Archived Premiership Football Betting Tips (10th December 2005)

Nine clean sheets in their last nine games (Champions League included) shows that Liverpool have their season back on track. Peter Crouch has started scoring and the club have been compiling their best run for years; they've won their Champions League group and and are well positioned in third place in the Premiership. Their opponents, Boro, put up a good fight at Stamford Bridge last weekend and narrowly lost out but the bottom line is that Liverpool have won 5 from 7 at home where as Boro have lost 4 from 7 away, including their last 3. Boro still have an 'inconsistent' tag but will be relieved that they have no midweek European distractions but despite this it's difficult to see anything other than a Liverpool win.

At the end of the day statistics don't lie and Birmingham are one of only 3 teams without a home win; in fact they have taken the least amount of points from home fixtures with only 1 point from 7 games. They even went ahead against West Ham but after losing Melchiot and Izzet to injury again, they went down 1-2. Fulham are not doing much better than Birmingham and have not won away all season but have scraped 3 points on the road. They pulled a draw out of the bag at the Hawthorns last weekend after losing Boa Morte early on, so he will be unavailable Saturday but this match remains the hardest one of the weekend to call; sit on the fence with a draw but it could swing either way and I wouldn't be surprised to see one of these teams break their duck, home or away respectively.

Bolton will have been grateful for a rest from the usual midweek European fixtures and the rest will have been much needed. Although Bolton's players may be tired they will be buoyant after a good home win against Arsenal; this was their eighth straight home win in all competitions and is down to a phenomenal work rate as well as the odd skilful touches. It seems unlikely that Villa will be the side to disrupt Bolton's home form, especially after being knocked out of the Carling Cup at Doncaster. They did manage to rescue a point at St. James Park and could even have taken all 3 if Gareth Barry had been more composed from the penalty spot. However Bolton are likely to pose far more problems than Newcastle for O'Leary's side and there should be only one winner.

Charlton's season may be coming off the rails in spectacular form and the opportunity of three points against the bottom side could give them some renewed confidence; the thing is that this game has got to the stage where it could be seen as a double-edged sword and defeat could see the Addicks spiralling into further turmoil. The mauling by Man City at the Valley will not have helped confidence. They have only managed 1 win at home this season which matches Sunderland's solitary away win. Sunderland have a whole host of injuries and McCarthy has admitted that his current 11 are not good enough to remain in the top flight and the sooner he gets his best players back the sooner they can add to their measly 5 points. At this rate they may beat their own lowest Premiership points record of 19 points set in 2003. Unfortunately it looks like a 10th consecutive defeat for Sunderland.

It may sound boring but Chelsea continue to boast a 100% home record scoring 22 goals and conceding just 4 in 8 games. They have qualified for the knockout phase of the Champions League, all be it in second place to Liverpool in their group, and Mourinho's men approach every game with increased confidence. Things looked to have run close against Boro last weekend but they still ran out 1-0 winners. Their opponents, Wigan, have slipped of late and it is no coincidence that these defeats have come against the big boys; unfortunately for Wigan games against the top 5 have come consecutively and this has been a true test of their pedigree. Surprisingly though, last week against Liverpool was the first time that Paul Jewell's men did not apply themselves fully to the task in hand and could be a sign that they are still finding their feet in the Premiership. Although Wigan are likely to lose this one, have no doubt that they will finish in the top half come the end of the season.

West Brom found it difficult to break down a Fulham side reduced to 10 men but have taken 3 wins from their 8 home games and as things currently stand are 1 place and 3 points clear of the drop zone. Much has been made of Paul Robinson's steely performances and justifiably so but an it may be too soon for an England call up, much as Robson has touted his man. City are fresh from giving Charlton a 2-5 mauling at the Valley and should be full of confidence going to the Hawthorns; they have 3 wins from their travels and can make this another one.

Souness is just another of the Premiership managers who must feel that his job is on the line from game to game. If he had his first 11 players available it might be a different story but part of the game is to build a strong enough squad to absorb some of those setbacks. It looks like he may well be missing Emre and Nzogbia again although Owen could return but this doesn't describe half the problem; Shearer and Parker give their all but Solano has not been the same player since his return and the first choice centre half pairing of Bramble and Boumsong is simply not good enough. Despite this Newcastle have not lost in their last 5 home games although they have only scored 7 home goals all season, but it is unlikely thay will have the mettle to test an Arsenal side who have struggled away in the Premiership this season. Arsenal lost last week at Bolton in a game in which they struggled to compete physically but Newcastle aren't Bolton and the Arsenal players should have more space and time on the ball. Arsenal have a solitary away win to their name this season but they should start to pick up the away points soon.