Football Bets for Monday and Tuesday
28/4/2008
Author: John Beith
Three matches take place early this week offering punters a good chance of picking up some winnings. Tonight Derby are at home to Arsenal in the Premiership and West Brom play Southampton in a Championship match that is vital for both sides. Tomorrow (Tuesday) will see the return leg of the Champion’s League match between Manchester United and Barcelona at Old Trafford.
Tonight’s matches look pretty much stacked in favour of Arsenal and West Brom but can still provide good betting opportunites. With Derby already relegated and with the unenviable title as the Premier League’s worst ever team, a visit from Arsenal is probably the last thing Paul Jewel and his beleaguered players need. Derby have the lowest points score ever recorded in Premier League history, have conceded 76 goals, have only managed one win all season and may well be in line for another mauling tonight at the hands of Arsenal.
Anything other than an Arsenal victory at Derby looks highly unlikely and while the odds of 4/13 (Betfair) for an Arsenal win are somewhat prohibitive, it would be foolish to put your money on any other outcome. Arsenal may be finishing the season without winning a trophy, but they have arguably been the Premiership’s most attractive side to watch and they could score a few goals tonight against a poor Derby defence. Arsenal put five past Derby earlier in the season with Adebayor scoring a hat-trick and another 5-0 result 22/1 (Bet365) could well be the outcome tonight.
In the Championship tonight West Brom play Southampton with both sides needing a win for different reasons. A win for West Brom will see them secure a place in the Premiership next season while third bottom of the table Southampton must try and take at least a point tonight if they are to have any chance of avoiding relegation.
Tony Mowbray’s side have only won one of their last four home league matches, but with a place in the Premier League guaranteed if they can win tonight, the home win at 4/7 (Coral) looks the bet to be on. Southampton haven’t won away since last December when they beat Leicester 2-1 and although they will be fighting for their lives tonight the chances of them getting anything from the match look bleak. With Southampton failing to score any goals in their last three matches that trend looks set to continue tonight and we predict a 2-0 win for West Brom at 6/1 (Ladbrokes).
Tomorrow Barcelona are the visitors to Old Trafford in the second-leg of their Champions League Semi-Final match. Barcelona travelled to Manchester with much the same squad of players that featured in last week’s match. The one addition to the squad is Captain Carlos Puyol who is available again after suspension and he’ll take the place of Rafael Marquez who is banned for the match.
The 0-0 scoreline last week was a bit of a surprise as both teams like to attack and United may find it hard to keep Barcelona from finding the net at Old Trafford tomorrow. Barcelona dominated possession for long spells last week but without really being able to penetrate United’s defence, but both teams needing to score it may well be a more open game than last week’s and goals look likely. In what will be a very close match we think United will come out on top and with 1/1 on offer (Bet365) for a United home win these odds look tempting. Barcelona are 10/3 (Partybets) and these odds will surely tempt some punters who will take into consideration Barcelona’s unbeaten away record in the tournament. The draw is best priced 9/4 Paddy Power.
We think United will win 2-1 9/1 (BET365) but we also think the 10/3 (Coral) for Lionel Messi to score anytime during the 90 minutes is good value and is worth a small stake.