FA CUP Betting with Free Bets

Match Betting Guide

Everton will be looking to upset the form book in today's FA Cup final against Chelsea. Phil Neville and Steven Pienaar are both expected to be ok to play and that means Moyes only decision is whether to start with fit for once Louis Saha up front or to leave him on the bench and go with the make shift combination of using midfielders Tim Cahill and Marouane Fellaini in more advanced forward positions.

If he does use the latter younster Jack Rodwell could get the nod in midfield. Victor Anichebe, Phil Jagielka, Mikel Arteta and Ayegbeni Yakubu are all out with long term injuries.



Chelsea will have an almost full squad to choose from with Frank Lampard and Alex expected to be fit after having last weekend off. Joe Cole and Paulo Ferreira both miss out with long standing injuries.


Squads

Chelsea - Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, A Cole, Essien, Lampard, Mikel, Malouda, Drogba, Anelka, Hilario, Ballack, Di Santo, Sinclair, Stoch, Belletti, Mancienne, Kalou, Ivanovic, Carvalho, Deco.


Everton - Howard, Hibbert, Yobo, Lescott, Baines, Osman, Neville, Cahill, Pienaar, Rodwell, Saha, Fellaini, Nash, Castillo, Vaughan, Jacobsen, Gosling, Baxter.


Betting

Chelsea are favourites to win FA Cup outright at 2/5 with Totesport, Sky Bet and Boylesports. Everton can be backed to cause an upset at 9/4 with Bet365.

90 Minute Betting

Chelsea are 8/11 with Bet365, Betfred, Blue Square, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, Stan James, Totesport, William Hill and 888sport
Draw is 13/5 with Sky Bet and Bet365
Everton are 5/1 with Bet365, Ladbrokes and William Hill

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Changes to Victor Chandler Free Bet offer

Betting Guide to VC Bet's £100 Free Bet

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Football Betting - Today's relegation fixtures 24/05/09

Betting Guide

With two of Hull, Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Sunderland set to be relegated today it promises to be an exciting afternoons football. Can't see Hull getting any better than a draw against whoever Man Utd put out on the field so if Newcastle could get a win at Villa Park today I can see that being enough to keep them up.

Sunderland have their destiny in their own hands but it won't be easy at home to Chelsea. Middlesbrough need to win and overturn a -4 goal difference on Hull if they are to overhaul them, even then they will also need Newcastle to lose at Villa - a long shot to say the least and this is reflected in the odds at 1/66 on them going down with Boylesports and Paddy Power.



Match Odds & Best Prices


Aston Villa V Newcastle

Aston Villa are 6/5 with VC Bet
Newcastle are 11/4 with 888sport and Blue Square
The Draw is 13/5 with Paddy Power


Hull V Manchester United

Hull are 15/8 with Sky Bet
Man Utd are 13/8 with Stan James
The Draw is 5/2 with VC Bet and Boylesports


Sunderland V Chelsea

Sunderland are 17/4 with Bet365
Chelsea are 17/20 with VC Bet
The Draw is 13/5 with 888sport, Bet365, Betfred, Blue Square, Boylesports, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, Sky Bet and Totesport


West Ham V Middlesbrough

West Ham are 5/4 with Boylesports and Betfred
Middlesbrough are 5/2 with Bet365
The Draw is 5/2 with Bet365, Betfred, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, Sky Bet, Stan James, William Hill and Totesport.


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Football Betting - Why should Fergie pick his best team today.

Football Betting Guide

With Middlesbrough, Hull, Sunderland and Newcastle all fighting to stay up today why has the attention switched to Manchester United's team selection as to who goes down?

So what if Alex Ferguson wants to rest players for the Champions league final, it's his right to take that decision. In having won the league already he has earnt the right to pick whatever team he wants. A decision backed up by Premier League chief Richard Scudamore when he said it is now a squad game. How many times has Benitez rested Gerrard and Torres over the last two seasons, maybe not so much this season though but probally only as Torres has spent half of it injured.

