So Wednesday night saw England qualify for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa with two games in hand. A record that has never been achieved before by England.  With 8 wins from 8 games, you could say it was gr-eight stuff by England, for once the Three Lions fans will be able to enjoy the end of a World Cup campaign instead of sweating intensely. Remember the late late winner by Beckham against Greece and the heroic draw against Italy? Well Wednesday didn’t get the heart racing like those nights, in fact some people might call this England match ‘enjoyable’, yes I did say the words England,match and enjoyable in the same sentence.  It was a good performance by Capello’s men and it’s sure to get the English fans checking out the betting odds on England lifting the World Cup.

 With all that said and done, everyone’s attention will turn to who should Capello pick for the England squad.  The main talking point is to whether to bring the Becks, that’s David Beckham of course. There’s no doubting what positives Beckham can bring to the squad: great delivery from set pieces, experience at international level and someone Walcott and Lennon can learn from.  There will be alot of football betting at the World Cup, but it will be a brave person who backs Becks for aplace in the aquad.  Most people will argue that Beckham can do a job coming from the bench to either run down time or maybe to deliver that deadly ball in the last minute if the team is looking for a goal.  But the question that should be posed is, is Beckham good enough?  There are a number of players who can play on the right hand side of the midfield, Lennon,Wright-Phillips,Walcott and Milner although he’s played on the left hand side of the midfield (he has definitely pressed for his squad place). 

Also take into account Gerrard,Lampard and the return of Joe Cole, this doesn’t leave space for Beckham, who should get left out to make room for him? Pace is a key attribute in international football and this sis something Beckham doesn’t have, delivery is key but we’ve seen how pacey players like Lennon and Walcott can cause havoc for defences.  It’s a conundrum that will have to be contemplated by Capello, he’s always been a strong manager who doesn’t care about name or popularity, but can he and will he really leave out Golden Balls?

So Wednesday’s most anticipated event is finally here…..no not the Apprentice on BBC 1 or the RHS Chelsea Flower show, but the big match between Manchester United and Chelsea (although I hear one manager will be fired.. and it’s not Alex Ferguson, hint hint).

Who’s going to win?   The signs are pointing to Chelsea, with the final being in Russia it would seem fitting for Chelsea and Abramovich to win the trophy in his home country.   Also Chelsea will have the extra incentive to win after missing out on the Premiership to United and have recently got the better of them in the match at Stamford Bridge.  Taking these points into consideration, it might just be Chelsea’s year and with odds of 3.25 on Betfair to win over 90 minutes it seems like a good value bet.

Betting tip:  Ignoring everything I’ve said above (as usual), I’m going to tip Paul Scholes to be shown a yellow card during the 90 minutes at odds of 3.3 on Betfair.  We already know he is almost certain to start in midfield and just one of Paul Scholes’ special sliding tackles can bring some profit. 

UPDATE: Well that was easy!! (I mean the betting tip and not the extra time and penalties part).  After 20 minutes Paul Scholes picked up his booking and that meant us picking up winnings, if only all betting was as easy as that!!  Congratulations to Manchester United, it’s good to see commited players like Scholes and Giggs pick up their medals, I don’t think many football fans will disagree that loyal players like them fully deserve their glory.

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Well it may not be alot of people’s ’prefered’ final, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try and make some money out of it!!  I’ve already tipped Niko Kranjcar to be the star man at Euro 2008 and I’m hoping he’ll show that star quality in the FA Cup Final tomorrow. 

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Betting tip:  He’s already scored a goal at Wembley last year for Croatia and here’s hoping he does the same for the final.  Back Kranjcar to be first goal scorer and to score at anytime, juicy odds of 10.5 and 4.5 respectively on Betfair.

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UPDATE: Well Cardiff gave it a good go and if they had scored the first goal, then it might of been a whole different game.  But Pompey deserved the win in the end.  No winning bet here though, one nice bit of back heal skill from Kranjcar in the match though, lets hope he is saving it all for Euro 2008.

After the shocking discovery that Ant and Dec received a British Comedy Award which should of gone to runner up Catherine Tate, Fernando Torres has asked officials to investigate into whether he should of received last week’s Football Writer’s Award(FWA) instead of Christiano Ronaldo.  Sources close to Torres claim that unlike Catherine Tate, he is ‘bovvered’.

The last game of the Premiership and for alot of football fans, tomorrow will be nerve wracking.

