Paul Ince’s Blackburn host newly promoted Hull both with victories under the beklts, albeit Blackburn’s surprise win at Everton was the more jaw dropping. Hull looked organised against Fulham but this will probabloy be another story. Home win. Get all the odds here
It is always a greater risk betting on the first Saturday of the season. There is no guide to who gets out of the starting blocks quickly or whether this will be a high scoring season but there are a few interesting bets.
The games to avoid are probably Hull against Fulham which has draw written on it or maybe Fulham will have the firepower. People have been writing them off as potential relegation candidates but I am a fan of Roy Hodgson. Onj the other hand I wouldn’t mind betting this could be Hull’s only win for a long time. It is a hard call at West Ham where Wigan who finished strongly last year are not going to play the kind of football the east Londoners like. It is a tough call to see if either Spurs or Liverpool can win away in the north east at Middlesbrough and Sunderland respectively, Maybe, maybe not.
The first four games alphabetically look home wins:
Arsenal should beat newly promoted West Brom, perhaps not without a scare or two
Aston Villa should be too strong for Mark Hughes Manchester City who will have £18 million Brazilian striker Jo upfront, but £18million is not enough to buy a place in the Olympic team and with ructions backstage cannot be a help. Some smart money says Hughes will be a shoe in at the first Premiership side in enough trouble to sack their manager. That’s Newcastle then.
Bolton should take care of newly promoted Stoke who can start their freefall back to the Championship.
And Everton will not allow Paul Ince’s Blackburn much space.
£10 on those four pays £83.
Compare that to the obvious banker that Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are all at home and all win - £10 would pay £19.
With all the transfer hype surrounding Ronaldo, Keane, Bentley et al, there was one small move that ducked under the radar and may be popular and a curious move too…Robbier Fowler from Cardiff to Paul ince’s new Blackburn side, snapped here during the friendly with NAC Breda at the weekend. If he ever gets fit enough it would be nice to see him tap in a few goals again.
NAC are a bit of a curiosity in themselves owning the longest footballing name in the world…The Dutch side are an amalgam of NOAD - in English, Never Give Up, Always Persevere - and ADVENDO - in English, Pleasant for Its Entertainment and Useful for its Relaxtion. In Dutch it ought to be Nooit opgeven altijd doorzetten Aangenaam door vermaak en nuttig door ontspanning Combinatie Breda.
The match ended 1-1.
Blackburn open the season with an unforgiving trip to Everton at Goodison. Bet here
Robbie Fowler joins up with Paul Ince at Blackburn which is an interesting one, although Blackburn might be 15/1 against relegation which could be a good bet, even if a bit depressing for a bright young English manager…Peter Crouch’s much heralded move from Liverpool to Portsmouth where he teams up with Jermaine Defoe looks another shrewd Harry Redknapp move and probably securing their contention in the top half of the table and maybe even a Uefa possibility. Portsmouth are a romantic 500/1 against winning the Premiership but stranger things have happened. Who won the FA Cup last year anyway? And goals is what you need and those two could score 20 apiece next season. Meanwhile Anfield welcomes the Swiss defender Philipp Degen on a free. The much injured full back arrives after three years in the Bundesliga Borussa Dortmund. Also arriving is Andrea Dossena , a stopper with 63 appearances for Udinese who finished sixth in Serie A last year and his perfromances against the top flight clubs impressed. Plus also there is Steven Gerrard’s new pal Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, which looks like Rafa Benitez accepting that for Premiership football an English style midfield may be more effective tha silky Spanish skills. None of these three set the pulse racing the way a move for David Villa to partner Fernando Torres up front might. But Benitez this week ruled out such a move. It looks like more tinkering round the edges and another season of missed opportunity perhaps for the Reds. They are 1000/1 against relegation and 8/1 to grab that elusive title. Gareth Southgate has signed the former sprinter and Dutch Under 17 international winger Marvin Emnes who scored eight goals for Sparta Rotterdam. Southgate has also bagged Paris defender Didier Digard who will have endeared himself by turning down Newcastle and saying that club looked in a mess. Middlesbrough are 8/1 to be relegated which is the same odds as Liverpool for the title, neither of which look likely. West Bromwich Albion have bought the promising 21-year-old defender Gianni Zuiverloon turning down other clubs he said because he liked the Baggy style. West Brom are another team in the relegation odds mix but at 2/1, that looks a bad bet. Another interesting move will be Steve Sidwell to Aston Villa. Can Martin O’Neill regenerate the career of the former Reading midfielder who was eclipsed in the Chelsea galaxy? Similar questions will be asked at the Emirates where the long saga of Samir Nasri’s departure from Marseilles was completed for an undisclosed fee while Alexander Hleb looks set for the Deco role in the Barca midfield for £15million. There is also speculation that Marseilles fans are planning to have a £22 million whip round to get Didier Drogba back from Chelsea.
Get all the odds here