Ferguson also has a squad of around 20 players all of which would get into just about any team outside of the top 4, most of these so called squad players have been playing most of the season anyway. The likes of Nani, Ji-Sung Park, Anderson, Scholes, Giggs, Tevez, Neville, O'Shea, Evans etc have been rotated just about all season.



In the league game against Middlesbrough which was between the two Champions league ties with Arsenal, Ronaldo was only on the bench alongside Carlos Tevez with youngster Federico Macheda starting. In the away fixture at Sunderland the Saturday before the Champions league quater final against Porto, Ronaldo again and Patrice Evra were both on the bench.

The Saturaday before the 1st leg against Inter Milan they played Blackburn at Old Trafford and had Vidic, Giggs, Fletcher and Tevez on the bench - ok, so Giggs and Tevez might not be first team certain starters but Luis Nani started that game, a player both would be picked ahead of if Ferguson was picking his strongest 11.

In Arsenal's home fixture against Middlesbrough the Sunday before they played Man Utd in the Champions League Semi-Final Emmanuel Adebayor was only on the bench. In a match earlier in the season against Newcastle, Theo Walcott was only a sub. Squad rotation goes on all the time, the teams at the bottom are going to go down becasue of the rubbish they have produced all season, not because of the team Alex Ferguson picks against Hull today.

Relegation Betting

Sunderland are 8/1 with VC Bet, William Hill, 888sport and Blue Square.
Hull are 7/4 with William Hill, Sportingbet, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes.
Newcastle are 4/7 with Paddy Power, VC Bet and Boylesports.
Middlesbrough are 1/66 with Boylesports and Paddy Power.

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Cricket Betting - Ashes war of words already started.

Cricket Betting Guide

Ricky Ponting fired the opening shots in the players 'Ashes war of words' during this weeks Australian squad announcement. He said about opposite number Andrew Strauss "We try to target the opposition captain a little bit - if you do that you can generally take another couple of other guys down with him," quite tame compared to some previous years quotes.

Strauss it would appear is not going to rise to the bait and claims he is happy to let the Aussies do the talking while he and his team quietly go about their business preparing for the West Indies one day series - and the Ashes even though they won't admit it yet, although he did later say that England would target the inexperience in the Australian squad - proving no matter how hard they might try, they just can't resist having a dig.

Now we see Mitchall Johnson having a dig at Ravi Bopara saying "I've seen Bopara in those two Tests against the West Indies where he scored those two centuries. He looked good, but there is a big difference between a series against the West Indies and the Ashes. There will be much more pressure out there, so it will be interesting to see how he goes."

The pundits seem to be the ones doing the real mud throwing this year so far. In the absence of the usual Glenn McGrath outburst the likes of Bob Willis and Mark Waugh have stepped up to the plate. In response to seeing the Aussie Ashes squad Willis claimed that the bookies should be slashing the odds on the English, an opinion which suggests the Australin selectors have given England a boost with some of the rookie selections.



Willis went on to say "Andrew McDonald is more like Ronald McDonald as far as I'm concerned, Shane Watson can't keep fit and with Brett Lee half the pace he used to be, the bookies must surely be trimming their odds on England right now." How I hope he dosen't regret saying that.

Mark Waugh gave a radio interview on the day of the Aussie squad announcement which in it he said that James Anderson was a good bowler on his day but that he lacks mental strength and that he is only good against the weeker international sides. He described Stuart Broad as an honest trundler, Graham Onions as ok and then said that he would be amazed if Graeme Swann had the same success against Australia that he has against West Indies, whom he said wouldn't have beat a club side in their recent two Tests against England.

He also claimed Strauss had to be positive as a captain claiming that he has been too negative in the past, all in all the build to this series looks set to be fascinating with verbal jousting going on right up to the first ball is bowled.

In the betting the Aussies are still favourites after their squad announcement.


Best Odds

Australia are 8/11 with Betfred, Boylesports, Sky Bet and Stan James.
England are 9/4 with Sportingbet, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes.
The Draw is 11/2 with Boylesports, Blue Square, 888sport and Sportingbet.

