The Football Betting Tips Diary!
Saturday 19th May 2012
Champions League Final: Chelsea v Bayern Munich
Special Champions League Deals/Offers
Paddy Power
If Chelsea lift the Champions League trophy, Paddy Power will refund all losing First Goalscorer, Last Goalscorer, Correct Score & Scorecast singles on the match! Click on this link for this great deal.
Betfred
Stake £20 get £10 - Bayern Munich v Chelsea Sign-up Special – First off, every player that signs up with Betfred between 9am and 11pm (GMT) on Friday May 18th using the promo code ‘CHAMPS’ and then stakes £20 or more on Saturday’s big match will receive a FREE £10 bonus from Betfred to use on the in-play market on the same game! Click on this link for this great deal.
Win Tickets for Euro 2012 England – Ukraine – Every player that stakes £5 or more on the Champions League Final will be entered into a draw for an all-expenses paid trip to watch England take on Ukraine at Euro 2012! This offer is available to every player that gets on with Betfred before 3pm (GMT) on Saturday May 19th!
Boylesport
First Goalscorer Cashback: If your player scores the 2nd goal of the selected matches below, we will refund your losing 1st goalscorer stake. Click on this link for this great deal.
Unibet have two great deals!
1) Bayern`s Arjen Robben, who won 2 Premier League titles in 3 years at the Chelsea: Place a bet of £10, £20 or £50 on who you think will be the First/Last Goalscorer in the Champions League Final and if you lose, Unibet will refund your stake as a free bet up to £10, £20, £50 if Robben scores AT ANY TIME against his old club!
2) 2011-2012 Champions League 0-0 insurance: Unibet will refund all losing Correct Score, Halftime/Fulltime and First Goalscorer, Last Goalscorer bets on any Champions League match that finishes 0-0. Click on this link for this great deal.
Blue Square
If Arjen Robben scores the first goal in the champions league final Blue Square will refund all losing bets on selected markets. Click on this link for this great deal.
Prediction
There are some great goalscorers playing in this match (plus Fernando Torres) and I would predict that one of Bayern’s forward players of Gomez, Robben or Ribery.
I would suggest putting money on these players for the first goal at Ladbrokes as the odds are very good and one of them is bound to come in – you can get Gomez at 5.5, Robben at 8.0 or Ribery at 8.0.
I would also predict a scoreline of Bayern Munich 3 Chelsea 1 at the best odds of 16.2 at Betfair.
————————————————————————————-
Week Ending Sunday 13th May 2012
The Final Premier League Weekend 2011/12
It’s the final weekend of the Premier League for the season and for the first time in years we still have decisions to be made in the title race, European places and the final relegation spot.
You can see the reviews for the individual games under the ‘English Premier League Matches’ dropdown on this site where I personally have predicted City to win the league, Bolton to go down and Newcastle to miss out on the final CL spot.
There are special offers available from certain bookies today involving money-back deals which I have detailed below. Be aware that if you don’t already bet with these companies you will also be in line for a special free bet given to new customers.
Blue Square – money back if United win the league
If Man Utd win the Premier League, Blue Square will refund as free bets all losing 1st Goalscorer, Correct Score, HT/FT & Player Special bets involving the Man City v QPR and Sunderland v Man United games.
To take advantage of this deal simply click here and claim the special offer and an exclusive free bet.
Betfred – enhanced odds for goalscorers
If your player scores the first goal of the match and then scores another, Betfred will double your first goalscorer price. If your player then goes on to score a hat-trick they will treble your goalscorer price.
To take advantage of this deal simply click here and claim the special offer and an exclusive free bet.
Paddy Power – last minute money-savers
If there is a goal in the last five minutes of any Premier League match, Paddy Power will refund all losing First Goalscorer, Last Goalscorer, Correct Score & Scorecast singles on that match.
To take advantage of this deal simply click here and claim the special offer and an exclusive free bet.
———————————————————————————-
Week Ending Sunday 6th May 2012
FA Cup Final: Chelsea v Liverpool – Sat 5th May (5:30pm, live on ITV1)
The FA Cup Final is an institution that seems to have started to be taken seriously again in recent years thank goodness, and hopefully we will have a good final to match the tradition as it deserves.
