In this text, I will follow up the rest of the teams, the analyses and odds for these five teams. Finally, I will give you my best bet.

FC Liverpool to win @ 10.00 in odds

Liverpool is always included as one of the favourites, even though they have not managed to win the league since 1989. It has been over 20 years since the reds lifted the league trophy, and is there something that speaks to their advantage this year?

Spontaneously, I would say – no.

Before last season, I really thought that Liverpool would have a chance to fight for the league title. They ended second the year before that and looked stronger then ever before. They had lost one of their key players on the midfield (Xabi Alonso), but even though he had gone to Real Madrid, I gave Liverpool a bet. Before this season they will loose Javier Mascherano and their former manager Rafa Benitez, both has gone to Inter Milan in serie A.

And when Liverpool had their strongest period two years ago it was mostly thanks to their strong midfield with Gerrard – Mascherano – Alonso. Now, two third of that midfield is gone and I cannot imagine that players like Lucas Leiva will fill that gap.

So I don’t give Liverpool that big chances to win Premier League this year, and 10.00 in odds is not worth thinking on. No bet on Liverpool is my advice.

FC Arsenal to win @ 7.00 in odds

Arsenal is a tricky team. You never know where you have Arsene Wenger and you never know how the younger players will perform. If everything goes Arsenals way they defiantly have a good chance to win the league trophy, but their problem has been many injuries lately.

Last year Arsenals young team hung on in the league race for a long time and that was surprising since I did not believed in them before the season, not at all. I believe that Arsenals destiny, very much, lays in Cesc Fabregas hands. That story does not seem to get any resolution and before I know where Fabregas will play next season I have find it hard pronounce my opinion regarding Arsenal 2010 / 2011. But speculations is at the same time a fact that is involved in gambling and I have to start from how it looks today. Therefore, I give Arsenal an “okey” chance to go all the way.

Manchester City to win @ 5.50 in odds

Manchester City is probably the most interesting team this year. Last year, when they had bought many new players it seemed that none of the players/managers/betting experts took them seriously. However, this year it is different. They changed Manager after about half the season last year and sacked Mark Hughes. Roberto Mancini replaced him and Manchester City’s second half of the league was strong.  During the silly season, City has kept buying players and I would say that they defiantly have one of the strongest squads in Premier League this year. Let me give you some names that Mancini has at his disposal: Shay Given, Micah Richards, Joleon Lescott, Nigel de Jong, Yaya Toure, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez, Robinho, Emmanuel Adebayor and so on…

I count with Manchester City in the top of the league this year, and the fact that they do not have to play in the Champions League, compared to their main rivals gives them a plus. 5.50 in odds is worth thinking about regarding a bettingtips on Manchester City as League winners.

Manchester United to win @ 3.60 in odds

Manchester United is always Manchester United and they are always seen as one of the favourites in this league. And why Shouldn’t they? They have the most successful record and most successful manager in whole Premier League.

Many experts wondered how it would go to Manchester United after they sold Christiano Rolando before last season. Nevertheless, Wayne Rooney took an even bigger responsibility and grows up to the world-class player that he is. Manchester United finished second last year, just after Chelsea and I am sure that they want their revenge this year. However, the question is if their younger players can become the great players that Ferguson wants them to become. For example, I think that players like Rafael, Nani, Andersson and so on must take a step forward now when Scholes, Giggs, Neville etc is becoming older. I think they will, and I think that Man United has great chances to win Premier League. But the question is if 3.60 in odds is valuable to bet on.

FC Chelsea to win @ 2.50 in odds

Chelsea is defending champions and the team that everyone will be chasing. There are not too many changes in Chelsea’s squad compared to last year, but the question is how motivated manager Angelotti can make them. The league is 38 matches and every point is important. At the same time Chelsea, and Abrahmovic, probably want to lift the Champions League trophy that he has had his eyes on since he took over as owner.

Chelsea pays 2.50 in odds for winner, but I do not find that valuable to bet on. Chelsea might bee one of the biggest favourites in Premier League this season but I cannot motivate that they should be this big favourites.

