00

Tottenham may look back on the Liverpool match as a missed opportunity. They are fourth in the league but are losing ground to the top three teams and the defeat to Liverpool and previous draw at home to Hull has derailed their champions leagues hopes. Fulham are ninth in the league but six points behind Birmingham who are eighth. Simon Davies should return from injury to help Fulham improve on three away losses in their last three games. Tottenham have done very well so far this season and I expect them to get fourth place in the Premiership and win this match at odds of 1.60.

If you bet on the three recommended teams in a treble bet with a £10 stake you will return a total of £50.40. If you would prefer to place a £2.50 patent bet on the selections to protect yourself against one of the results not coming in (if that happens you would get the majority of your stake back for the remaining winning double) then that would return a total of £47.55 if all the teams win for us.

Enjoy the FA Cup matches this weekend and the midweek programme of Premiership league fixtures to be played early next week.

By Malcolm Clarke