Premiership Football Betting Preview with Mal Clarke

Football betting is truly up and running for the season. The first week of the Premiership is in the bag and there were a few shocks along the way. Spurs managed to score a good win against Liverpool causing Rafa Benitez early season woes in trying to challenge for the title. Man Utd and Wayne Rooney started well beating Birmingham City 1-0 as Rooney looks to fill the gap left by Ronaldo in their team. Arsenal’s young guns did well putting six past Everton on the way to a strong opening win. This week there are some interesting matches, some of the teams playing midweek so we will focus on the bwin.com odds for the matches to be played at the weekend.

Sunderland will be looking to build on their opening day victory and continue giving new striker Darren Bent plenty of service to score. Sunderland has odds of 2.05 against Blackburn (3.35) and the draw 3.15. With the investment from their new owner and a much improved squad from last season I would expect Sunderland to have a lot of chances to beat a Blackburn side that were well beaten by Manchester City last week. I would have expected them to be priced at 1.85 for this game so the odds of 2.05 at home look attractive. Blackburn’s manager Sam Allardyce went public with saying he expected to lose many matches and it was about how they faired against lower sides that would decide their season, this may adversely affect Blackburn’s player’s belief in their ability to win.

Hull City (2.35) against Bolton Wanderers (2.85) with the draw at 3.10 could provide a value bet for the draw. Both of these teams may find themselves in a struggle for survival. On paper you would give an edge to Bolton with good finishes in the last couple of seasons. Being the away team they are perhaps too good to lose to Hull therefore a good bet would be the draw or the away win. Hull have been rocked by the news that club captain Ian Ashbee will miss the majority of the season after suffering a major setback from a serious knee injury he suffered last year.

I would expect the big teams to have it much their own way on Saturday with Manchester City and Chelsea easily beating their opponents at home and Manchester United proving too much for Wigan away. The odds are low for these teams so I would place these in accumulator or multiple bets only.

Burnley (3.45) host Everton (2.00 with the draw at 3.20) and despite Everton losing heavily to a buoyant Arsenal last week I still expect them to regroup well and score a morale boosting win here. Manager David Moyes will pick his team up well and rebound from the defeat and in Burnley, who will struggle to survive in the Premiership this season; they have the opportunity to right the wrongs of their heavy defeat. Rumour has it Steven Taylor will arrive from Newcastle very soon although nothing has been announced, if so this will allow Joleon Lescott his move to Manchester City. Everton at 2.00 is my best football bet of the weekend.

After beating Liverpool, Spurs (2.50) travel the short distance to West Ham (2.60 with the draw odds of 3.20) for the first of many London derbies. With manager Harry Redknapp having to fine David Bentley for a drink driving incident, it has been a tough week for Spurs. Ledley King and Jermaine Jenas are coming back from injury and I expect Spurs to perform strongly this year in the Premiership. I would be happy to back Spurs for the away win as they will expect a result after beating one of the best teams in the league last week in Liverpool.

Liverpool plays on Monday against Aston Villa in what should be an entertaining match. I think Villa are priced a little high at 7.00 to win as they have good players such as Milner, Agbonlahor and Young. You can back Liverpool at 1.45 for the home win and you would expect them to win at home, but the match may be closer than the odds suggest.

/ Malcolm Clarke