I do fear however that this game might not be as entertaining as we’d have hoped. Liverpool have been very poor in the league and have managed to beat some good teams in the cup competitions this year but not in great style.
With Chelsea still looking at a 4th place finish in the league and also having the Champions League Final on their minds I can see the players not putting everything into every tackle – this game could go to extra time and even penalties. With it being the final I’ll put forward a few tips though:
The game being settled on penalties – best odds of 12.0 at Bet365.
Didier Drogba scoring at any time (as he normally does at Wembley) – best odds of 3.2 at Paddy Power.
Over 2.5 goals – best odds of 2.25 at Betfair.
Special Cup Final Free Bets/Offers
Here are some of the best special offers being offered by the bookies today:
Betfred – Double Delight / Hat-trick Heaven
If your player scores the first goal of the match and then scores another, Betfred will double your first goalscorer price. If your player then goes on to score a hat-trick, Fred will treble your goalscorer price.
Open an account here and get a free £50 bet too!
Paddy Power – Suarez Money-Back Offer
Paddy Power have a money back special on offer for their customers. If Suarez scores, Paddy Power will refund all losing First Goalscorer, Last Goalscorer, Correct Score & Scorecast singles on the match. Well worth considering before you place a bet on any of those markets this weekend.
Open an account here and get a free £50 bet too!
Premier League: Newcastle United v Manchester City – Sun 6th May (1:30pm, live on Sky Sports)
Forget the rather tepid game between the Manc teams last week – this is the real title decider. It has the potential to be a rather good match with Newcastle being in fantastic form and having one of the most in-form strikers available in Papiss Cisse. I can see Manchester City being quote nervous in the game too as they have been in much of the title run-in.
Strangely Newcastle to win is being advertised at a huge price 5.0 at many bookies including Stan James, Betfred and and also Coral.
There is also the option of betting on Newcastle through Betfair – if Man City don’t score early then that price will come down and you will be able to lay the Newcastle win for an instant profit.
For those that think that Newcastle have no chance in the game I would also look at the both teams to score market which sees Betfred showing a best price of 1.8.
——————————————————————————————-
Week Ending Monday 30th April 2012
Premier League: Wigan Athletic v Newcastle United – Sat 28th April (3pm)
If you’d asked me a few weeks ago to predict this nmatch it would have been no contest – away win. However, Wigan have been superb recently against the big teams (and I include Newcastle in that category this season) and they have every chance of pulling off a surprise result in this match too.
I can’t ignore Newcastle’s fine form though, and especially that of Cisse who has been tipped very heavily on this site over the last few weeks. Either way the match will be entertaining and I therefore tip the over 3.5 goals market with the best odds of 3.45 at Betdaq.
Premier League: Manchester City v Manchester United – Monday 30th April (Live on Sky Sports, 8pm)
Hmmm… trying to predict what will happen in a title decider? Between the arrogant team from one half of the city that built their success by spending tonnes of cash and… erm… Man City? Sorry, couldn’t resist.
THis is difficult anyway as this could really go either way, but you do tend to get the impression that United themselves believe they have blown it this year, despite City still having a tough run in after this match takes place.
I have to go with momentum and go for Man City to win, but I think the match will start cagey before City sneak the win. I would therefore tip the HT Draw/FT Man City market with best odds of 5.5 at Ladbrokes.
—————————————————————————————
Week Ending Sunday 22nd April 2012
Champions League: Chelsea v Barcelona – Weds 18th April (7.45pm, ITV1)
Well if this game was being played just two months ago it would be a shoe-in for Barcelona to be the winners of this tie, but they seem to have been re-invigorated by Roberto Di Matteo. Their huge win v Spurs last Sunday will have given them confidence, even if it was helped mainly by the ‘non-goal’ that brave, honest John Terry was so gracious to admit didn’t cross the line (after the match).
Barca will be huge favourites for the game but I am very much tempted by the draw which you can best odds of 4.1 at Betdaq.
