Premier League tips

Last week's returns: Profit £44.39
Overall returns: Profit £42.56

Saturday 6th October

Manchester City vs Sunderland
City were poor midweek against Borussia Dortmund and a lunchtime kick off Saturday morning isn't ideal after playing Wednesday and given the fact Steven Fletcher hasn't stopped scoring for Sunderland since his move from Wolves in the summer, expect City's long run without a clean sheet to continue.

Given City's brilliant form home, I expect them to edge out Sunderland, but it won't be a stroll.

Manchester City 2 Sunderland 1 - 9/1 with Stan James - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Over 2.5 goals - 4/6 with Betfair - Returns of £8.33
Carlos Tevez anytime goalscorer - Evens with Bwin - Lose a fiver
Highest scoring half First - 13/5 with Stan James - Lose a fiver

Match returns - Down £11.67

Chelsea vs Norwich
Chelsea impressed away to Arsenal and are flying high at the top of the Premier league, with five wins from six. Norwich are struggling, and a mixture of conceding too many and not scoring enough doesn't bode well for the Canaries.

Roberto Di Matteo's men should win this home encounter and continue their fine start to the league campaign.

Chelsea 3 Norwich 0 - 7/1 with William Hill - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Juan Mata to assist the first goal - 7/1 with BoyleSports - Lose a fiver
Chelsea to win - 1/4 with Bet Victor - Returns of £6.25
Both teams to score NO - 10/11 with William Hill - Lose a fiver

Game returns - Down £13.75

Mata scored on his debut vs. Norwich City last season

Swansea vs Reading 
Swansea haven't scored in three and winless in four Premier league matches, and were out thought last week against Stoke City, whilst Reading are yet to win since their return to the top flight. Back both teams to score as they've only two clean sheets between them, both Swansea's and in their first two games.

Reading need to start picking up points and back them to get a draw away to an out of sorts Swansea here.

Swansea 1 Reading 1 - 6/1 with Ladbrokes - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Draw - 77/29 with Pinnacle - Returns of £18.27
Both teams to score YES - 9/10 with Stan James - Returns of £9.50
Under 2.5 goals - 39/40 with Bet Victor - Lose a fiver

Match returns - Profit £7.77

West Brom vs QPR
West Brom have won all three games at the Hawthorns this season and are yet to concede a goal on their home turf. QPR have made a poor start to the season; however they've a more friendly looking fixture list coming up in the next few weeks and Mark Hughes will see this game as a chance to earn their first win.

The first goal in this game will be the key one especially with the way QPR are defending at the moment; however I reckon they'll get something from their trip here.

West Brom 1 QPR 2 - 14/1 with Totesport - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Both teams to score YES - 4/5 with Stan James - Returns of £9
Draw HT/ QPR FT - 17/2 with BetVictor - Lose a fiver
Over 2.5 goals - 5/6 with SkyBet - Returns of £9.16

Match returns - Down £1.84

Wigan vs Everton
Despite playing well in games Wigan are struggling to score the goals to give themselves a chance at collecting three points. Everton on the other hand are on fire! Second in the league and with four wins from six, they could surprise everyone and make the top four this season.

Last time these two met it was a draw at the DW Stadium last year, and I reckon Wigan will get a draw here again too.

Wigan 1 Everton 1 - 6/1 with Ladbrokes - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Draw -  47/18 with Pinnacle - Returns of £18.06
Both teams to score YES - 9/10 with Stan James - Returns of £9.50
Nikica Jelavic anytime goalscorer - 15/8 with Stan James - Returns of £14.38

Match returns - Profit £21.94

West Ham vs Arsenal
Last week for these two clubs was a week of first's as West Ham won a Premier League away game for the first time since the 2nd February 2011, whilst Arsenal lost for the first time this season at home to Chelsea.

West Ham are unbeaten at home so far and Arsenal are unbeaten away from the Emirates and I expect the first to come to an end this weekend with Arsenal winning narrowly.

West Ham 1 Arsenal 2 - 8/1 with Stan James - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Both teams to score YES - 8/11 with Stan James  Returns of £8.64
Arsenal to win - 24/23 with Pinnacle - Returns of £10.22
Gervinho anytime goalscorer - 9/4 with Ladbrokes - Lose a fiver

Match returns - Down £1.14
Day returns - Profit £1.31

Gervinho is in fine goalscoring form the for Gunners

Sunday 7th October

Southampton vs Fulham
Southampton will be pleased to get back to St Marys following their third consecutive away defeat last week against Everton. Fulham have always had troubles on their travels, but they did beat Wigan in their last away match two weeks back.

If Southampton are to survive then they will need to win there home matches against sides like Fulham and I expect them to do so here.

Southampton 2 Fulham 1 - 10/1 with Betfred - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Both teams to score YES - 8/11 with Stan James - Returns of £8.64
Over 2.5 goals - 4/5 with 888Sport - Returns of £9
Highest scoring half, Second - Evens with Paddy Power - Returns of £10

Match returns - Profit £7.64

Liverpool vs Stoke
Both Liverpool and Stoke earned their first wins of the season last week in comfortable fashion. Despite a midweek defeat to Udinese in the Europa League, Liverpool have improved over the last few weeks and expect them to pick up their first Anfield win of the Premier league season on Sunday.

It won't be as many goals as last week; however given Luis Suarez's rich vein of goal scoring form, I fancy him to score in a Liverpool win.

