Premier League Tips

Last weekend's returns - Loss of £2.04
Overall returns - Profit of £12.32

Weekend accumulators:
Winners: Arsenal, Reading, Manchester City, Everton and Newcastle. Fiver returns £117.73

Goals Galore: Arsenal, Reading, Wigan, Everton and Southampton. Fiver returns £60.24

Saturday 27th October

Aston Villa vs. Norwich
Saturday's early kick off see's Paul Lambert come up against Norwich for the first time since leaving the club in the summer. It's fair to say the way Lambert departed Carrow Road has left a bittersweet taste in the mouths of the Norwich fans despite the amazing work he did with the club in the three years he was there.

Aston Villa are slowly getting there under Lambert, and drastic change was never going to happen overnight. Norwich were superb in their surprise victory of Arsenal last week, and will have to be as good if they are to register their first away win of the season on the weekend.

I don't fancy many goals at Villa Park, however Lambert should get revenge over his former employers in a narrow victory.

Aston Villa 1 Norwich 0 - 8/1 with Betvictor - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Under 2.5 goals - 13/12 with 188bet. - Returns of £10.41
Aston Villa to score first - 4/6 with Ladbrokes - Returns of £8.33
Darren Bent to score and Aston Villa to win - 13/5 with BlueSquare - Lose a fiver

Match returns - Loss of £1.46

Arsenal vs. QPR
Back to back defeats for Arsenal have turned a promising start into an average one. Mark Hughes and QPR would've settled for an average start, and after eight Premier league games they are winless and bottom of the pile.

Against the bigger sides this year QPR have competed well, earning home points against the likes of Chelsea and Everton, but away from home they've been poor since their return to the top flight. Arsenal need a win to keep in touch with those above them, and three points aren't a given especially when you consider they've dropped five points at the Emirates already this year.

On their day Arsenal can beat anyone, and they should have too much for a disjointed QPR at home on Saturday.

Arsenal 3 QPR 1 - 11/1 with Stan James - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Over 2.5 goals - 1/2 with Paddy Power - Lose a fiver
Thomas Vermaelen anytime goal scorer - 6/1 with Ladbrokes - Lose a fiver
Both teams to score - 4/5 with Skybet - Lose a fiver

Match returns - Loss of £20

Reading vs. Fulham
After seven win less games, at home to Fulham is a must win match for Brian McDermott and his Reading side. Fulham were very patient in their win against Aston Villa on the weekend, and despite dominating the game had to wait until the 84th minute for their winner.

The Championship winners are in need of their first three points of the season

Reading have improved over their last three games, and were unfortunate not to beat both Newcastle and Swansea, so back them to register their first win of the campaign here.

Reading 2 Fulham 1 - 11/1 with Betfred - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Both teams to score - 4/6 with Bluesquare - Returns of £8.33
Reading to win - 17/9 with Pinnacle - Lose a fiver
Pavel Pogrenyak anytime goal scorer - 5/2 with bwin - Lose a fiver

Match returns - Loss of £11.67

Stoke City vs. Sunderland
The game at the Britannia see's the battle of the draw masters. Between them they've drawn 10 out of 15 Premier league matches, so it's safe to say the draw is the bet I've gone with here.

The additions of Charlie Adam and Steven N'Zonzi have brought an extra bit of quality to the Stoke midfield and if either side are to win it'll probably be Stoke given their impressive home record; however I can't separate these two sides.

Stoke City 1 Sunderland 1 - 6/1 with Betfred - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
First team booking Stoke - 5/4 with bet365 - Returns of £11.25
Draw - 12/5 with Skybet - Returns of £17
Both teams to score - 21/20 with Coral - Lose a fiver

Match returns - Profit £8.25

Wigan vs West Ham
Another borderline decision went against Wigan on the weekend, with Arouna Kone's header ruled out for offside, with replays suggesting the Ivorian striker was onside. If the correct decision was made then Roberto Martinez's side would've had all the momentum heading into the final 15 minutes of their game with Swansea, however the Welsh side managed to prevent a Wigan equaliser.

West Ham impressed again last weekend, and they were extremely clinical at home to Southampton in a 4-1 win. Sam Allardyce's side head to Wigan in form and full of confidence, and an away win could be on the cards.

Wigan 1 West Ham 2 - 11/1 with Totesport - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Both teams to score - 4/6 with Ladbrokes - Returns of £8.33
Andy Carroll anytime goal scorer - 9/4 with Stan James - Lose a fiver
Draw or West Ham - 4/7 with Skybet - Lose a fiver

Match returns - Loss of £11.67

Manchester City vs. Swansea
Manchester City will be wanting to put their Champions league nightmare behind them in the form of a fourth consecutive Premier league victory. Swansea had struggled since their early victories, but their 2-1 win over Wigan was a huge one for the club.

