Onwards and upwards...

To say I haven't had a stellar couple of weeks tipping would be a slight understatement. In my defence a lot of matches have only gone against me last minute and this time of the season is notoriously hard to pick winners due to a complete lack of playing time to judge the teams. But, I should be doing better. Those of you that also follow me on Twitter will have noticed that I picked 5 from 7 winners in the Careless Cup midweek, sadly I didn't have time around my actual job to put those up in the form of the blog.

Hopefully now that most sides have played 3 or 4 matches it should be slightly easier to get a feel of how they will be getting on this season. Obviously if you listen to some newspapers, or most sadly, Arsenal are probably going to be relegated as the worst team in the history of the game, Man Utd's new batch of kids will likely show Barcelona exactly how to play football and everyone else is largely irrelevant. Of course we know this is not the case. Blackburn are the worst side in the history of football, not Arsenal.

Music comes from the superb Lawrence Arms with the cracking Recovering the Opposable Thumb.

Wigan v QPR, Saturday 1230

Those of you that have followed this blog since inception will know that I am no lover, or backer, of Wigan. I think they're a black mark on the Premier League with their consistently poor displays and skin of the teeth survival every season. And then there's the fact that no bugger watches them. I appreciate they're there on merit, but there are an awful lot of teams I would rather see take their place. Anyway...they looked pretty good away at newly promoted Swansea last weekend to me. They actually offered a decent attacking threat and Ben Watson looks a tidy little player to me. On the other hand QPR have not looked very good since coming up. They were handed their own arses by Bolton on the first weekend at home and then somehow beat Everton without ever looking likely to last weekend. There is a feel-good factor around the club now due to the removing og the previous owners, but as yet the new guy has not had a chance to alter the Championship standard team. Back Wigan at a very appealing 2.42 on Betfair whilst it lasts.

Swansea v Sunderland, Saturday 1500

I got burnt on Swansea last week, but I'm going to try them once more before I start thinking they're a lost cause. They again looked a good footballing side against Wigan, but they look a little short of firepower and that may be their undoing over the course of the season. The goalkeeper Vorn looks a real signing to me, even if Swansea go down he should not be short of offers. If they are going to stay in the division then home form will be all important, and the fact they were only beaten 3 times at the Liberty last season suggests it can be made something of a fortress. Sunderland, and in particular their manager Steve Bruce, are a very interesting case to me. They have never been shy of spending decent amounts of cash, but they seem very un-concerned about the fact they have seen no progression at all from all that investment. Similarly there are no articles calling for Bruce's head and no major fan unrest on matchdays. Why is this? He has presided over a period of major investment and no results. He changes the team every season, then uses it as an excuse to say they need more time to play together. They have again started poorly and were knocked out of the Careless Cup by Brighton midweek. Back Swansea to add to the misery at 2.5 with William Hill.

Tottenham v Man City, Sunday 1330

One of the matches of an actual 'Super Sunday' this week has Man City's first real challenge of the season as they take on Spurs at White Hart Lane. The Blue side of Manchester has been getting very excited over the last month with some brilliant signings made and some good early performances. Sergio Aguero has obviously taken most of the headlines, but equally as important has been David Silva. He is a proper playmaker when given the opportunity and it is his runs and passes that are making it easy for Aguero and Dzeko so far. Spurs have started late due to the rioting that took place around them a couple of weeks ago. They opened up with their annual surrender to Man Utd in a truly hopeless second half on Monday night. Sloppy Chops has been doing his usual routine of whining about how he has absolutely no players to pick from and it's all everyone else's fault. The fact that not a single one of his signings has performed since he got there seems completely alien to the utter clown. I think Spurs will again be left chasing shadows by Silva in particular and I expect something of a statement of intent from City. Back Man City at 2.5 with Bet365.

Hoffenheim v Werder Bremen, Saturday 1430

To the Bundesliga and a match between two sides with two wins and a loss in their three matches played. Hoffenheim have established themselves as something of a mainstay since being promoted a few years back. They were bankrolled by a local businessman to a certain extent and it seems that they are now happy to be an upper mid-table side with hopes of Europe every season. Not too bad for a village side. They generally entertain and try to play on the front foot too which has endeared them to a lot of neutrals from abroad. Werder are a fantastic team to watch when in full flow. They have played Ossie Ardiles style football for a decade now where it doesn't matter how many you concede, so long as you score more. Last season saw an attempt to try defending fail miserably and happily they look back to playing with reckless abandon once again this year. I'm going looking for goals, goals, goals in this. Back Over 3.5 goals at 3.0 with William Hill.