Premier League: Arsenal v Chelsea – Saturday 21st April (12.30pm, Sky Sports 1)
Now last Sunday I would have said that Arsenal were clear favourites for this game, but since then Chelsea have nicked a win against the world’s best team and Arsenal lost at home against a rejuvinated Wigan and lost one of their best midfielders/water-carriers in Mikel Arteta for the season.
I have to consider that Arsenal will still be battling for third place and that they had won their previous 5 at home, and that Chelsea will have an eye on the CL 2nd leg next Wednesday. Drogba might have a great record v Arsenal (see below) but I doubt he’ll play.
It seems to me that a home win for Arsenal at odds of 2.05 at Paddy Power seems very generous in the circumstances.
—————————————————————————————–
Week Ending Sunday 8th April 2012
Champions League: Chelsea v Benfica – Weds 4th April (7.45pm, ITV1)
Well I was wrong thinking that Chelsea would get beaten last week, but then again I don’t think I was in the minority thinking that, especially looking at their line-up!
One thing that we’ve seen in the last few weeks is that Fernando Torres is coming back into some good form and I can see him being good for a goal at any time in this game. You can get this at 2.4 at the monent at Paddy Power.
Premier League: Arsenal v Man City – Sunday 8th April (4pm, Sky Sports 1)
Huge game for both these teams that had poor results (for them at least) last weekend. Arsenal have been caught by Spurs again in the race for third place, and Man City desperately need a win to get back into the title race that they seem to be falling away from.
As much I’d like to see a decent title race develop I think City have lost a lot of momentum they had and can’t see them winning this. Luckily for them I can’t see Arsenal doing enough to win either. Instead I’ll go with the ‘over 4.5 goals’ market as there have been goals galore this season between the top teams. You can get into these odds of 6.0 at Stan James.
————————————————————————————-
Week Ending Sunday 1st April 2012
Champions League: Benfica v Chelsea – Tues 27th March (7.45pm, Sky Sports 1)
Some would say that Chelsea were lucky to get through the last round against an erratic Napoli side that were great going forwards but awful at times in defence. I would at least.
Obviously Chelsea have improved greatly since AVB left the club but last week against Spurs they looked tired and laboured in a game they really had to win. I get the impresssion that all the games they are playing are catching up with their older players who have been brought back to ‘save their season’.
Prediction: Benfica to win.
Result: Chelsea win
FA Cup 6th Rnd Replay: Sunderland v Everton – Tues 27th March (7.45pm, ITV1)
Everton were unlucky not to nick the win in the first game with a late Heitinga header and will be outsiders for this game now. They had a good win against Swansea over the weekend but Sunderland welcome back Sessegnon to this game and his understanding with McClean could be the key to winning this tie.
Prediction: Sessegnon first goalscorer
Result: Jelavic first goalscorer
Premier League: Man City v Sunderland – Sat 31st March (3pm)
Man City have won every home game since… well, for a long time. They’ll win this game too but Sunderland will be tough opponents. City are coming through a bit of a sticky patch (despite being in the top 2 in the league) which could be due to the spine of their team playing so many games this season together. Silva looks knackered when two months ago he looked a world-beater.
Prediction: Draw HT/Man City FT
———————————————————————————–
Week Ending Sunday 18th March 2012
Champions League: Chelsea v Napoli – Weds 14th March (7.45pm, ITV1)
Well this time last week we were wondering if Arsenal could pull back a four-goal defecit from AC Milan. The answer was of course “no”, bit very nearly.
Chelsea must be given confidence from this, and Napoli are in no means anywhere near as good as Milan although Cavani is still in great form for them. I’m going for Chelsea to go through on a very nervy night. But only just.
Prediction: Chelsea to win 2-0. Best odds of 10.5 at Betfair. LOST!
To get a free Bet365 £50 in-play bet for both new AND existing customers check out our article on this fantastic special offer.
FA Cup 6th Round Matches (Weekend of 17th-18th March 2012)
For me there are four stand-out sides that look they are going through to the FA Cup Semi’s – the four home sides.
So that’s Everton (playing Sunderland), Liverpool (v Stoke), Chelsea (v Leicester) and Tottenham (playing Bolton).
