That Friday feeling...

Morning all, it's tipping time again here! My Premier League tips haven't matched up to their early heights of late so I am really having a bloody good look this week in an attempt to turn things round. It's the God Damn unpredictability of some of these games that is costing me! I've also been a bit of a tease the last few weeks and haven't put out any second weekend blogs, but I'm on a 13 hour shift today so I've got plenty of time in front of a screen and no excuses for not doing it this week. With that in mind, let's get cracking...

Tottenham v Everton, Saturday 1245
Having endeavoured to come back to 4-3 and cost me my handicap bet in the week I'm desperate to take some money of the Spuds. It seems to have gone completely un-noticed in the press this week that Harry's amazing tactical nous had his boys trailing 3-0 within 15 minutes. Yes, they came back, but that owes more to Gareth Bale's continuing brilliance than that droopy faced twats doing. Utterly clueless when it comes to tactics. I also heard that they have only kept a clean sheet in 1 of their last 17 games and that has definitely influenced my punting on this. If, like me, you fancy Everton to nick one then I think sadly Sloppy Chops lot will get at least 2 with Rafa Van Der Vaart and his tidy missus returning. Over 2.5 goals is the bet for me, Hill's go 2.1 on that.

Birmingham v Blackpool, Saturday 1500
Ian Holloway has been very outspoken this week, even shouting at reporters yesterday about the general crapness of FIFA, a sentiment I would echo. The men in charge of football have little interest in the game and are as bent as that Christian off Eastender's, and he loves it, really loves it! Birmingham battled hard at The Emirates last week in losing 2-1, but they are all perspiration and no inspiration at present. Noone seems to go to St Andrews and teach Brum a lesson, probably due to them playing 4 centre backs in their back 4 regularly. However, I think Ladbrokes have gone well out on a limb pricing Luke Varney at 4.5 to score anytime in this one. He is the epitome of a Championship striker, but sometimes that's what you need, he will battle and run and cause Brum problems. I'm going to have a dabble at that.

Chelsea v Wolves, Saturday 1500
Originally I went looking for a 'Which Chelsea player will have his leg broken' market for this one, but alas none were to be found. That's a long way of me saying Wolves are a fucking dirty bunch of fuckers. I like Mick McCarthy, his incredibly morose demeanour amuses me no end, he just seems to find life a chore. Chelsea have just returned from a very impressive away win in Russia whilst missing Drogba and Alex. A 2-0 scoreline might not look amazing, but few teams travel to Russia and dominate a game the way Chelsea did, credit where credit is due. I can only see this being one of those now familiar hidings Chelsea love dishing out. They can match Wolves for physicality and they can actually play football too. Victor Chandler go 2.32 on Chelsea winning with a -2.5 handicap and I think they'll cover it.

Sunderland v Aston Villa, Saturday 1500
I think this will be a fairly close match between 2 teams that should really push for Europe. Steve Bruce has spunked an awful lot of his chairman's cash on players, but somehow had the nerve to whinge about how his team relies on Darren Bent too much this week. Had he spent some of the money he wasted on players like Anton Ferdinand on another good forward maybe they wouldn't? Villa are looking a compact unit under Ged Houllier's management so far. I don't think we'll see any repeats of the hiding Newcastle gave them whilst he's at the helm. I think we will see a close encounter, probably decided by a late goal, for that reason I'm looking at Stan James going 2.1 on the second half being highest scoring.

West Brom v Fulham, Saturday 1500
Fulham finally took a break from drawing last week to lose to Sloppy Chops lot, whereas WBA were again upsetting the odds to get a draw at Old Trafford. They must be absolutely flying now having gained 4 points from their away matches at 2 of the Sky 4. Fulham's problem is goals, or the lack of them. Bobby Zamora is unarguably toilet, but he hit a run of form last season and is a miss for them. Moussa Dembele is better, in my opinion, but he too is missing and that leaves them relying on players like Clint Dempsey to step up and score. I think this is a classic case of a team high on confidence against a team struggling a bit and I think it's a home win. Odds of 2.2 are widely available and I'm happy with that.

