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

Building up to the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament in June and there’s a whole bunch of warm up games going on today.  Unfortunately for England it’s Switzerland who will be looking to warm up and not the other way round.  But it will be interesting to see Fabio Capello’s first game in charge and any slight changes/differences in England’s play (hopefully not the case of same old England).  According to rumours it’s going to be a 4-5-1 formation, Rooney up front by himself and the impressive J. Cole playing in the withdrawn role.  Notice how I have followed Capello and his coaches by referring to the players by their surnames,  gone are the days of using nicknames liked JT and Stevie G!!

Croatia v  Holland- both teams look to be fielding under strength teams due to injury and experimentation.  My free international friendly if you have to bet, betting tip: Get on Croatia to win (2.32 odds currently on Betfair) - although they’ve have yet to win in Split under Billic (drawn 6, lost 1),  Billic will be desperate to get a first win in his home town and against a weakened Dutch team, it might just happen.

Rep of Ireland v Brazil- it’s always difficult not to get into the Samba mood whenever the Brazilians come over to play, with the ROI manager-less after the sacking of Steve Staunton in October it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better for Ireland.  But surely Ireland won’t be a roll over and with Brazil playing away how well will some of the Brazilian players adapt to the colder climate?  Long long shot free betting tip:  Bet on Ireland to win or lay Brazil (4.5 on Betfair)

As you can see the long awaited match between the two football giants Azerbaijan v Tajikistan has been postponed, this unquestionably had to be the highlight of this week’s international fixtures. 

Algeria v Belgium,
Austria v Germany, 19:35
Azerbaijan v Tajikistan POSTPONED
Bolivia v Peru, 23:30
Croatia v Holland, 19:30
Cyprus v Ukraine, 16:00
Czech Republic v Poland, 19:30
England v Switzerland, 20:00
FYR Macedonia v Serbia, 16:00
Georgia v Latvia, 20:00
Greece v Finland, 19:15
Hungary v Slovakia, 16:00
Iceland v Armenia, 16:30
Israel v Romania, 18:45
Italy v Portugal, 19:45
Jamaica v Costa Rica, 23:00
Malta v Belarus, 18:45
Moldova v Kazakhstan, 14:00
Northern Ireland v Bulgaria, 19:45
Rep of Ireland v Brazil, 19:45
Slovenia v Denmark, 19:00
Spain v France, 20:00
Turkey v Sweden, 18:30
Uruguay v Colombia, 23:30