My bettingtips on the Premier League winner 2010 / 2011:

Manchester City @ 5.50 in odds – that is the team that I find most valuable to bet on this season. They have a strong team and if Mancini manages to keep all the star players to stay together as a team they have great chances to win. Manchester City pays 5.50 in odds and they get my bet.

The odds is picked from bwin premier league betting.

Good luck with your premier league betting

/Amrish

It is time for quarterfinals in the World Cup 2010 in South Africa and now it the interesting part begins.  Eight teams left and the team that wins their next three games will win the World Cup.

So far, this has been South Americas World Cup and they have four teams left out of totally eight. In these two texts I will give you my best bettingtips in the first two matches that is going to be played on Friday between Holland vs. Brazil and Uruguay vs. Ghana.

I will give you the best 1-x-2 tips and then some special bets from each of the matches, starting with Holland vs. Brazil (the odds are picked from bwin sportsbetting odds):

Holland vs. Brasil, odds: Holland to win 3.75, draw 3.45, Brazil to win 1.95

My bettingtips: Draw @ 3.75 in odds

I can agree with bwin that Brazil is favourites in this game, but according to me, they have become way to big favourites in this game. Both Brazil and Holland has impressed a lot on me so far in the championship and 1.95 in odds on Brazil to win during ordinary time doesn’t seem valuable to bet on.

None of these teams has lost in the World Cup so far and both of the teams has impressed with a strong defence.  Neither Brazil nor Holland normally plays with two defensive midfielders but in this tournament both the teams has chosen that solution.

After that, Dunga took over as manager for the Brazilian team they have played more tactical then before and lots of Brazilians are critical for their tactic. But at the same time I don’t think they have a reason to do that since they won both the South American championship and the Confederations Cup last year.

Holland has been well known as the country that plays “total football” which means all of attack and lots of players that runs towards the opponents goal. Anyway, even though they have made it well most of the times they haven’t been able to win any trophy’s at the end when it comes to the final games.

Therefore, this year, even Holland’s manager has chosen to play with two central defensive players in front of their defenders and I have to say that I am impressed of their balanced and focused way of playing. And this is the reason why I think that they can go far in this tourney.

Brazil pays under 2 in odds and I don’t think that they should be that big favourites since Holland have lots of world class players that can make it difficult for the Brazilian attackers. And in the offence I would say that Hollands attacking players (Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Robin Van Persie, Rafal Van der Vaart and Dirk Kuyt) are just as good as Brazils attacking players (Robinho, Luis Fabiano, Kaka). Brazil often plays with their wingers high up, putting pressure on their opponents high up. However, with Arjen Robben and Dirk Kuyt on the other side they might get some problems with their counter attacks.

That is why I do not think that Brazil is worth betting on in this game, but draw or a win on Holland is more interesting. I choose to bet on draw here which pays 3.45 in odds and that is interesting according to me.

Uruguay vs. Ghana, odds: Uruguay to win 1.95, draw 3.15, Ghana to win 4.00

My bettingtips: Draw @ 3.15 in odds

I choose to bet on the draw in this game as well. This time I also think even more of a draw than in the previous match. Both Ghana and Uruguay are two strong defensive teams and have done it very well so far in the World cup.

Uruguay is just as big favourites in this game as Brazil are in the first quarterfinal. I think that Ghana will give them a tough battle. Ghana is the last team left from whole Africa in this tournament and that means that whole Africa is behind them in their further adventures in the championship. I am very sure that Ghana will have most of the support from the crowd and that will give them an extra energy boost in this quarterfinal.

An African team has never gone to a semi-final World cup and this time Ghana has a great chance to be the first team ever to reach that far. Senegal (2002) and Cameroon (1990) are the only two teams that have made it to the quarterfinal earlier.

Both these teams have solid defence and a couple of key-players in the offence that will try to win the game for their nation. Uruguay has Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid) and Luiz Suarez (Ajax) and Ghanas biggest star is Asamoah Gyan (Udinese) after that Michael Essien got is injury.