Mancini has said City need a miracle to progress from their Champions league group

Roberto Mancini's side will have too much for Swansea at the Ethiad and will win comfortably.

Manchester City 3 Swansea 0 - 15/2 with Bet Victor - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Sergio Aguero to score and Manchester City to win - 6/5 with Ladbrokes - Lose a fiver
Over 2.5 goals - 11/21 with Betfair - Lose a fiver
Manchester City to win to nil - 12/8 with Skybet - Returns of £12.50

Match returns - Loss of £7.50

Sunday 28th October

Everton vs. Liverpool
The first Merseyside derby of the season comes along with both teams finding their best form of the year. Everton have lost just the once in the league this campaign and have made their best start to a season since 2004/05. Liverpool are unbeaten in three Premier league matches, their best run of the season, collecting seven points from nine.

Gerrard with his match ball after Liverpool's 3-0 derby day victory at Anfield last year

Everton don't have the best record in this derby, however I fancy them to edge it here by the narrowest of margins.

Everton 2 Liverpool 1 - 10/1 with Stan James - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Both teams to score - 8/11 with Bet 365 - Returns of £8.63
Everton - 17/10 with Betfred - Lose a fiver
A penalty to be awarded - 15/8 with Paddy Power - Lose a fiver

Match returns - Loss of £11.37

Newcastle vs. West Brom
Both of these sides conceded late leads last weekend, with West Brom eventually losing at home to the ten men of Manchester City, whilst Demba Ba scored a late own goal in the Tyne-Wear derby to help Sunderland rescue a late and probably undeserved point.

Newcastle are yet to find top gear yet this year, winning just twice in the league. West Brom's have been fantastic, and would've been disappointed to lose to City last week, just showing how far they've come under their new manager Steve Clarke.

Despite their Europa league mid-week match, I fancy Alan Pardew's side to win here.

Newcastle 2 West Brom 1 - 8/1 with Stan James - Returns of £45

Other tips:
Demba Ba anytime goalscorer - 6/4 with Coral - Returns of £12.50
Newcastle to win - 68/67 with Pinnacle - Returns of 10.07
Both teams to score - 13/19 with 32 Red - Returns of £8.42

Match returns - Profit of £55.99

Southampton vs. Tottenham
Southampton were poor last week, with their second half showing in particular not good enough, whilst Tottenham and Andre Villas-Boas was left to curse their selection problems as Spurs lost 4-2 at home to Chelsea.

One thing is for sure, there will be goals in this game. Between them they've just one league clean sheet this year, and both don't have a problem finding the net, just keeping them out.

Back Tottenham to win here in a classic.

Southampton 2 Tottenham 3 - 25/1 with Stan James - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Over 3.5 goals - 11/8 with Paddy Power - Lose a fiver
Both teams to score - 4/7 with Ladbrokes - Returns of £7.85
Jermaine Defoe anytime goal scorer - 6/4 with Boyle Sports - Lose a fiver

Match returns - Loss of £12.15

Chelsea vs. Manchester United
Neutrals will be hoping for a repeat of last year's classic encounter, as Manchester United came from three goals down to rescue a point at Stamford Bridge. But this Chelsea side is a much stronger one then the one that lost the said lead back in February.

Just two points dropped from eight games represents a brilliant start for Chelsea, however their performance in Ukraine on Tuesday wasn't up to scratch. United have scored for goals for fun this year, but also have problems at the back, and have missed their injured captain Nemanja Vidic heavily.

I can't see too much between the sides so back the draw here.

Chelsea 2 Manchester United 2 - 13/1 with 188bet - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Double chance: Draw or Manchester United - 8/15 with Paddy Power - Returns of £7.67
A red card to be awarded - 17/10 - Returns of £13.50
Manchester United HT/ Draw FT- 14/1 with Sporting Bet - Lose a fiver

Match returns - Profit of £1.17

Weekend returns - Down £20.41
Overall returns - Down £8.09

Copa America - An Overview Part One

The 2011 Copa America in Argentina as a tournament had everything from a side reaching the final despite not winning a game the whole tournament to a well deserved winning side. Uruguay, the South American side who went the furthest at the 201o FIFA World Cup, got better as the tournament went on and were comfortable winners in the final against Paraguay. The pre-tournament usual favourites, Brazil and the host nation Argentina, were poor, with both just winning one of their four games.

