Archived Premiership Football Betting Tips (4th November 2006)

Fulham surprisingly lost to Wigan at Craven Cottage last weekend and now they've lost 2 of 5 home games; last season they only lost 4 home fixtures. Coleman was critical of his poor defence but tempered his comments with his opinion that they'd been good all season and put the defeat down to a blip; I'd have to concur as usually their home form is fairly dependable. The thing is they host an Everton side who have upset the form book recently by actually going ahead at Arsenal and coming away with a point. Everton defend resolutely as a team making them hard to break down plus they have match winners in Cahill and Johnson. They will travel to Fulham looking not to get beat and with 3 draws from 5 away games, a share of the spoils looks to be the popular choice.

Bolton were given a spanking by United in what was one of United's best performances of the last couple of years but if you take that result out of the mix, Bolton have done well this season and should be proud of their current position (3rd). Sam will not want his players resting on their laurels and will be analysing the United defeat to determine what went wrong; the plus is that they're playing Wigan this weekend and can put things right. The big miss for Sam has been Kevin Nolan and he'll be absent again come Saturday as he sits out the last game of his suspension. Wigan come straight off the back of 2 great results; a 4-0 thrashing at home against City and an even better 1-0 away win at Craven Cottage. Reports have been coming in that the partnership of Heskey and Camara is growing match by match but the facts are that Wigan have lost 3 of their 5 games on the road and the Reebok is a notoriously difficult place to go. Big Sam will want his lads to bounce back and it looks like a narrow victory for the home side.

After Benitez maintained his starting lineup for the first time in 100 consecutive matches in all competitions, there's no doubt that Liverpool's home form is keeping his side decently positioned in the Premiership, although the title race is now gone for them. The Reds remain undefeated at Anfield and they are now scoring goals from all over the park; even Gerrard is now in on the act despite being stuck out on the right although he does get some freedom to come inside. They host a Reading side that are suddenly coming to terms with the reality of the Premiership and what playing the big teams is all about; they've lost their last 3 (at home to Chelsea and Arsenal, and away at Portsmouth). Reading are still comfortable in mid-table and always like to have a go at teams, but they will probably come unstuck against Liverpool at Anfield; Gerrard to get on the scoresheet again.

The Hammers finally ended their run of 8 straight defeats in all competitions with a much needed win over Blackburn, and moved out of the drop zone to boot. It's not often that Sheringham starts but he lasted 77 minutes and scored a fine headed goal. It remains to be seen whether Pardew will adopt such an attacking lineup against Arsenal especially after the Gunners' exquisite exhibition at the Madjeski where Reading went down by 4 goals and it could have been more. There's no doubt that Arsenal are a side who love to play a great passing game but it doesn't always result in 3 points, as evidenced by the draw at home to Everton. But if Arsenal are on song it's going to be a very difficult day for West Ham.