My feeling is that a draw is a very likely outcome of this game so that is my bettingtips in this game. After that, anything can happen. You can bet draw to 3.15 in odds at bwin and I will give that a try.

More special bets will be presented in the next text for these two matches.

The way that the betting exchanges tout their product is that it is matched betting and that you are pitting your opinion against that of someone else. So it is your knowledge of sport or a sporting event or person against that of someone else. In a sort of loose fitting way then this is true. However the vast amount of liquidity on the exchanges these days is stemming from outside institutions, bookmakers and traders.

Skilled financial day traders have an edge on the exchanges because they are trained in their profession. But yet as a punter then you really shouldn’t be taking these people head on anyway. As a rule then the bookmakers use exchanges to hedge their own offline betting activities but they also back and lay for other reasons as well. However there are many institutions who are operating on the exchanges so you never really get access to individual money in the way that it is touted because the money is pooled.

However there are ways to circumvent this problem and trader and institutional activity may account for a large amount of liquidity in certain markets. But traders rarely understand tissue prices and what represents value and are mainly operating around their own individual strategies. What this means is that betting prices often oscillate either side of what are optimum pricing levels.

So it is possible to find very good value on the betting exchanges but it takes patience to wait and a good tissue price at hand that has a proven track record of accuracy within a few percentage points. The older strategies of using weight of money indicators have long since been dead in the water and I never really thought that they would work anyway as they were too well known. Trying to ascertain short term market movement is difficult because there is a tremendous amount of short term noise and manipulation of the markets from some very powerful sources.

However there is a difference between short term movement and longer term movement as in my opinion, it is easier to find longer term movement than short term movement on the exchanges these days. The bigger markets of Horse Racing and football are where the greatest liquidity is found and this is where the greatest outside influences can be found. In my view then it is important to elongate the trading process so that you can get away from traders and institutions who are driving prices in a certain direction based on their own short term strategies. It then becomes very hard to predict when and how far these people will drive the price short term and trying to follow them becomes difficult.

So one of the keys to making money on the exchanges is to highlight who you are going up against and what they are doing. If you can do that and then get your hands on a good tissue that accurately assesses true chances of winning then that is a very good start.

In a little over two weeks time the World comes together for a short time to celebrate the pinnacle of the four year footballing calendar with the World Cup beginning. South Africa are the hosts and not only do players need to contend with the searing heat of the African climate but also the higher altitude playing conditions. Everything is leading towards the final on July 11th; exactly one month after this festival of football begins.

There is a thought provoking football betting market being offered at leading sports betting bookmaker https://www.bwin.com for the World Cup Finals Special betting. Whilst the players will be concentrating on the preparations for the next match only we, as supporters, can look further ahead.

Bet on Individual Teams to Reach the World Cup Final

The top four teams in the betting market at bwin.com are as follows,

Spain 21/10, Brazil 9/4, Argentina 3/1, England 33/10

In your research look at the World Cup groups and decide which teams may be able to rest certain star players in anticipation for the pressure cooker atmosphere of the knock-out stages of the competition. From that perspective England have an easy group but have a history of just missing out in key moments like penalty shoot-outs. I really hope the experienced England team, likely to be dismantled after this World Cup; can finally fulfil their undoubted potential and go on to win it!

Brazil always seems to do well but they have lots of new young players who need to make a name for themselves in this competition. No doubt many of them will and at 9/4 this is not bad odds for a team that you would be surprised not to make it past the quarter final stage.

Spain are the favourites which is understandable when you look at their team. David Villa, heading to Barcelona and Fernando Torres are brilliant forwards that will put fear into any defence. They won Euro 2008 with room to spare and now that Spain have shed their under-achiever tag they could have a major say in who wins the World Cup this year.

What will the Final look like?

I will definitely be having a bet on this market! This is the match that I am looking forward to more than any other. I think the obvious bet would be for the final to contain two of the following five teams, England, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Spain. Germany are never fancied but always have a strong team ethic and rarely have bad World Cups. I think that Spain or Brazil will be in the final. Here are the bwin.com odds for all of the combinations of those finals in betting order.