You can get odds of 4.8 on that accumulator via SkyBet.
For more stats and odds on each game please look no further than our special FA Cup section.
—————————————————————————————-
Week Ending Sunday 11th March 2012
Champions League: Arsenal v AC Milan – Tues 6th March (7.45pm, Sky Sports)
I’ve been in this sitiuation before with my team. We got battered away in the first leg of a European tie and tried our best to pull it round in the second leg but ultimately could only win 1-0 and went out.
Arsenal are a little bit better than my team though and if they score early a couple of times they could be in for a good, or at least interesting evening. AC Milan, however, are no mugs and people seem to forget how easily they controlled the match in the San Siro three weeks ago.
I can see either a 1-goal win for Arsenal or AC Milan spoiling the party completely by nicking an early away goal which would kill the tie, and then extending it late on for a convincing aggregate victory.
Bets:
AC Milan can be found at 3.6 at Betdaq which seems good value.
AC Milan to win with a minus 0.75 handicap is an interesting 4.75 at Bet365.
Of course I don’t believe in miracles – if you do though, then Arsenal to win 5-0 is available at most bookies at around 30.0, and a three-goal heart-break situation is available at around 18.0 at Bet365.
Result I can’t really take credit for the three-goal winning prediction above as I didn’t think it would happen. Credit Arsenal for being very good in the first half. Shake your head at Milan for being dreadful!
Premier League: Sunderland v Liverpool – Saturday 10th March (3pm)
This game could be a good one to watch, with Liverpool playing some nice stuff but stuttering in their last few games (5 points from their last 21 games being collected), and with Sunderland in what was a rich vein of form before their recent defeats to West Brom and Arsenal and their draw v Newcastle.
I think that Liverpool have much more to achieve from winning this game and will do so, with Sunderland being weakened through their suspensions to Cattermole (the nugget) and Sessegnon, their player of the season easily.
Bets:
I fancy one of the players (Suarez no doubt) to throw himself to the floor and for Kuyt to be given responsibility to score the first goal at 9.0 at William Hill.
Liverpool -1 goal handicap is 2.75 at Bet365 which also looks nice.
—————————————————————————
Week Ending Sunday 4th March 2012
International Friendly: England v Holland – Weds 29th Feb (8pm)
I’m going to be putting my money on a draw, and also having a small amount on either Van Persie or Welbeck first goalscorer.
Why? Check out the England international betting preview here.
Result: Very nearly correct with a draw prediction. Unfortunately Welbeck showed that he is good at running but not shooting, whilst Van Persie looked injured to me.
English Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal – Sat 3rd March (12.45pm)
It’s quite impossible to call this one, as you can’t really tell which side will turn up! Will it be the Liverpool side who seem to play better in the ‘big’ matches or the side that normally stutter when facing so-called ‘struggling teams’. And will Arsenal play like a ‘big’ team (as they were in the second half last weekend against Spurs) or like a ‘struggling’ one (like they did in the first 30 minutes v Spurs!)?
Liverpool beat a clearly rubbish Arsenal side in August 2-0 at the Emirates and are a good bet to do so again in my opinion, but then again they have seemed to struggle at home in games they should win. With that in mind I fancy a draw, and perhaps a separate high score draw at that.
Bets:
Liverpool v Arsenal draw – odds of 3.5 at Bet365
Liverpool 2 Arsenal 2 – currently best priced 16.2 at Betfair
For more stats and information please see our detailed stats pack on this game.
English Premier League: Tottenham v Man United – Sunday 4th March (4pm)
This could be very interesting. First of all to see how Spurs will react to that absolute spanking by Arsenal last weekend and also to see if Man Utd can continue to scrape wins whilst not playing particularly well (as they have done since Ronaldo left some would argue).
Man United seem to have a very good record against Spurs going back to their famous Beckham-led 5-3 turnaround all those years ago or the ‘phantom’ goal that never was at Old Trafford when their keeper dropped it over the line in the 90th minute at 0-0 and got away with it. What was his name? Looked like he was in a rubbish mid-nineties indie band… aah, it’ll come back to me…
Anyway, Spurs’ best midfielder is missing (Parker is suspended) and Van der Vaart and King are doubtful too. Even with their issues I can see United winning this. Undeservedly. Through Ryan Giggs.