The Group Stages

Group A 
Host nation Argentina were given on paper a relatively simple progression into the knock out round; however they had to settle for second place in the group as Colombia edged them out. Argentina were poor in their opening two matches, and were fortunate to collect successive draws. Under Sergio Batista, Argentina opted for three defensive midfielders in their opening two games and only a change in their approach (which saw the inclusion of Angel Di Maria and Sergio Aguero) saw them progress. Defensively, despite conceding just the one goal, Argentina were poor and only a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping from Sergio Romero, especially against Colombia, ensured no first round humiliation for the hosts. With a vast amount of their players well known across Europe, Camilo Zuniga of Napoli and Radamel Falcao Garcia of Atletico Madrid, to name but two, it was no surprise to see Colombia progress, and they really should have progressed with a 100% win ratio, with a goalless draw against Argentina the only blight on their copybook. Bolivia and Costa Rica were the other two sides in Group A, and despite both recording one good result (For Bolivia a draw with Argentina, whilst Costa Rica overcame Bolivia in what was the battle to avoid being bottom), they never really threatened to progress, with the latter always going to struggle without their star player Brian Ruiz.

Group B
Brazil (arguably undeservedly) topped Group B thanks to victory in their final Group B match against Ecuador. For the most part Paraguay were the best side in the Group, and if it wasn't for late collapses against Brazil and Venezuela they would have been easy winners of Group B. After the opening round of fixtures in Group B failed to produce a goal, the all important second matches saw Brazil rescue a late point against Paraguay thanks to the former Lyon striker Fred, whilst surprise package Venezuela stunned a Antonio Valencia less Ecuador. The game of the group stages saw Venezuela book their last eight spot thanks to an incredible comeback against Paraguay. 3-1 down with just two minutes to go, late strikes from Miku and Grenddy Perozo rescued a point for the Group underdogs. Despite throwing four points away Paraguay were through (ironically thanks to Argentina's victory over Costa Rica, as two of the groups needed three qualifiers and Paraguay had a better goal difference then Group A's third place side). Going into the last game Brazil themselves needed a result against Ecuador, and thanks to two goals apiece from Neymar and Alexandre Pato they eased past their opponents 4-2, in their most convincing performance of the tournament.

Group C
Uruguay like many of the other pre-tournament favourites started in slow fashion; however they like Chile and Peru qualified in comfortable fashion. A Mexico side (made up of predominately under 23 year old's because of their decision to take their strongest squad to the Gold Cup rather then the Copa America) battled well but ended up pointless and bottom. Chile, despite being under different leadership to Marcelo Biesla, continued to play three at the back, and their style of play was brilliant to watch, with Alexis Sanchez's fantastic team goal in their draw with Uruguay the highlight. Uruguay and their embarrassment of attacking riches (Diego Forlan, Luis Suarez, Edison Cavani and Alvaro Pereira) required at least a draw with Mexico in their last Group game to ensure progression and thanks to Pereira's early strike, they eased through in second place, edging out Peru who lost to Chile, but still did enough to qualify.

Part two to follow soon.

Why Manchester City can win the league!

Sergio Aguero's addition is a fantastic one, meaning for me they are just one piece away from the side that can really challenge for the title.

The inconsistent form of Adam Johnson and James Milner means that City need to add an out and out winger to the side. David Silva had a superb first season at the club, however his best position is in the hole of the striker, and with Carlos Tevez set to leave the club, the Spaniard next season may get to play in his favoured position. Roberto Mancini clearly has highlighted the wing position as a worry, with interest in Alexis Sanchez reportedly high, only for the Chilean to join Barcelona. A perfect addition would be a player the club has been heavily linked with in Juan Mata. The Valencia star looks certain to leave the club with Arsenal reportedly another English side interested.

Defensively under Mancini Manchester City have been very good with Vincent Kompany, the clubs player of the year, and Joleon Lescott, who got into the side because of Kolo Toure's ban, forging a very good centre half partnership. They are also very strong in both full-back positions with differing options available to Mancini. The right back birth see's a battle between the attacking Micah Richards and the strong defensively good Pablo Zabaleta, with the left back area a straight fight between Aleksandar Kolarov and summer addition Gael Clichy. With the shield of Nigel De Jong and either Gareth Barry or Kolo Toure protecting a strong back four, for me City have a defensive unit as good as anything in the league.

The addition of Aguero just backs up the fact that the team has goals in it. Tevez's 20 league goals are going to be hard to replace, if his likely exit is confirmed before the end of the current transfer window, however Edin Dzeko, Mario Balotelli and Aguero are three strikers who can score. You can always tell of a teams strength when the players who are no longer needed are of the quality of Roque Santa Cruz and Craig Bellamy who are of proven Premier League ability, despite the duo failing to score and being loaned out to a Championship club respectively last year.

