Bet Chelsea

Roman Abromovich shows girlfriend Daria Zhokova how to spend the roubles on a few ex Portugese baubles

Bet Newcastle

Kevin Keegan will have been well pleased with a point against a depleted Manchester United and be looking forward to the opening game on Tyneside after a disappointing warm up campaign. Bolton though enjoyed thraashing new boys Stoke and are battle hardened from last year’s relegation tussle. A tough call. Draw. Get all the betting here

Bet Chelsea

If training ground action is anything to go by then Big Phil Scolari is about to unleash a real shock on Sunday against Portsmouth…John Terry in goal. That is where he is playing at Stamford Bridge this morning.

Bet Chelsea

This is the first picture of Chelsea’s missing £9million January signing, Branislav Ivanovic actually kicking a ball in pratice…He was signed from Lokomotiv Moscow but fitness concerns after the long Russian season meant he has never played. Rumours are he may be offloaded to ex-Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri at Juventus for £12 million or possibly  AC Milan. The supposedly versatile Serbian defnder was given the number two shirt which would put him in a queue behind Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge and even Paolo Ferrera played left back for Portugal in the Euro 2008.

Bet Manchester United

Ole Gunner Solskar holds the another European Cup before his testimonial

There will be fond memories of Ole Gunner Solskar around the Premier League grounds but his type of player is increasingly out of fashion. The title race for 2008/9 will be decided in midfield. As ever Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson was ahead of the game when he signed first Michael Carrick from Spurs and then Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich to bring steel and guile into his midfield. It was a move that others have followed. Felipe Scolari brought in Deco to bring some zip and flair to Chelsea and has refused to let Frank Lampard go. Arsene Wenger’s only major purchase so far was to bring in Sami Nasri to compliment Cesc Fabregas in midfield. It seems after a summer of yes and no, that Rafa Benitez will get Gareth Barry to bring muscle to the Anfield army. Juande Ramos has offloaded centreforwards in favour of a dynamic midfield of Luka Modric and David Bentley. In fact all the big money has been on midfielders which means it is going to be tight in the centre circle in upcoming matches…or perhaps it is a defensive mindset that says that only teams with quality in midfield will have the vision to outwit strong defences, so it is safer to buy proven middle men than to play against them?

Bet Newcastle relegation

Damien Duff asks for instructions in Mallorca

The omens do not look good, two defeats in friendlies in Mallorca, Manchester United coming up on the opening day of the season, Keven Keegan’s black and white revolution is looking shaky and the hope of reinforcements coming in over the summer has not so far yielded any confidence-boosting arrivals. It could be a grim fight on the North East and a good bet for the new whipping boys in a relegation dogfight. They are 14/1 to be relegated and 149/1 against winning the leaguwe which sums up Special K’s problems neatly.

Get betting here

Bracewell’s soccer betting laws 2 - how much to bet?

Money is relative. If you have a £1,000,000 going spare then putting it on Manchester United to beat Portsmouth in the Community Shield at the resplendent new Wembley might seem like a surefire bet. You could trouser £600,000 which is good money in most people’s language. But if you pop £1 on it £1.60 seems a bit like slim pickings.

How much to bet is firstly about how much can you afford to play with? This is a decision best taken for the long term. Set a budget and stick to it. Apart from anything else it allows us to construct realistic strategies and analyse them. If you keep popping bets on here and there in the heat of the moment, then you may never know whether it was luck, judgement or chance. With a budget we can mix up hisk high odds bets against bankers at low risk and manage our portfolio just like they are stocks and shares.

Poker players talk about have a stash which they can build up over a period of months for big games. That makes sense, except in soccer betting there is no need to keep doubling up the ante. You are probably not going to win millions unless you bet millions. Be realistic.

Let us set a budget of £10 a week, £100 if you could afford it and if you are flush then £1000. So we are all talking the same percentages. Let us work to turn that £10/£100/£1000 firstly into £25/£250/£2500. It may sound modestly ambitious, but even if we hit the big odds pay days, let’s treat them like they are as sunny days in February

A tip for the weekend - a treble on Arsenal, Milan and Real Madrid all to win is 7.20, so £10 = £72.

Open an account at BetClick and as a new member your first £10 bet is free - if it does not come off, you don’t lose anything. Give it a try, you could be holding folding Sunday night

Bet of day: Liverpool have an interesting encounter away to the surprise package in La Liga last year Villarreal on Wednesday night. This could be the first real glimpse of how either team may shape up for next season. Bet Liverpool to win 3-1 which would pay out £220 for a tenner.

You can get Best Liverpool Odds odds on BetClick, the easiest site on Internet for Sports Betting.

Bet on Liverpool here

Rafa Bentez made his  sixth signing of the summer with the capture of the French striker David Ngog from Paris St Germain for £1.5 million. The 19-year-old follows other little discussed names like Philipp Degen, Andrea Dossena, Diego Cavalieri, Vincent Weijl and Emmanuel Mendy to the club.

Liverpool said he was “one of the brightest young talents in French football” and “lightening quick” (they probably meant lightning) although  the cousin of the former Newcastle defender Jean-Alain Boumsong, managed just one goal in 18 matches for PSG last season.

Ngog has played for the France U-16, U-17 and U-19 sides and scored twice against England U-19s last year.