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Betting Guide - Eng V West Indies, 1st ODI

Cricket Betting Guide

After a good thrashing in the Test series, Chris Gayle and his West Indies team will be looking to bounce back in the One Day series starting today at Headingley. West Indies seem far happier and are far more competitive in the 50 over format of the game and the arrival of Dwayne Bravo will further boost them on what has so far been a disasterous tour.

England - who have struggled in this form of the game for years now - have injury concerns with Kevin Pietersen now joining Andrew Flintoff on the sidelines. The official word on Pietersen is that he is resting a sore Achilles as purely a precaution, but with the summer of cricket England have coming up the camp must be privately worried given the usual tricky nature of Achilles injuries.



It would appear to be a straight choice between Ian Bell or an England debut for Irishman Eoin Morgan to replace Pietersen. The rest of the side is beginning to pick itself with Andersen and Broad now the established new ball opening partnership in both forms of the game, Ravi Bopara will be looking to cement his place at the top of the order after a successful Test series while Owais Shah will want to put the disappointment of his Test omission behind him when he returns in place of Alastair Cook. The only other probable change to the England side will be Dimitri Mascarenhas in for Graham Onions.

West Indies will be all the stronger for the return of Bravo and also will probally draft in Kieron Pollard as well with both slotting into the middle order. Lendl Simmons will move up to open the batting with Brendan Nash and Devon Smith both dropping out. With rain in the air today in Leeds you might want to take John Dyson into consideration when betting as Duckworth/Lewis could come into play later today - surely he couldn't do it twice though. In the event of a washout toady Betfair seem to be the only company offering odds on a drawn series, this can be backed at 8/1 at the moment.

Betting - Best Odds

1st ODI match, 21st May.

England are 8/11 with 888sport, Blue Square, Totesport and William Hill.
West Indies are 6/5 with Bet365, Boylesports, Sky Bet and Sportingbet.


Series Outright

England are 4/6 with Sportingbet, William Hill, 888sport, Blue Square and Boylesports.
West Indies are 11/8 with Ladbrokes.
Drawn Series is 8/1 with Betfair.

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Cricket Betting Guide - Australia Ashes Squad

Betting Guide

Australia this morning named their 16 man squad to come to England to hopefully - from their point of view - successfully defend the Ashes. As expected the selectors kept faith with the bulk of the team that performed remarkably well in the recent series victory in South Africa while also recalling Brett Lee and Stuart Clark.



Ricky Ponting again retains the captaincy and also Michael Clarke the vice-captaincy. Their was though no place for the controversial Andrew Symonds, although Ponting didn't go as far as to admit it, he was obviously disappointed with Symond's omission. Ponting went onto say "I can't personally be disappointed, The facts are he went out of the side - and we gave opportunities to others and they've played well enough to keep Andrew out of the squad. That's as simple as it has to be." A carefully worded quote designed not to upset any of the three all rounders selected for his squad.

Of the three, Shane Watson would seem to be the fortunate one - having had the injuries he has and the fact he has harldy bowled all year he can count himself lucky, whereas Andrew McDonald and Marcus North are rewarded for showing potential in South Africa.

In the spin department Nathan Hauritz got the nod over Bryce McGain and South Australian Graham Manou is named as back up wicketkeeper to Brad Haddin. Brad Hodge and David Hussey both staked a claim for a place in the batting but the selectors have kept faith with the ususal five and would appear to be backing the all rounders to slot into the top order if needed.


Sqaud in Full

Ricky Ponting (c), Michael Clarke (vc), Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, Phillip Hughes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Graham Manou, Andrew McDonald, Marcus North, Peter Siddle, Shane Watson


Best Odds
Australia are favourites at 8/11 with Betfred, Betfair, Boylesports, Stan James and Sky Bet.
England are 9/4 with Sportingbet, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes.
The Draw is 11/2 with 888sport, Blue Square, Boylesports and Sportingbet.

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