Under Mark Hughes City lacked a real balance, however despite criticism for deploying 'negative' tactics, under Mancini City had a great year, winning the F.A Cup aswell as a third placed finish in the Premier League, even towards the end of the 2010-11 season some of their performances were hailed for their attacking flair. Their attacking play is supported well with two or even three of Yaya Toure, De Jong and Barry always playing, meaning teams will struggle to break them down. Their F.A cup victory shows that they have the know how to win trophies and with many of their squad successful with their previous clubs, the team has experience in winning leagues.

A reason why I feel City have a great chance this year is that, despite the league being stronger on the whole, the top sides in Arsenal, Chelsea and their Manchester rivals United, have decreased in quality in the last two years. Arsenal often flatter to deceive and when it comes down to the crunch part of the season have been accused of 'bottling it', most notably their 2-1 defeat to Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final. Chelsea's squad is an aging one, with seven first team players over the age of 30, and despite the addition of manager Andre Villas-Boas, I feel unless they add to their squad will struggle to challenge for the title this year. Manchester United despite winning the league last year have lost key players in Edwin Van Der Sar and Paul Scholes, and due to the laters retirement they lack a real quality creative midfielder, with this season a huge one for the Brazilian Anderson.

Last season Manchester City struggled for consistency and often drew against sides they really should be beating, however if they can overcome the weaker sides then I really expect them to challenge strongly for the title.

Manchester City are expected to challenge for more honours this year.

City land Aguero

Aguero will now wear the blue of Manchester City

Sergio Aguero became Manchester City's most expensive transfer ever after his £38million move from Atletico Madrid was finally sealed today.

On Thursday evening the club confirmed Aguero had signed a five year deal with the Manchester side, and will wear the number 16 shirt.

On the move Aguero commented "I think we are a team that in future will be fighting every year to win major trophies."

With fellow Argentine Carlos Tevez expected to leave the club, City pressed quickly to sign the much sought after striker, with European giants Juventus and Real Madrid heavily linked with the former Independiente striker.

Aguero becomes City's third major signing of the summer after Stefen Savic and Gael Clichy, however manager Roberto Mancini is expected to add to his already illustrious squad ahead of their season opener against Swansea.

Aguero in action at the recent Copa America

Despite poor starts all the big nations qualify

After much needed victories Brazil and Argentina confirmed their progression into the knock out stages of the Copa America. Uruguay also secured their place in the last eight with victory over Mexico, who were the only team from Group C who failed to progress.

In group A, Colombia secured top spot after easily overcoming a poor Bolivia side 2-0 with both goals coming from the much saught after striker Falcao. Playing a day later meant Argentina knew the highest they could finish was 2nd, which meant overcoming a second string Costa Rica side. And after making wholesale changes they were far too strong for the youthful Costa Rican's winning easily 3-0. Two goals for Sergio Aguero and one for Angel Di Maria only slightly resembled their dominance in what was a much better performance. Gonzalo Higuain, Lionel Messi along with the two goalscorers all spearheaded a frightening strike force, with Messi claiming two assists, the second a beautiful pass for Di Maria who smashed home.

For the second time in as many games Paraguay failed to hold a lead with the game heading into injury time, however this time they threw away a 3-1 lead with Venezuela rescuing the unlikeliest of points with Miku and Perozo snatching a draw which ensured Venezuela finished second. Brazil, like Argentina, drew their opening two games, and again they followed the Argentina method after winning their final group game to secure progression. Two goals apiece from Neymar and Pato ensured Julio Cesar's error to allow Manchester City's Felipe Caceido to draw the sides level at 1-1 was irrelevant. The win ensured Brazil finished top of Group B, meaning they play Paraguay in the quarter finals, ironically who finished third in their group.

In the final group the trio of Chile, Uruguay and Peru all qualified. Chile overcame Peru thanks to a last minute own goal, ensuring the Chilians topped group C and a quarter final match with Venezuela. Uruguay went into their final game knowing defeat would've ended their Copa America campaign, however despite spurning many chances they beat a youthful Mexico 1-0, with Diego Forlan coming in for some criticism after missing countless chances for the World Cup semi-finalists.

Quarter final draw (predictions in brackets)

Colombia vs Peru (2-0)

Uruguay vs Argentina (1-2)

Brazil vs Paraguay (2-1)

Chile vs Venezuela (3-1)

Round 3 predictions (actual score in brackets)- Argentina 3 Costa Rica 1 (3-0), Colombia 2 Bolivia 0 (2-0), Brazil 1 Ecuador 0 (4-2), Paraguay 1 Venezeula 0 (3-3), Chile 2 Peru 1 (1-0), Uruguay 2 Mexico 0 (1-0)