Brazil v Spain 11/1
England v Spain 15/1
Brazil v Argentina 16/1
England v Argentina 20/1
England v Brazil 22/1
Germany v Brazil 22/1
Argentina v Spain 22/1
England v Germany 30/1
Germany v Spain 33/1
Germany v Argentina 40/1

Other teams that could do well are reigning champions Italy, who are 11/2 to make the final and Holland who have odds of 5/1 to make the final.

Get your World Cup football bets on early with bwin.com and snap up early value. The top four in the outright betting market for the team to win the World Cup 2010 are,

Outright Winner – Top Four Teams in the Market

Spain 17/4
Brazil 5/1
Argentina 13/2
England 13/2

By Malcolm Clarke

Snooker Betting integrity took another hit after fresh allegations by the News of the World regarding an alleged phone call made to Ladbrokes by John Higgins who wanted to place a bet on Shaun Murphy to win the 2009 World Snooker Final during a break in play. John was allegedly refused the bet after the call centre operative correctly informed him that he was unable to place bets on events that he was participating in. In any form of sports betting you are not allowed to bet on sports you take part in. Footballers, for example, are not allowed to bet on matches and several players have been severely reprimanded and even banned for doing so.

John Higgins is currently under investigation for the various allegations he faces and is under suspension by World Snooker whilst these investigations take place. I have received a number of emails regarding the safety of online sports betting from people who follow my online betting tips, which have in the past involved snooker tips.

It is certainly a sad day for any snooker fan. Barry Hearn, the chairman of World Snooker, is fighting a battle to rid the “cancer” from the game as was described by Steve Davis, the six times World Champion. Despite all of the bad press I do believe that it is safe to bet on games of snooker using a bookmaker like bwin.com. I still believe that most results play out the way you would expect them to and with some knowledge of technique, momentum and snooker skills you can still spot a good bet. It would be a shame if the actions of one or two players tarnished this fun way to place sports bets.

I enjoy a bet on Snooker. I bet on a match between Liang Wenbo and Peter Ebdon where there were allegedly suspect betting patterns for a 5-0 win for Liang. I bet on the outright win for Liang because I knew that Ebdon had practised with Liang and that Liang would be comfortable playing against him with plenty of belief he could win this match. Ebdon had too much respect for this player; whilst Wenbo is immensely talented he was much further down the rankings than Peter. I think in this match Ebdon knew what Liang was capable of and knew he was good enough to win 5-0. There may or may not have been something going on in terms of cheating, but I still picked out the right result and won the bet. My belief is that other bettors had similar knowledge to me and this match was not a match that involved any wrongdoing.

Let’s assume for a moment that there is an inherent match-fixing problem in snooker. Would any player feel comfortable doing anything untoward at this point? Probably not as the risks are too high and everyone is watching for sports betting manipulation very closely. It is a big risk to take to cheat when the minimum ban by precedent is eight years. I continue to enjoy betting on snooker and sincerely hope that these allegations are limited to a small number of players who will quickly be dealt with. My bigger hope is that there was never any cheating, but there are too many allegations for everything to be legitimate. There is a lot of smoke for there to be no fire unfortunately.

Bwin.com offer snooker bets on all of the major championships with frame betting and other special betting like century breaks in a match and who will win the next frame. You can rely on bwin to carefully monitor betting patterns and if there are any suspicious matches you hear about simply do not bet on them. In truth these sorts of allegations are rare in terms of the thousands of matches played each season you can bet on. Unfortunately where money is concerned there is always the danger someone gets greedy.

I have faith that the majority of snooker matches can still be bet on safely and snooker betting can still be enjoyed by all. I am looking forward to the new season.

By Malcolm Clarke

It is time for the finest match of them all – final in Champions League 2009 / 2010.

The final is going to be played in Madrid, Spain, Saturday 22 May between Inter Milan from Italy and Bayern München from Germany.