Hannover 96 v Mainz 05, Sunday 1430

A second match from Germany this week with the two upstarts of last season meeting in Hannover. Hannover sit atop the Bundesliga after three matches with two wins and a draw, Mainz have won two and lost one. Both sides came into last season playing good attacking football and also promoting youngsters from within to do so. This comes with the twofold bonus that the players have no fear and also they constantly learn how to play best with each other with no pre-conceived ideas. This should in theory only make both sides stronger this season. Hannover also gained a very good draw away in Sevilla last night to progress to the Europa League group stages. Sadly Mainz were eliminated early on in something of a shock result. I think both sides are evenly matched, but home form swings it towards Hannover for me. Back Hannover at 2.3 with Betfair.

Nice v Brest, Saturday 1800

First of all shall we have a jolly good chortle at the away sides name? Brest! Those crazy surrendering French swine! Back to the football now. Nice have started the season horribly a draw and two losses from their three matches. Losing star striker Loic Remy seems to have hurt them a great deal and they have been considerably poorer for his absence. Brest have stayed in the top flight against all predictions with shock wins here and there also adding to their CV. They have started the season with three straight draws with three goals for and three goals against. They fit right in in France as they are not the most entertaining of sides. I think we could again see a draw in this one. Back the draw at 3.1 with most firms.

Tom Tomsk v Amkar, Saturday 1230

Final match this week comes from Russia. Two sides battling at the wrong end of the table currently meet and it will probably be a deathly dull affair. Russian matches are generally not blesses with goals and the two sides respective home and away records would bear out my feelings for this one. Tom Tomsk have won once at home all season and Amkar have won once away all season. Tom Tomsk have scored 8 in 11 home matches and Amkar have scored 7 in 9 away matches. This is not one to raise the temperature I'm afraid. However comma I really don't see off the back of those stats how Amkar can be pretty short priced favourites for this. I am willing to oppose the odds makers on this. Lay Amkar at 1.85 on Betfair, or wait for another bookmaker to come out with Double Chance and back Tom Tomsk and Draw.

Once again from my sick bed...

All together now...aaahhhh. I can not seem to get well at present so I am once again writing this from my bed surrounded by Vicks Vaporub and copious legal drugs. Enough looking for sympathy now. This week has seen some European preliminary qualifiers taking place involving English clubs as well as the probable postponement of the start of La Liga due to loads of money issues. The organisation being what it is in Spain it could literally be any time when they actually kick off. If you ever whinge about the FA in England or the big club bias, well it's got nothing on Spain. Barcelona and Real Madrid suck up all the money and leave a lot of teams in the Primera unable to even pay the players wages, estimates suggest a deficit of almost £50million. As for European qualifiers, they went mostly as expected. English clubs looked comfortable, except Arsenal, and Spurs showed just how far behind chilly Jockoland is now. Arsenal looked good going forward, but as they always seem to, they had no end product. New signing Gervinho looks the epitome of this problem. He is quick, skilful and able to beat a man, but he gets near the box and he looks absolutely clueless as to his next move. It might be nerves, but if it isn't then Wenger needs seriously questioning for again repeating his mistakes. Music this week is Against Me! with the absolutely brilliant Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart.

Swansea v Wigan, Saturday 1500

First up this week is Wales first Premier League representatives Swansea taking on the consistently struggling Wigan at the Liberty Stadium. Swansea lost their first match, but in the hour they held out at 0-0 they showed they have the players to stay up if they can get a good home record going and get some wins against the lesser lights of the division. There is no shame in losing to a Citeh side that should go on to contest the title with Man Utd, and to hold them until Sergio Aguero was introduced speaks volumes. Aguero will surely go on to be the best player in the Prem now, with Torres a shadow of his former self and Fabregas departed only the incredibly patriotic would see Rooney as his equal. He is skilful, strong, quick and can play off both feet, him and David Silva could tear through most teams. Wigan started with a draw against another new side in Norwich. That they led and were pegged back at home does not bode well for a season where they would have hoped to avoid yet another relegation battle. The problem is that they are a League 1 side bankrolled by Dave Whelan, and the two can not continue to mutually exist forever. This will likely be the season they fall for me, losing N'Zogbia is a terminal hit they could ill afford. Back Swansea to get their first points at 2.2 with Betfred.

