Tottenham vs. Newcastle:  The battle of the two under performing teams today in the league, Ramos has won 9 out of 20 matches and Keegan has won 1 out of 9.  Newcastle have had a good record over Spurs lately, winning the last 4 consecutive games against Spurs.  

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As you know Sunday is very very important day…no not Easter (although I  hear it’s ex-West Ham chairman EGGert Magnússon’s most favourite day of the year).  Yes it’s the big one, Grand Slam SUPER Sunday as Sky Sports call it: Man Utd v Liverpool and Chelsea v Arsenal, although you already knew that right??

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A full set of Premiership fixtures this week, most people will be interested in Sunday’s set of fixtures, more about that in another post.  Newcastle managed to fight back on Monday and get a draw against Birmingham City, could that prove to be the turning point for them?   With Fulham becoming more organised under Hodgson and getting a result last weekend, it’s a hard to call result, another draw could be on the cards.

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 Liverpool vs. Reading

There’s no doubt that Liverpool will be very confident going into this game after the last couple of results.  They’ve  certainly found their scoring boots and with Reading conceding the second highest amount of goals away from home, there is good case for overs in this match.  So depending on the Liverpool team that Rafa sends out, Betting tip: Over 2.5 goals at 1.74 on Betfair.

UPDATE:  WINNER: With two goals coming in the first 20 minutes of the match and the third from Torres, we could all put our feet up after 48 minutes and relax!!  Reading just can’t stop conceding goals away from home and lately Liverpool have become goal machines.

Arsenal are always strong at home with 19 games unbeaten, but Middlesbrough have beaten Arsenal already and are the only team to do so this season in the league.  Arsenal are big favourites on Betfair at 1.27 to win, with Middlesbrough at a massive 17s.  With Arsenal’’s home record it looks like a a home banker.  Long-shot bet: Lay Arsenal at 1.28.

UPDATE:  WINNER: With 80 minutes gone into this game,  Middlesbrough backers at 17’s looked too be heading for a massive payout, only for Toure to spoil the party!!  Arsenal have only lost one game at home in the Premiership, so laying them was the best option and thankfully the long-shot bet paid off.  Jeremie Aliadiere must take some credit for this winning bet!!

Two winning bets?? Amazing, I guess there won’t be anymore winners after this!!  Enjoy the profits…

Unfortunately both bets didn’t come off, but with these international friendlies it’s always difficult and risky to predict especially when managers experiment and make 6 substitutions!!  (Note: NEVER BET ON THE FRIENDLIES!!)  The Croatia bet never really took off with Holland putting 3 goals past them, but the bet to lay the Republic of Ireland v Brazil match looked to be going well until 67 minutes in and Robihno caught the Irish out on the break.

Describing the England match and the words inspiring, exhilarating, and world class…. AREN’T the first which come to mind, but it’s going to take more than four training sessions and 90 minutes for Fabio Capello to make a difference.   There were some small signs of improvements, with England not being scared to keep possession of the ball more and waiting for the right time to make a pass. 

Players that stood out from the rest were Joe Cole (carrying on from the past two years) and new boy David Bentley who made some decent passes as well showing great composure at international level.  There’s still a while to go until the World Cup Qualifiers and the friendly against France will give a little more insight into how FC wants England to play.  Banter’s England match rating: 5.5/10.

Austria 0-3 Germany
Bolivia 2-1 Peru
Croatia 0-3 Holland
Cyprus 1-1 Ukraine
Czech Republic 0-2 Poland
England 2-1 Switzerland
FYR Macedonia 1-1 Serbia
Georgia 1-3 Latvia
Greece 2-1 Finland
Hungary 1-1 Slovakia
Iceland 2-0 Armenia
Israel 1-0 Romania
Italy 3-1 Portugal
Jamaica 1-1 Costa Rica
Malta 0-1 Belarus
Moldova 1-0 Kazakhstan
Northern Ireland 0-1 Bulgaria
Rep of Ireland 0-1 Brazil
Slovenia 1-2 Denmark
Spain 1-0 France
Turkey 0-0 Sweden
Uruguay 2-2 Colombia