Neither Bayern München nor FC Inter Milan was one of the favourites to reach this final compared to the experts’ bettingtips and favourites according to the odds before this season. However, after have seen both this teams in the play off round I do not think any one can say that these teams do not deserve a place in the finals.

Bayern München has for example beaten Lyon, Manchester United and Inter Milan has knocked both Chelsea and Barcelona out from the tournament. Besides, to be honest, none of these teams has to apologise for any of these knockouts either.

As Usual, when it comes to big finals, the betting companies are loaded with different betting opportunities for this game. I can’t write out all the different bets that the companies has put out but bwin for example has 57 different bets out on the market all ready and my guess is that this number will increase even more as closer to the final we reach. In these two texts, I will give you all my best bettingtips for the Champions League final and the analysis why I chose to bet on the odds that I recommend. Of course, I will not bet on all the different betting choices that bwin have on the market but I will try to cover a few of them, just to give you the extra excitement for the final:

Here is the first bettingtips (odds from bwin bettingtips), Bayern München vs. Inter Milan, 1-x-2:

Bayern München win: 2.80 in odds, draw: 3.25 in odds Inter Milan to win: 2.40 in odds

My bettingtips: Inter Milan to win @ 2.40 in odds

First, I will of course give you my view on how I think this game will end. To be honest I am a bit surprised that Inter Milan pays as high as 2.40 in odds in this final. I do not have anything to say about the fact that the betting companies holds Inter Milan as favourites but my expectations where that they was going to pay about 2.10 – 2.20 in odds.

Before this tournament there where three big favourite teams in Champions League; FC Chelsea, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Inter Milan has beaten two out of these three (Chelsea and Barcelona) and have done it very well according to me. In the 1/8-final they beat Chelsea both home and away (2 – 1 at home and 0 – 1 away). Against Barcelona in the semi finals they won with 3 – 1 home at Giuseppe Meazza and lost with 1 – 0 away. In addition, the fact is that that Barcelona played with one man more in 60 minutes in the return home at Camp Nou but only got one goal in the 84^th minute. Tiago Motta on Inter Milan’s midfield was the one that was sent out in the second semi-final against Barcelona and will miss the final in Madrid.

Bayern München had a bit easier way to the final, without compromising their performance in any way. If Inter Milan knocked out two strong teams on their way to the finals, Bayern M knocked out one good team – Manchester United, and this came after a red card on Rafael in the second quarterfinal. Because to be honest (one more time) they where a bit lucky in that game. Manchester United had 3 – 0 after 20 minutes and it never looked like a turnaround could come. However, some how the German machine rose once again and managed to score two goals, which took them, further in Champions League. If I summarize both teams’ efforts so far in the tournament, I feel that Inter Milan should have an advantage in this final. According to me they have a stronger team with more key players (such as Samuel Etoó, Diego Milito, wesley sneijder, Mario Balotelli, Goran Pandev and so on) that can be the deferens in a tight game like this.

Another fact that cannot be forgotten in this type of matches is the importance of the managers. I hold Jose Mourinho as one of the best coaches in cup matches like this. I think that he is a bit sharper then Louis Van Gaal when it comes to tactical knowledge in crucial moments.

The last fact why I chose to bet on Inter is that Bayern München has their best player, Franck Ribery, suspended in this vital game and that is a big loss for the Germans. Ribery, Together with Arjen Robben, has been their most important players during this season and the fact that Ribery cannot play can be devastating for B München. When I put together all these arguments, I find it easy to choose which team to bet on in this big game. The odds, 2.40, on Inter Milan to win during ordinary time sound good for me so I start with that bettingtips.

That was my overall thoughts on the match and its outcome. The next text I thought to share with you of my best Special bet.

A scary thought? It certainly is. Where would we be without online poker, we would have to find other things to do, other things to study and (god forbid) even talk to the wife on an evening. Life is certainly fun having online poker to play but in my constant look at the world of poker we are going to consider why online poker is so important to our everyday lives as poker players and what we would need to do if we could not play online poker. It would certainly be a different world than the one we are used to.