So Man Utd and Chelsea will fight it out on the last day of the season, Chelsea could finish level on points with Man Utd and not win anything due to a superior goal difference from United.  Chelsea fans will be hoping that Shevchenko will have his shooting boots on and score 20 goals against Bolton to make up the difference. 

Betting tip:Although the pressure is on, I can see both teams winning tomorrow, back both in a double at odds of 1.38 on Betfair (yes, the odds do look a little skinny!!)

Portsmouth v Fulham- Pompey will be hoping to do the double over Fulham this season.   Fulham will be hoping to pull off their great escape trick against a Portsmouth side that have lost the last three games and who have their eye on the FA Cup Final next week.

Betting tip:  Although I think Fulham could pull off the great escape, I’ve seen the odds of Portsmouth winning at home currently at 3.35 odds on Betfair and thought this is great value for the home team.  Back them to win and a put saver bet on the 1-1 draw (the score from last season) at odds of 7.6.

Tottenham v Liverpool- both teams don’t have anything to play for in this meaningless last game.  Spurs haven’t been beaten in five and Liverpool are unbeaten in 6 league games. 

Betting tip:Try bet on the draw at odds of 3.5.  Also Berbatov could be saying farewell to White Hart Lane, back him to score anytime 2.74 and first goalscorer 6.6 odds, to give Spurs fans and us a great farewell present.

UPDATE: As usual on the last day of the season there was alot of tension and excitement.  Fulham managed what seemed the impossible and stayed up to the detriment of Reading and Birmingham.  A big congratulations to Manchester United for their 10th title, it almost seems fitting to see their most loyal player Ryan Giggs scoring the goal that sealed the victory(sorry Chelsea fans!!).  As for the bets, nothing came off, with Chelsea conceding in the last few minutes, it left me feeling a sick as Reading, Derby and Birmingham fans combined!!  But here’s hoping the bad run is out of the way and we’ll make some profit from some betting on the Euro 2008 tournament coming up next month.

Barclays Premier League

Birmingham v Blackburn
Chelsea v Bolton
Derby v Reading
Everton v Newcastle
Middlesbrough v Man City
Portsmouth v Fulham
Sunderland v Arsenal
Tottenham v Liverpool
West Ham v Aston Villa
Wigan v Man Utd

As you may know last Sunday the Times Rich List of 2008 was published, readers will be shocked to discover that the Queen ‘only’ has £320 million, just enough to afford to buy 10 Andriy Shevchenkos and have some change left over to buy Darren Bent.  With that type of budget she will have to be even shrewder than Arsene Wenger when he buys his players. 

It’s the penultimate weekend of the Premiership and it’s still very much undecided at the top and bottom of the Premiership.  Chelsea or Man Utd for the top spot?  Are Fulham going to achieve the great escape?  and will Derby qualify for the Champions League? (okay maybe not the last question).

Reading v Tottenham- Reading are one point above the drop zone and defeat at home will mean they are almost certain to find themselves back in the drop zone.  Reading have conceded 65 goals this term and Spurs have scored 65 goals with the last game between the two teams producing 10 goals, so what does this mean?  A 0-0 and Under 2.5 goals of course!! Well on the form I’m in with Premiership betting it will probably happen!!

Betting tip- Even though Reading haven’t scored in 5 consecutive games, I still think with a leaky Tottenham defence and an explosive Tottenham attacking line up we can still get over 2.5 goals.  Back Over 2.5 goals at odds of 1.91 on Betfair.

Man Utd and Chelsea will be hoping to get maximum point sthis weekend, if both don’t, then it could open the door for Arsenal to get win the Championship on the final day of the season ( I didn’t see that happening!!).   West Ham look to be a bit of a bogey team for Utd and Newcastle have been high on confidence lately, coming back from 2 goals down last weekend shows this.

Betting tip: Tevez will be facing the team he single handedly kept up last season.  Bet on him scoring anytime and being first goal scorer.

UPDATE: Well I was right about the Reading vs. Spurs match!!  Unfortunately I was right about being wrong!!  Only one goal in it, but there were plenty of chances to get more, I hope you backed the opposite to me in this instance.  Although Carlos Tevez did produce the anytime goal that I tipped against his old team West Ham.  So at least we had one winning bet during the weekend.

Aston Villa v Wigan
Blackburn v Derby
Bolton v Sunderland
Fulham v Birmingham
Man Utd v West Ham
Middlesbrough v Portsmouth
Reading v Tottenham
Arsenal v Everton
Liverpool v Man City
Newcastle v Chelsea