Bets:
Draw/Man United win (HT/FT) – odds of 6.0 at Bet365
Giggs to score anytime – odds of 6.5 at Paddy Power
————————————————————————————-
Week Ending Sunday 26th February 2012
Champions League Football: Napoli v Chelsea – Tues 21st Feb
Lets face it, Arsenal’s defeat was embarrassing last week and I can’t see Chelsea doing any better away at Napoli. They were awful against Everton a fortnight ago and not much better against Birmingham City in the cup.
Their only hope is that Napoli have an off-night but despite some ropey form from the Italian team in recent weeks they seem to have got their act in order and strung a couple of wins together in the last week or so.
Best bet? Cavani to score any time at 2.88 with Stan James, or if you like better odds than that I’d go with the same player scoring 2 or more, with best price being 15.0 at Paddy Power, who appear to have gone a bit mental and decided to double their odds for a bit of a laugh.
Result: WON! If you got onto Cavani to score at any time you’ll be quids in.
Premier League Football: Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur – Sun 26th Feb
This will be an absolute belter and is one of those occasions where I inform the wife that the lounge needs to be vacated for a couple of hours of football. Well, actually I imagine I’ll have to ask nicely if I can to a neighbour’s place to watch it as daughter would rather watch Mr Tumble or something.
Anyway, I am tempted by two things. One is for Adebayor to score against his old club again and the other is for there to be over 2.5 goals.
- Adebayor first goalscorer: price is 7.5 at Bet365.
- Over 2.5 goals: Best price is 2.5 at Boylesport.
Result: WON! Over 2.5 goals came in. Adebayor didn’t score first but hopefully some people went with him as an anytime scorer.
Carling Cup Final: Liverpool v Cardiff – Sun 26th Feb
Now lets get something straight, I’m not a big fan of Liverpool, especially after the way they acted around the Suarez affair, but you have to be impressed by the way they have done well in the cups this year, knocking out several of the ‘big’ teams they were expected to be rolled over by. And lets face it, they will win this match and win the cup.
No disrespect to Cardiff but they are out of form (getting taken apart by Ipswich last weekend) and Liverpool just have too much for them. I’m tempted to think that Suarez might get the first goal, but instead I think I’ll predict that the big, overpriced (yet improving) lump up front will manage it instead.
Prediction: Andy Carroll first goalscorer. And you can get him at 7.0 at Bet365.
Result: LOST! Nope, Carroll was even worse than I could ever have predicted.
——————————————————————————-
Week Ending Sunday 19th February 2012
Champions League Football: AC Milan v Arsenal – Weds 15th Feb
This one could be a cracker. Arsenal for some reason seem to do quite well against Italian teams and recorded a famous 5-1 win in the San Siro a few years ago. With Van Persie on fire and with AC Milan also challenging at the top of Serie A it could be a very good game.
Saying that, these games can often be cagey affairs, and my prediction would be that the pre-match excitement won’t live up to the hype and can see a goalless draw making both teams happy, with AC happy not wanting to let in an away goal and Arsenal thinking they can finish the job at the Emirates.
Prediction: 0-0 – 11.0 at Skybet or try 11.0 at Stan James (LOST: erm… oops. Is it worth stating that one of the goals was offside? No, probably not..)
FA Cup Football: Blackpool v Everton – Sat 18th Feb
There aren’t too many stand-out games in the FA Cup this weekend that are really worth getting excited about, so my prediction is going to be around a club who continually do well against the big boys but then mess up when faced with an easier game.
Think of last season when Everton beat Chelsea in the cup and then lost in the 5th round at home to Reading. Or when they lost to Oldham in the cup at home a few years ago. And after seeing them beat both Man City and Chelsea at home in the last three weeks this may well be repeated against a very good attacking and organised Blackpool team.
