It’s a betting minefield at the moment with weather related refunds left right and centre. To guide us through the frozen wastes, Brian and Andy.

A blank week last week in more ways than one. All of Andy’s bets went west with the weather apart from one, which was refunded anyway, so he loses nothing and stays £7.50 in debt. Brian shipped £20, but is still £176.36 up overall. He lost out on Street Power in the 3.40 at Kempton last week, had he backed Flying Power in the 5.30 at the same course on Thursday he’d have picked up a 5/2 winner. Such is life.

Brian Power

Who knows what sport will be on this weekend with the weather but let's hope the majority goes ahead. As I am writing this a day earlier due to our Friday game I will keep things simple. Watford are a bogey team over the past few years at home but I fancy a home win with goals as my Hornet colleague reckons they cannot defend. Let's go for a 3-1 win with Tommy Smith as first scorer against his former club at 8/1.

Elsewhere on the Beeb this weekend is the Sports Personality of the Year. Tony McCoy is 11/10 with Paddy Power and this afternoon picked up the SJA award narrowly beating Graham McDowell who is available at 5/1. There has been lots of coverage pushing for the great jockey and I would love to see him win it but for value I will go for McDowell after his fantastic efforts this year. The coverage I mentioned includes the Vote AP Gold Cup at Cheltenham on Saturday he has not decided what to ride but let's back it.

Mike Ashley is trying to make himself the most hated person on Tyneside sacking Chris Hughton and replacing him with Alan Pardew on a five and a half year contract. How to win friends and influence people. For this reason back Liverpool to beat them at St James Park at 11/10

Finally I was waiting for a bus the other day and after ten minutes it hadn't arrived so I went to the pub for a quick half. As I looked out the window a van mounted the pavement and hit a bloke wearing a Chelsea top where I had been stood a few moments earlier. I took a sip of my drink and thought that it could have been me. I could have been driving that van.

Enjoy the weekend.

For the weekend:

£5 QPR to beat Watford 3-1 12/1

£7.50 Tommy Smith to score first 8/1

£17.50 Liverpool to beat Newcastle 11/10

£10 McDowell to win sports personality 5/1

£10 AP McCoy’s mount in Vote AP gold cup at Cheltenham on Saturday

Previously Advised:

£10 Dallas Cowboys to win Superbowl 12-1

£2 Lucky 15 and £2e/w acca

QPR to win Championship at 12/1

Huddersfield to win league 1 at 8/1

Rotherham to win League 2 at 12/1

York to win conference at 12/1

£15 Ashes series to be s draw 5/1

£10 Anderson to be top wicket taker 8/1

Andy Hillman

Last week Clive opened with the line ‘it’s been a cracking couple of weeks for the LFW betting column with winners left right and centre…’ which I think may be being slightly disingenuous to Brian, who has clearly been the Adel Taarabt to my Hogan Ephraim in recent weeks.

The weather last week meant that my accumulator was voided by Sheffield United vs Reading being postponed, so I only had one valid bet – Birmingham vs Tottenham, and that ended up a draw, so I got my money refunded – spent none, won none – my best week in a month!

Back to this week’s sporting events, and as I draft this Alan Pardew has just been appointed to Newcastle on a five and a half deal. Putting aside discussions about how much of a joke appointment this is for a moment, I dived straight onto Betfair to check the relegations odds, and the market has moved from 5/1 to 3/1 almost instantly – a lot of people obviously think that Pardew might take them down, but regardless of who is in charge, Newcastle are not one of the three weakest teams in the league. In fact, because the market has now gone so negative against Newcastle, the odds on a top-ten finish have gone out to 9/2, which, if you bear in mind the league below the obvious big 6 is very much of a muchness, is not bad odds at all, and IF Newcastle manage to keep Carroll in the January transfer window, they have a real shot at the glory that is tenth place and being bottom of the top of the table.

Onto our game, and we’re playing on Friday against Watford, whilst at the same time Swansea are at home against Millwall (is that one even on TV?!) QPR are as short as 2/1 on for the win, so there really is no value in the straight victory there. QPR are currently 9/5 with Bet365 to win to nil, but I think that Watford will score, so I’m going to plump for two scorecasts - 2-1 and 3-1 Rangers, available at 15/2 and 13/1 respectively with Unibet. Also, got to stick with Taarabt as first goal scorer available at 6/1 everywhere, but I’ll go with Stan James because of their goalless draw no bet offer, in the highly unlikely event that it’s goalless.

In t’other game – Swansea vs Millwall, the best price you can get on a straight Swansea win is 5/4 on. I’m instead going to plump for the Swansea to win to nil, available at 2/1 with Bet365.

Nothing else much seems to jump out at me this weekend, other than all four Birmingham based teams are playing each other, with Villa vs West Brom and Wolves vs Birmingham. You can get 10/1 that both are draws – seems silly not to stick a fiver on that.

Finally my weekend accumulator, and looking at the Championship I see potentially an absolute draw fest. So I’ve got for Bristol vs Derby, Burnley vs Leeds, Barnsley vs Sheffield United and Middlesbrough vs Cardiff to all be draws. I’ve got £2 for the lot, and 4 £2 trebles for a total outlay of £10, with frankly ridiculous odds on offer – all four coming in weighs in at 125/1, and each of the trebles is worth between 35/1 and 38/1, meaning that if all four come in I walk away with £534.66. which pays for my season ticket in one go.

For the Weekend:

QPR vs Watford: 2-1 £7.50 @ 15/2 (Unibet)

QPR vs Watford: 3-1 £7.50 @ 13/1 (Unibet)

QPR vs Watford :Taarabt to score first - £5 @ 6/1 (Stan James)

Swansea vs Millwall – Swansea to win to nil - £10 @ 2/1 (Bet365)

Double – Aston Villa vs West Brom & Wolves vs Birmingham both draw - £10 @ 10/1 (Betfair)

4 fold accumulator and 4 trebles - Bristol vs Derby, Burnley vs Leeds, Barnsley vs Sheffield United and Middlesbrough vs Cardiff all draws - £10 @ variable odds (Betfair)

Photo: Action Images

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