It seems that the powers that be in respective governments around the world are hoping to at least heavily restrict the freedom poker players have to engage in online poker games and this article may not be too far from the mark. When I first saw a game of online poker on UB way back in 2000 I remember thinking what a strange way to spend your time. Because I had never heard of the game before I thought it was just another way of a games company getting your money, in the same way online slots and Bingo seems to do.

Fast forward ten years and I am a converted man. Realising that poker is a skill game laced with luck I play online poker most evenings, definitely one in two evenings for a couple of hours and I can legitimately improve rather than just getting lucky. I enjoy it and whilst I relax whilst I play I try to take on board as much of my own advice as possible and play as hard as I can. If I could not play online poker and if it did not exist, my life would certainly be a lot different.

It is my view that online poker has allowed the mainstream culture to adopt the game. Football is a massive game in the UK because anybody with a football can kick a ball around and there are lots of clubs, Saturday afternoon games with friends and 5-a-side leagues to join. It is accessible. Contrast that with Ice Hockey where you need a rink, lots of expensive safety equipment and the ability to ice skate well to be able to play. The viewing figures for that game are a lot smaller and this is no co-incidence. When people watch poker on TV, even if they live a long way from a casino they can log onto the Internet and play at a cash game or tournament table within seconds. Online poker could be one of the most accessible things available.

If online poker did not exist we would be forced to visit the casino for poker tournaments and cash games. Personally I find cash games more daunting in a live setting; it just looks like people know what they are doing more than online. Tournaments are fun, but last a long time. You also have to pick yourself up and drive to a casino, or take the bus if you want a drink, and there are going to be occasions where you decide to stay indoors and not make the effort. Accessing online poker is far easier, but if it did not exist we would have to work far harder to play. For those who want to enjoy free poker through a social network or their phone, there are different alternatives as Facebook Poker, iPhone poker, poker for Android, all of them free and fun to play, against your friends or poker players from all over the world!

Thankfully online poker exists in today’s world. I play most of my hands on bwin.com and get to use tracking software like pokertracker to help improve my game at a far higher rate than would be possible live. Bwin.com has a cool interface which is dark and sophisticated looking and that is easy on the eye, particularly when you play more than one table. You can play a variety of poker tournaments and real money cash games so download their software and have a go at beating the many poker players that call bwin.com their poker home.

I hope to see you at the tables and we can celebrate being able to play online poker together in some big pots!

By Malcolm Clarke

Imagine playing Texas Hold’em poker in a live environment, but online from your bedroom or, for those of you a bit more professional about things, your Poker Studio. Although I am unsure whether this would ever happen, I am sure the fact I had a dream about playing this sort of poker online tells me I either play too much or I am a genius. See whether you think I am crazy or genius at the end of the article!

A quirk of online poker is that you can make a bluff, contort into a variety of shapes shouting at the screen for your opponent to fold and not give anything away whilst the hand is in progress because your opponent cannot see you. I must admit I have done this many times. This is possible thanks to the anonymity of online poker. Top professional Allen Cunningham admitted in an interview recently he is very animated and emotional when playing online poker which is completely the opposite of how he is known at the live tables. My new concept was to use a video peer-to-peer platform like Skype to personalise the players and make it possible for tells to be practised whilst playing online poker and to integrate live poker concepts into the online poker game.

The positives of such an idea would be the ability to watch opponents whilst at the table thus giving you more time to practise not giving out tells but also spotting tells which would suit the skilled player. I imagined logging into a site like bwin.com, activating your webcam and starting to play with your poker sunglasses on! For larger buy-in online tournaments it would be an innovation I think would be welcomed by players. Unfortunately my attempts to change the world of online poker have a few obstacles.

In dreams, we can fly around without wings like birds but the constraints of real life make that impossible (unfortunately). My poker idea suffers such constraints as well. Whilst players would probably embrace the concept in one off special tournaments there would not be much use in using a camera against a player that is playing twelve to fourteen tables at once! How would you know the tell is for table one where you are or for their table ten?