Liverpool 2 Stoke 1 - 17/2 with Stan James - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Luis Suarez to score and Liverpool to win - 13/8 with Bluesquare - Lose a fiver
Both teams to score YES - 6/5 with Stan James - Lose a fiver
First team yellow card Stoke - 1/2 with bet365 - Returns of £7.50

Match returns - Down £12.50

Tottenham vs Aston Villa
Tottenham were brilliant as they finally ended their Old Trafford hoodoo last week and backing that up with a home win here is vital. Villa rescued a point at home to West Brom last week; however if they are to avoid a relegation fight, they are games they should be winning.

Andre Villas-Boas is slowly getting there with Spurs, and back them to win here quite comfortably.

Tottenham 3 Aston Villa 1 - 11/1 with William Hill - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Jermaine Defoe to score anytime - 11/10 with Bwin - Lose a fiver
Over 2.5 goals - 21/20 with You win - Lose a fiver
Tottenham to win - 1/2 with William Hill - Returns of £7.50

Match returns - Down £12.50

Newcastle United vs Manchester United
Newcastle recovered well, all be it in controversial circumstances, last week against Reading, and backed it up with an impressive win at home to Bordeaux mid-week in the Europa League. Manchester United however were poor in their defeat to Spurs, but did manage to win in Romania in the Champions League.

With Newcastle the home side, I can't see much separating these two and it'll probably be a draw.

Newcastle United 1 Manchester United 1 - 7/1 with William Hill - Lose a fiver

Other tips:
Both teams to score YES - 8/11 with Stan James - Lose a fiver
Over 2.5 goals - 4/7 with 188Bet - Returns £7.85
Wayne Rooney anytime goal scorer - 15/8 with Stan James -  Lose a fiver

Match returns - Down £12.15
Day returns - Down £29.51
Weekend returns - Down £28.20
Overall returns - Profit £14.36

Accumulator of the week - Manchester City, Chelsea, Southampton and Tottenham to win - £5 returns £29.79 with Skybet

Arsenal recover to secure Champions League spot

Second half goals from captain Robin Van Persie and Theo Walcott saw Arsenal come from behind on the night to secure their place in the Champions League group stages.


Despite all the pressure surrounding Arsene Wenger and his side, Arsenal's second half performance was a reminder not to write off his young side. With injuries and sales to key players, many predicted Arsenal would fail to overcome Udinese despite their one goal lead, and after Di Natale had given Udinese a deserved lead many expected Arsenal to wilt under the extreme pressure and heat in Italy, however their second half performance not only defied their form but the question marks over their heads with Aaron Ramsey in particular dominating the midfield, proving yet again what a fantastic young player he is.


Udinese's captain Antonio Di Natale had levelled the tie on aggergate heading home superbly from a Pinzi cross, however Arsenal turned it around with a much improved second half performance with Van Persie finishing comfortably after Gervinho had done superbly, as well as Walcott getting in behind Udinese to beat the impressive Samir Handonvic.Arsenal's two goals were sandwiched by a Di Natale penalty miss, as Wojciech Szczesny pulled off a quite spectacular save, and with the game level at this point, if the Italian had scored then Arsenal's progression wouldn't have been as comfortable.


Both sides came into the game with similar problems, with Udinese like Arsenal losing key players in Cristian Zapata, Gokan Inhler and most notably Alexis Sanchez to Barcelona, and after a close first leg, in which Udinese were unlucky not to pinch an away goal, the closeness of the first half was to be expected, with both sides taking the game to each other in a very lively start.


The first real chance of note fell to Udinese as Di Natale got ahead of the Arsenal centre half Johan Djourou to turn Maurico Isla's cross against the near post. However it was Arsenal, who should've taken the lead, through their first leg scorer Walcott.

Gervinho did superbly well to engineer an oppourtunity, and superbly laid the ball of for Walcott who faced with just Handonovic and the goal smashed his shot into the chest of the Slovianen keeper, who then expertely repelled Van Persie's rebound.

With Udinese growing in confidence, the Italian side opened the scoring just before half time, with their captain Di Natale heading superbly over Szczesny in the Arsenal goal.

Wenger replaced the ineffectual Emmanuel Frimpong with Tomas Rosicky in an attacking and bold move that paid dividend for the under pressure manager, as his side levelled early in the second half. The impressive Gervinho again caused havoc down the Udinese left, and squared well for Van Persie who samshed home superbly.

Minutes later, with Udinese needing two goals to progress, they were literally handed the chance to half their needed goals, as Thomas Vermaelan handed from a uncleared corner resulting in a penalty for the home side. Di Natale's penalty however was expertely saved from Szczesny who diving to his right pulled off an incredible one handed save.

With the frustration evident Udinese's temper got the better of them and were lucky not to be reduced to ten men as was fortunate not to be sent off as his elbow on Walcott went unoticed. However Walcott had the final say as he and Sagna linked up brilliantly down the left hand side, who when one on one with Handanovic finished superbly.

The final whistle came as a huge relief to Wenger as his Arsenal side confirmed their status in the group stage of the Champions League.

Gervinho set for Arsenal move

Arsene Wenger confirmed today that the club have signed Gervinho from French Champions Lille.

The transfer had always been on the cards when Wenger confirmed an interest in the Ivorian striker at the end of the season. Arsenal beat off reported interest from London rivals Tottenham Hotspur for the 24-year olds signature.

Wenger confirmed the deal this morning as Arsenal prepared for their tour of the Middle East saying "Gervinho has joined. He had a medical on Thursday. We sent him home for a couple of days because he has a family and children. He did not come [on tour] because he has not had a [training] session yet."

The signing is the clubs second addition of the transfer window after moving for Charlton's teenage defender Carl Jenkinson. Gervinho is the second of the Lille double winning side to move to the Premier League following Yohan Cabaye's move to Newcastle United.

Gervinho's move is expected to be in the region of £12million