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?

Just like Kerlon, you can use your head and the texas holdem tips available at Launchpoker.com to beat down your opponents across the felt like a pro. So remember, visit Launchpoker.com before your next poker game and you’ll be a champ!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Yj7GoXPZw

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.

Get your FREE £25 Champions League Final bet with Betfair:

1. Click on the Betfair link or banner on the sidebar

2.  Sign-up to an account

3.  Fund your account

4.  Betfair will credit your account with a FREE £25 bet, easy!!

Need to kill some time before the next big football match? How about playing some online texas holdem at one of the recommended poker rooms at Launchpoker.com! Don’t wait, WIN!

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.

If you want your free £25 bet on the Cup Final, then click on >>here<< or click the Betfair banner on the right, sign up and fund your account.  It’s easy!!! You can’t lose.

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.

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

‘If Spurs get rid of Paul Robinson  then we are just plain stupid.  Everyone has bad spells.   David James had one for a long time and just because Robbo has a poor season we are looking to sell him.  It’s pathetic.  To be honest, I think he is an outstanding goalkeeper.  ‘

Dan, Milton Keynes (Arsenal Fan)

Ok I made up the Arsenal fan part!!! But my sources have confirmed that Dan also goes by the name of A. Wenger.  I do agree it is sad to see someone of Robinson’s quality playing so poorly and possibly leaving a club where he made some great saves, but he’s had a dip in form ever since the World Cup ‘06 and being installed as the England number 1.  Ramos has tried to change this by dropping him and seeing if this sparks him into life, but this hasn’t worked.  Moving on to new surroundings and a new challenge could be a good thing for Paul Robinson and not mean the end for his career.

‘…It’s a disgrace Ronaldo is player of the year.  Torres, Gerrard and Carragher have been head and shoulder above.’

John Neath (big big big big Liverpool fan)

Obviously I’m only assuming John is a Liverpool fan, judging from that letter it is very hard to tell….  Alot of neutrals will agree that Ronaldo is on poor form this season, I mean he’s only scored 40 goals in all competitions, we expect much much more from a player that is rated so highly!!  Perhaps next year he’ll re-capture some form and play to his potential….

With Euro 2008 coming up, we’ll be able to see if Torres and Ronaldo can take their Premiership form on to the big international stage, I’m sure that a few people will be betting on both of them to win the Golden boot at the end of the tournament.  At the moment their respective countries Spain and Portugal have been installed as 2nd and 4th favourites at odds of 7.4 and 9.0.  Check back in the next few weeks for a proper run down of the odds and teams to watch out for, where we’ll be going Euro 2008 mad!!!

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

Also with the long awaited Wii Fit finally being released in Europe, it has been rumoured that an ‘A. Reid from Sunderland’ and an ‘A. Mido from Middlesbrough’ were one of the first people to receive their pre-orders to get fit during the summer.

Most people’s eye will be on the Saturday lunch time kick off, Chelsea vs. Man Utd, surely the winner in this match will take the Premiership crown? Chelsea haven’t been beaten at the Bridge in the league since 2004, but if anyone is going to test this record it’s Man Utd.  This game is  another test for Avram Grant, can he do what he did against Arsenal?

Betting tip: I’m thinking that this will end up as a draw (especially since Man Utd haven’t won at the Bridge since 2002), but I’m going to take a risk and back Man Utd to win (3.3 odds). Get your free £25 bet, with Betfair, use the banner below and quote BFB425.

It’s another week which doesn’t inspire betting wise (Dennis??), but looking at the Man City v Fulham game, I think Man City at home will be too strong for Fulham, and unfortunately for the Cottagers defeat will mean certain relegation.  In play betters may want like to know that when Man City have scored first, they have never lost.

Betting tip: Back Manchester City to win at 1.91 on Betfair.

Anyone brave enough to back Derby, might like to know that they are currently at 13.5 on Betfair to beat Arsenal….maybe…just maybe…or probably not!!   I’ll take full credit if it happens though. 

UPDATE: Oh BALLACKS!!  Is the quote of the weekend for many reasons. Chelsea deserved their win against Man Utd and advantage seems to have gone to them in the title race.  I was thinking to tip Ballack as first goal scorer and anytime scorer, but I had a doubt in my mind, if only I went through with it!!  When Ballack stepped up to take the penealy, there was no doubt in most people’s mind that he could handle the presure and score.

Man City were cruising 2-0 in the first half but Fulham made a spirited come back in the second, showing that they will fight to the end for their Premiership status.  Unfortunately that meant another losing tip, not a good weekend for the city of Manchester at all!!

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

Liverpool player Skrtel in a Chelsea shirt??!! After this week, surely it should be Risse no??(sorry Riise, an own goal by me)

Only joking Liverpool fans, we all know his right foot is his weaker foot….

Liverpool v Chelsea

Liverpool play Chelsea for the fourth successive season in the Champions League tonight and with Torres describing tonight’s match as a potential ‘bore’, it may not be a coincidence that the BBC are showing ‘Waking the Dead’ at 9pm tonight.  So who will win?   Well it’s a very tight one to call, with both teams familiar with each other’s style of play and both managers under some sort of pressure.  Benitez seems to have the edge over Grant tactically and the records show that the Champions League is becoming his specialist subject.  Alot has been said about Grant not winning the ‘big games’ but he proved alot of critics wrong by beating Arsenal in the league.

Betting tip: Liverpool had that little bit of extra luck against Arsenal in the quarter finals and are always a different class in Europe, but something tells me that over two legs Chelsea can make it through to the final.  No doubt a ’special’ effort will be made after Roman reminds everyone that the final is in Russia.  Back Chelsea to go through to the final: 1.88 on Betfair.

Barcelona v Man Utd

Many neutrals have said this is the game that draws their attention, both teams unbeaten in the Champions League and a delight to watch when firing on all cylinders.   Although I’m not too sure whether Ferguson will allow for such an open game as expected.  I will be surprised if Hargreaves doesn’t start the match (if fit), he’ll be important to cut out and break up any Barca attacks.  Ferguson for me is more tactically astute than Rijkaard and this gives the edge to Man Utd, Barca have been pretty poor this season in the league but they have put in some good performances in the Champions League.

Betting tip: Go for Man Utd to get to the finals(1.6 on Betfair).  Also put a bet to nominate the finalists: Chelsea and Man Utd at 3.15.