Wigan v Bolton, Saturday 1500
Bolton are performing well currently and are well on course to get a top half finish this season. Wigan are still in danger and a couple of losses would leave them right in the shit again. I've voiced my opinions on Roberto Martinez before, I just don't think he's good enough to move Wigan any further forward and I still think they'll go down. Bolton are now a team containing a possible 2 England internationals in Gary Cahill and Kevin Davies. They have added some flair and goals to an already tough to beat team and I think they could get something here. I'm not entirely confident they'll run away with it so I'm going to take Paddy Power's 2.2 in the draw no bet market.

West Ham v Newcastle, Saturday 1730
Another hard to call match here. The Hammers are rock bottom of the league, but unbeaten in 5 matches. Newcastle are completely unpredictable, they could come here and win 4-0 as easily as they could lose 4-0. Just to add that James Perch, the Newcastle right back is one of the worst players I've ever seen at this level. I'm sure his family are ashamed to see him failing miserably every week on national TV. Newcastle are not prolific scorers, the 6 goals cored against Villa gives a flattering look to their for column, and West Ham have scored 1 goal from open play this season. This all leads me to think it might be a poor game to televise with little action and few goals. Hill's are standout at 1.9 on under 2.5 and I'll go for that.

Stoke City v Manchester United, Sunday 1330
Headlines this week have inevitabl been dominated by everyone's favourite, granny and whore shagging, world class my arse, neanderthal man Wayne Rooney. Whilst I think he's nowhere near as good as the nations press would have you believe, he is United's talisman in the line of Cantona and Keane. He is arguably their best player and if sold it looks like we could see a few barren years at the Theatre Of Dreams. For what it's worth, I agree with his assertion that the club is going backwards, and signing homeless players isn't the way to move forward. Stoke are probably the worst team to ever 'grace' the top flight in terms of actually playing football. They truly are horrible to watch, and Pulis seems unable to trust any of the players he has brought in to remedy this, choosing instead to rely on Delap's missile like throw-ins. Van Der Sar is increasingly showing his age and I think Stoke's big men can cause problems for United. Berbatov alone is good enough to beat Stoke so I wont be betting on match prices. Skybet are taking on Kenwyne Jones at 3.75 to score anytime and I'll have some of that action.

Liverpool v Blackburn, Sunday 1500
I was forced to endure Pool's trip to Naples last night in the Europa League and by christ they're shit. Utter garbage. Toilet. Just a truly horrible team to watch. Rarely have I seen a team so devoid of flair. Had Napoli had a bit of composure about them they could have got a win. In Roy Hodgson's defence he had rested Stevie Me and Fernando Torres for this match, with Liverpool second bottom they need some points fast. Blackburn are also a horrible team of cloggers and have the man who seems determined to take Redknapp's crown as the biggest prick in the game. He has got the most ridiculously over-inflated opinion of himself, he has done well with most clubs he's been at, but it's been through hard work and little flair. And he looks like a sweaty lamb shank. A horrible man. I hope he gets Capello's job as he is what most idiotic England fans deserve. Saying all this I think Pool win this one to nil, Paddy Power go 2.6 on this outcome.

Manchester City v Arsenal, Sunday 1600
This is undoubtebly the glamour match of the weekend and will go a long way to determining what we can seriously expect of these 2 teams this season. City are like an even more brutal version of Chelsea and showed this by over-powering the Blues a few weeks ago. Arsenal have as usual looked absolutely thrilling in dishing out beatings in Europe, but lost at home to West Brom, and took their ritual 2-0 loss to Chelsea. Fabregas being back for Arsenal is a huge boost, but I don't imagine City's hulk-like central midfielders will let him through easily. David Silva has been looking better in recent weeks as he settles in, Bayor, Bayor also scores a hat-trick last night and Tevez continues to prove himself better than Rooney. This is exactly the sort of game Wenger must dread, he knows City wont just foul them so he can't whinge about them only intending to hurt, but they will overpower Arsenal's miniature men. Quotes of 2.5 are widely available and I'd take that as I think it should be closer to 2.3.