Other problems would occur in players not fully exposing their face, using funky lighting to hide their emotions and not fully embracing the reason why the interpersonal webcam was used. This would be the death knell for my idea I feel. I do think that rather than use the cam purely for the gameplay, it would be fun that instead of an avatar you could use your web cam on specific tables where you could chat and talk to players interactively. That would be fun and I think profitable because people would enjoy talking to others and forget to play properly!

Perhaps I have stumbled upon the next cool idea for online poker. Perhaps it has already been thought of and discounted by the leading poker rooms like bwin.com. I would love to see this innovation added to the online poker experiences we all enjoy. Innovation is important because it keeps things fresh and we all wonder how the increased capability of technology will impact on the game as time moves forward.

I would love to hear reader’s ideas on what innovations you would like to see in poker rooms aside from the aesthetic improvements that sites like bwin.com regularly update anyway. Full Tilt introduced the Rush tables, which are interesting but not necessarily universally received; surely there will be more to follow as other sites look to differentiate their product and attract new players. It would be an interesting discussion to hear what big changes you think you could make to improve the online poker experience. Can you beat my idea of Live from home poker?

By Malcolm Clarke

When Newcastle Utd was relegated from the Premiership last season there were fears that one of the most passionately supported clubs in the country could be facing ruin. Thanks to shaving the wage bill and getting rid of the players who were earning much but contributing little the team are now poised for an immediate return to the Premiership after dominating the Championship season so far. They were recently overtaken to the top spot by West Brom, but now they have regained the lead and a healthy points lead it seems that they have overcome the inevitable falter and look set for promotion.

Football betting fans were told to proceed with caution even by me at the beginning of the season with odds no higher than 7/4 available for Newcastle winning the Championship. Newcastle stand at the top of the league six points clear with a game in hand with their rival clubs needing to catch them within the eleven league matches remaining for this season.

Middlesbrough 8/5 Draw 11/5 Newcastle 7/5

Newcastle’s weekend match is the Tyne-Tees derby away to Middlesbrough. Some of the gloss of these fixtures is removed from the fact that the stadium will be partially empty due not only to the local economy hit by the mothballing of the local steelworks but also general apathy towards the football club. Newcastle has a great chance at winning this match in my opinion as Middlesbrough are struggling for form and are only safe from relegation trouble after a strong start to the season. At 7/5 I would back Newcastle. Peter Lovenkrands, Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll are in glittering form this season for the Toon Army. The draw also represents good value as unfortunately recent encounters between the two clubs has resulted in a few terrible matches where neither side deserved to win. A “bore draw” was an accurate description of the game.

West Brom and Nottingham Forest are the other two clubs that seem to be destined for promotion. Providing Newcastle are promoted as Champions, one of these clubs will need to negotiate the play-offs.

West Brom 1/2 Draw 13/5 Blackpool 5/1

West Brom are 1/2 at home to Blackpool who are seventh in the league. West Brom, Newcastle and Forest have been too good for everyone else this season, however, and I would be happy to back West Brom to win at home in this match. West Brom left it late before beating Sheffield Wednesday last week and they need to stamp their authority on the league to remain on course for automatic promotion.

Preston 8/5 Draw 43/20 Nottm Forest 29/20

Nottingham Forest are playing away this weekend to fourteenth place Preston. Preston only managed a 1-1 draw against fellow mid-table strugglers Doncaster after Billy Sharp missed a penalty for Doncaster. They must do better. Darren Ferguson is taking time to settle into his new job as Preston manager and Forest will expect they have a real chance to win here. Skipper Paul McKenna is still absent through injury and although manager Billy Davies said he wanted a loaned player to join the squad nobody has arrived as yet for Forest. Away from home I think they have a chance but they have lost their last four away games. A draw looks a possibility here. This gives West Brom a great chance to consolidate their second position in the league by beating Blackpool.

Now that the action is hotting up stay tuned to the betting odds from bwin.

Can Newcastle hold on and if so, which of West Brom and Nottingham Forest will get the second spot? There is also the chance that Swansea or Leicester could go on a run and pressure them. Do not miss the Championship run in, things are getting very interesting.

By Malcolm Clarke