BetUK Blog

With Arsenal looking back to their best at the weekend with a 4-0 drubbing of Blackburn in the Premier League tonight’s FA Cup match against Hull (starts at 7.45pm live on Setanta) is likely to go the Gunners’ way. Since 1997/98, Arsenal are undefeated at home in the FA Cup and have 16 wins and eight draws in these games.

In this period 12 Premier League teams have visited the Gunners with an even split between wins and draws. Where there might be some value is in the half-time/full-time market since opening halves have remained tight affairs with eight opening 45-minute draws (seven at 0-0). It could therefore pay to have a bet on Draw/Arsenal with BetUK.

In tonight’s Premier League clash between West Ham and West Brom (starts at 8pm on Setanta) the value looks to be in backing West Ham to win to nil. West Brom’s atrocious away form and scoring record mean that it’s hard to look past West Ham here, and the home side to win 1-0 or 2-0, at 11/2 and 13/2 with BetUK, are the scorelines to bet on.

West Brom must pick up their form at some stage but Zola’s men are a team on the up at present and we can’t see it starting at Upton Park. The Hammers have also been under 2.5 goals in 8 of their last 9 games in all competitions and that outcome is 4/5 but against the worst defence in the division that bet might not be the best one to make on this occasion.

Today’s Premier League game between Aston Villa and Tottenham could well see Villa bounce back to form after a run of disappointing matches that have seen them slip to 5th place in the league, after that all-important 4th place was beginning to look nailed on. Villa have won just one game in their five league games but today could be different.

Much of Villa’s recent sloppiness can be put down to fatigue – up until their 2-0 defeat at Man City last time out, O’Neill’s charges had played 12 games in eight weeks across three competitions with no squad rotation to speak of whatsoever. In fact, nine members of Villa’s squad have played in 26 or more of their 28 Premiership games all season! So the nine-day break leading into this game should have done them the world of good. Another stat that points to a Villa success is that they have only lost one of 10 home games to sides visiting from outside the ‘big four’.

Overall, a refreshed and rejuvenated Aston Villa side, with essentially a full first XI to choose from, are a match for anyone at Villa Park this season and the 11/10 on them with BetUK to win in 90 minutes is a decent price. Tottenham continue to struggle on the road and although they are putting together a decent run of form at present, they haven’t won on this ground for six years - a trend that looks likely to continue.

Around half a BILLION pounds will be wagered on the 24 races that make up the Cheltenham Festival, which starts tomorrow. If you love racing, there is nothing to match it - you just have to get involved.

The feature race on the first day is the Champion Hurdle and with plenty of juice in the ground the hot favourite, Binocular, is expected to find Cheltenham’s uphill finish somewhat unforgiving.

There are plenty of alternatives as this is one of the biggest Champion Hurdle fields ever seen. If you want to dabble in the win or each-way market then you could do a lot worse than Celestial Halo, Osana or Katchit. For us, this trio all have strong cases at making the frame.

You can see this market and all the others on Day 1 of Cheltenham here.

In tonight’s big match in Madrid between Real and Atletico - the so-called El Derbi Madrileno - the value appears to be in betting on over 2.5 goals. With Real recording 8 clean sheets in their last 10 games, over 2.5 goals at 7/10 may sound on the short side but this could actually represent the best bet of the evening. We fancy the visitors to trouble the home defence because Portuguese centre-back Pepe is suspended who has been the key behind Ramos’ sides awesome defensive run. Most reports suggest that Sergio Ramos will shift to the middle of defence to deal with the pace of Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan, with veteran Michel Salgado coming in for his first start of the season. Clearly this is not ideal and with Aguero starting to show much improved form of late (after the birth of his son), he is capable of hurting the home defence.

Hosts Real have scored in 13 of their last 14 La Liga games but their city rivals remain a magnificent side to watch, going at their opponents’ gung-ho and spurred on all the way by their new offensive minded coach. This was aptly demonstrated in their stunning 4-3 win over Barcelona last weekend and despite their recent troubles, Atletico have only failed to score in one of their last 14 matches. As a result, we think betting on a goal rush at the Bernebau is where the value lies.

I am happy to take a chance and have a bet on Everton in tonight’s Premier League game against Blackburn (live on Sky2). The 17/10 available on BetUK seems too big. Everton are in terrific form and have only suffered one league defeat in their last 11 games – and that was 1-0 to Manchester United so was kind of expected.

Everton seem to have very few problems against sides below them in the table: their away record versus clubs outside the top 5 reads P10-W7-D2-L1 and they have kept clean sheets in their last four consecutive matches of this kind. Ok, so Blackburn have rejuventaed themselves under Sam Allardyce (losing just two games out of nine under his management) but at the price it is well worth backing the Toffees. Click here for all BetUK’s prices on this game.

If Liverpool is not to justify its now 22/1 quote for the English Premier League title this game is surely a must-win one. The gap (currently seven points) between Rafa Benitez’s side and the leaders will grow insurmountable if Liverpool fail to take three points from this game because it doesn’t look as if United will stop winning.

Another reason this is a must-win is that Liverpool’s next few games involve playing Man United themselves, Aston Villa and Arsenal. So, if they aren’t going to capitalise tonight it might be some time before they have an easier chance to bag three points.Liverpool will be especially keen to bounce back after the weekend’s disastrous 2-0 drubbing at the hands of Middlesbrough so this leads us to think that they can nick this one against an in-form Sunderland. In fact, only one defeat in their last six games has lifted Sunderland to 6th in the form table and they are undefeated away from home since losing to Everton at the end of December, and drawing with Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Arsenal since then.

There could be a shortage of goals too. Benitez’s side have been under 2.5 goals in six of their seven league games in 2009 while seven of Sunderland’s 11 Premier League games have also been under (including their last four).

All this suggests the best bets to make are on under 2.5 goals at 7/10 with another recommendation going on the 1-0 to Liverpool scoreline at 11/2.

If you want to grab some early value for next week’s Cheltenham Festival, a week long gambling extravaganza, now is the time to do it. A quick review of the antepost selections made by Pricewise of the Racing Post, one of the best horse racing tipsters in the UK, shows that these are the ones it could pay to back in some of the Festival’s biggest races:

* Celestial Halo e/w in the Champion Hurdle;

* Barbers Shop e/w in the Gold Cup;

* Fair Along e/w in the World Hurdle; and

* Kempes e/w in the Supreme Novices Hurdle.

In all there are 24 races at the Festival, six each day from Tuesday-Friday inclusive next week. BetUKwill be offering competitive odds on all these races so make sure you keep coming to the site to check them out.