Aston Villa v Blackburn, Saturday 1500

Next up is Villa hosting my pre-season tips for the drop Blackburn. Villa opened with a 0-0 draw at Fulham, nothing to get excited or gloomy about there. Fulham kicked off their season weeks ago with some Europa prelim's and Craven Cottage is always a bit of a fortress. Villa held their own and also made some chances. A lot of people looked at their struggles last season and the loss of Ashley Young and forecast another season of struggle, personally I think they'll be fine. N'Zogbia is a more than adequate replacement for Young and should continue to supply Darren Bent who will as always get goals. Their defence is much better than a lot of sides so those goals should be more than enough for at least mid-table obscurity/security. Blackburn started what will be a horrible season with a home defeat by Wolves despite leading 1-0. They have made no additions to a squad that looked horrifically out of it's depth last season. I think Formica, who scored last week, may well be the only bright spot. He looks a decent player and will probably get 10-15 goals if he plays regularly. I don't see that being nearly enough to cover for the glaring lack of quality elsewhere though. I think Bent will be looking forward to this, and with good reason. Back Villa -1.0 Asian at 2.35 with Bet365.

Chelsea v West Brom, Saturday 1730

Last tip from the Prem is Chelsea taking on Woy's West Bwom at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea are supposedly in the process of recruiting some players from Villa Boas former employers Porto, and they can't come quick enough. Whilst Stoke is never an easy place to go, they looked bereft of ideas for the most part and had no width at all. They might have had plenty of managers since that utter prat Jose, but they have continued to play the same style and with mostly the same personnel. The problem is that they were at their peak when Jose was there and now the power that got them through has significantly dimmed. They need new, younger blood, and I was not impressed that Anelka was brought on last week and Sturridge ignored. West Brom opened with a tough match against Man Utd and didn't look overawed at all. Hodgson has them playing a style they are comfortable with and away from the glare of Anfield he seems much happier. Keeping Odemwingie is a real coup too, plenty of unproven strikers are moving or linked for far more than I'd imagine he would cost. Shane Long also looked like he had carried his confidence over from last season, he was happy to run at Utd and take shots. I think Chelsea may well sneak a win, but I don't see them thrashing Brom. Back Under 2.5 goals at 2.45 with Paddy Power.

Caen v Lille, Saturday 1800

I would say this is the best value of the weekend. Caen have started the Ligue Un season very well and have a perfect record of two wins from two matches. Lille have an awful record in August for the last few years and have failed to win in 3 seasons at the start I believe. They have not bucked the trend this year with a home loss and sneaking an away draw last weekend. Eden Hazard has impressed for the defending champions, but they are missing Gervinho and Moussa Sow is already looking like the painfully average striker he was every season before last year. None of this bodes at all well for Lille. I think Caen will sneak a win in this. There are never many goals in Ligue Un, making it a very unpopular option to viewers and therefore restricting TV money. This in turn leads to trouble luring and keeping players, although PSG are bucking that trend now with oil money. Back Caen at 4.0 on Betfair now, they should be more like 3.6.

Fc Koln v Kaiserslautern, Saturday 1730

The live match in Germany this week sees the ever entertaining Koln hosting Kaiserslautern. Koln are almost the Newcastle of Germany as I understand it. An absolute basket case of a club, with ideas they are much bigger than they realistically are. And added to that they have possibly the biggest egomaniac in German football since Steffan Edberg in Lukas Podolski. Whilst he is undoubtably a talented player, he is a Cologne boy and bringing him back to the club has only seemed to fuel his inflated sense of self-worth. He runs very little and is quick to criticise everyone else when things aren't going his way. Kaiserslautern are the second worst team from the first two matches having actually got a point compared to Koln's zero. They will probably struggle too, but probably wont be as much fun as Koln in doing so. There has been four goals in Kaiserslautern's two matches and a huge NINE in Koln's two. I see no reason why this wont continue to be the trend as they have a rather cavalier approach to defending. Back Over 2.5 goals at a very appealing 2.02 with Ladbrokes.

Heracles v Feyenoord, Sunday 1130

Continuing our tour of Europe we are in Holland for our last tip of the weekend. Traditionally one of the Eredivisie's big three sides along with Ajax and PSV are Feyenoord. However comma they have fallen on hard times the last few seasons with a lack of money the main reason for doing so. As soon as a player has come through their still impressive academy and looked decent they have been swept away, the latest being teenage striker Luc Castaignos who has joined Inter Milan. They will always have the pull to get players in to the club to avoid trouble, but most were predicting another season of mid-table at best. They have opened up by winning their first two matches and scoring five goals, keeping two clean sheets in the process. And against both sides they were very good for most of the match. Whether they can keep up this form for the whole season is doubtful, but they are a team on fire at present. Heracles have opened with a respectable win and a draw, albeit against two sides in Waalwijk and Breda who wont tear up any trees. They have scored twice in both matches though and should pose a test to Feyenoord. I think Feyenoord are a good price to win at 3.5, but I'm not confident enough they wont be happy with a draw. I think Feyenoord's Cabral is very good value to score anytime with Bet365 quoting the market. He bagged a brace in their last match too. Back Cabral to score anytime at 3.6 with Bet365.