After a deluge of winners last week, Andy Hillman and our professional odds compiler Owen Goulding return to look forward to another weekend of sporting action.
Every so often you get lucky on a given week betting, the stars align and everything comes in. Last week was one of those weeks, with four winners coming in at 21/20, 8/11, 3/5 and 6/1. Two of my other ‘if you’re interested...’ bets came in at 5/1 and 5/2 as well — it was one of those weeks...
NAP of the week — Blackpool vs Leicester — BTTS @ 7/9
Arguably the game of the day in the Championship, as second travel to third (both behind QPR) Both are scoring frenquently (at least compared to us!) and close to evens on both teams to score seems like a pretty safe bet to me...
Arsenal vs Stoke - Giroud to score anytime vs Stoke @ 11/10
Until I saw the above I was going to plump for Arsenal to win at around 1/2, but 11/10 for Giroud to score ANYTIME against Stoke in his current form is frankly ridiculous. Stoke have lost all five games they have played at the Emirates, and Arsenal are looking very good at the moment.
QPR related Bet: QPR to win @ 11/13
We way be short of firepower at the moment, but surely we will be able to score against a Yeovil side that have only kept a single clean sheet in the League this season — at Millwall on the opening day. Onuoha is a big, big loss though, and Yeovil are yet to score at home in the league this season — we’ve all seen this one before, we may have to score more than once, which will be a novel idea...
Longshot: Dortmund, Bayern, Barca, Real Madrid, Arsenal... and QPR all to win @ 7/1
Five nice and safe legs, and QPR tacked on the end just to stuff things up for me.
Past winners:
NAP of the Week - Forest to beat Huddersfield @ 5/6 — 02/08/13
NAP of the Week - Bordeaux vs Monaco - Monaco to win @ 6/4, 09/08/13
NAP of the week: Monaco to Beat Montpellier @ 4/7, 15/08/13
NAP of the week: Man City to win to nil @ 20/23 — 29/08/13
NAP of the week 2 - Man Utd vs Palace - Utd to win to nil @ 21/20 — 13/09/13
NAP of the week 3 - Sunderland vs Arsenal - Arsenal to win @ 8/11 — 13/09/13
QPR Related bet: QPR vs Birmingham - QPR win @ 3/5 — 13/09/13
Giroud and Sturridge to score anytime double 6/1 — 13/09/13
After taking their place at the summit of the Championship table on Wednesday night, QPR travel to Yeovil in a real top v bottom clash. The two teams couldn’t be in more contrasting scenarios: QPR are unbeaten in the league all season, conceding just twice in their seven games; Yeovil won their first game against a poor Millwall side, but have since gone on to take only one point out of a possible eighteen available, scoring just twice in the process.
It was always going to be a struggle for Yeovil to survive this year, and they may well go on to prove many a pundit wrong but for a team making a big leap up a division, their business over the summer suggests they will be returning back to League One immediately. Free transfers and a few loans here and there are the sum of their off-season trading and a definite lack of quality exists amongst the ranks. Ed Upson provides some flair in an otherwise workmanlike side.
If QPR are serious about winning promotion, these are the kind of matches they need to be picking points up at. QPR team news is up in the air at moment but at time of writing, Hoilett, Onuoha and Johnson look to be absent. There is back up in all departments though and I still expect QPR to win here.
The odds on price generally available of 4/5 though is one that doesn't appear to offer any value so it’s into the goal scorer market I am looking to invest. The way QPR are set up at the moment means I would be very interested in Matt Phillips to score at Skybet's 3/1, but with Kranjcar a possible entry into the equation, Phillips may play even wider, meaning I am going to place my faith in Dunne and my stakes are going on the big Irishman to open his account. After going close against Brighton on more than one occasion, and Barton's delivery looking ever more dangerous with every passing week, my bets for the game are to back Richard Dunne to score anytime (12/1 generally) and a little saver on Hill to score anytime at 16/1 (Corals).
Elsewhere, my bet of the weekend is Oldham to beat Crewe in League One. Oldham are playing some lovely stuff and it’s only a matter of time before their results start to match their performances. The boys from Gresty Road have lost all three away games so far this season, conceding eight and scoring none. The 10/11 generally available for an Oldham win looks huge.
Bet of Weekend - Oldham to beat Crewe at 10/11 (generally)
Previous Winners:
Benteke to score at any time v Arsenal at 11/4 (Coral/Skybet), 17/08/13
Nile Ranger First Goalscorer Each Way 11/2 (Paady Power/Skybet), 28/08/13
QPR to score first v Leeds at Even money (Bwin/Betfair), 28/08/13
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