Prediction: Blackpool to beat Everton – 8.0 at Coral (LOST: yeah, this one was disproved after 49 seconds. Move on, nothing to see…)
———————————————————————————-
Week Ending Sunday 12th February 2012
Premier League Football: Manchester United v Liverpool – Sat 11th Feb
Blimey, this one could be tasty seeing the much-anticipated return of Luis Suarez to face Patrice Evra. Fixtures over the last few years have proved to be quite tight – well, since Torres finished destroying Vidic on a regular basis.
The one thing that there might be is a few goals, as the United defence is as shaky as it is impressive going forwards and that was very evident in their 3-3 draw with Chelsea. Rooney tends to not play in these games for some reason but I reckon he’ll be up for this and I’ll tip him for first goalscorer.
Heart: Rooney first goalscorer: 5.0 at Skybet (WON!)
Head: Over 2.5 goals: 2.5 at Betfair (WON!: Final score was 2-1)
Rugby Union Six Nations: Italy v England
Okay, well Scotland let me down last week but England really pulled together as a team to snatch the win in conditions that we were told would be terrible for them.
Italy were pretty toothless against France (as you might expect) and I can’t see them doing any better against England this weekend despite them being the better side in the corresponding fixture last year (which England won 20-7 at Twickenham).
I can however see England starting slowly before pulling away towards the end, so my bet for this week is:
Heart: Draw HT/England FT: 7.5 at Bet365 (LOST – Italy were 6 points up at HT)
Head: England to win by 11-20 points: 4 at Skybet (LOST – England won by 4 points)
————————————————————————————-
Week Ending Sunday 5th February 2012
Well this week sees two chunks of Premier League fixtures with the welcome return of midweek betting. So, out of these fixtures I’ll concentrate on a couple of the biggies. Oh, and there is also a small Six Nations clash going ahead between the Scots and English worth mentioning…
EPL: Everton v Man City (Tuesday 31st January)
Everton have got a great history of winning this fixture and, before they were beaten at the Etihad (still not keen on that name…) they were known as City’s bogie team. However, they were pretty much dismantled by the City midfield in the reverse fixture and seemed to run put up the white flag of surrender once the first goal went in.
For that reason I’m tempted to go for the Everton win but my head tells me that the stand-out player of the EPL season so far might nick the first goal on the way to a straightforward win.
Odds:
Heart – Everton to win – 4.6 at Skybet (WON!: Hope some of you got onto this bet – Final Score was Everton 1 Man City 0. Roberto Mancini was surprised but I wasn’t!)
Head – Silva first goalscorer – 9.0 at BetFred (Lost: Only one scorer in this game and it was Darron Gibson, albeit by a massive deflection)
EPL: Chelsea v Man United (Sunday 5th February)
Given any other season and this would be known as a huge fixture, but given that Chelsea are only just hanging onto a CL spot at the moment, that Man United are not in the best of form due to injuries and the fact that Spurs and Man City are doing so well it seems to have the air of ‘meh’ about it.
All the same, there is always going to be a bit of competitiveness about this one, and although I’m tempted to have a fun bet about whether Terry and Ferdinand will shake hands my ‘heart’ bet would be for Torres to score first. I think all non-LFC fans have been hoping Torres continues his dire run, but the irony would not be lost on them if he scored against their most bitter of rivals.
in reality I can see this being a very tight game without many chances, and a 1-1 draw would seem just about right.
Odds:
Heart: Torres first goalscorer – 7.0 at Bet365 (Lost: Never looked like scoring unfortunately)
Head: 1-1 Draw – 7.1 at Betfair (Lost, although a draw was achieved)
Rugby Unions Six Nations: Scotland v England (Saturday 4th February)
THe Scots will be out for revenge here for their 16-12 defeat in the 2011 World Cup that saw them, perhaps undeservedly, knocked out of the competition in the group stages. And after what unfolded against the French many English people will probably wish they had quietly been removed from it!
Anyway, England continue to go through a period of ‘transition’ that saw them go from 6 Nations Giants to World Cup chumps and I can see the Scots triumphing here by 6 points in a reverse of the 22-16 defeat they suffered in the 6 Nations last year.
Odds:
Scotland to win by 6-10 points – 7.5 at Bet365 (Lost: Well they SHOULD have won at least, but England defied the odds and won by 6-10 points instead)
