Their new players D Silva, Kolarov, Ya Ya Toure and J Boateng started against Valencia, but a player like C Bellamy seems to be out in the cold. That is strange as Bellamy has been excellent for City and he is a fan’s favourite. J Milner is about to join City, Balotelli as well. Why do they buy all these players? Almost childish behaviour and it reminds me of Milan in their hay days, when they bought players just to prevent other clubs from buying them. Inter, by the way, seem to be the true transfer experts, Last season they changed Ibrahimovic for Milito, Eto’o and Sneijder and now they will receive loads of cash for Balotelli, a player with on going authority problems.

It is important for Tottenham to find an early form, as they will play their first Champions League qualifier next week. Recent wins against Benfica and Fiorentina give proof of at least some form. Fit squad, only missing Pavlyuchenko, and even their defender Ledley King is playing again. Backing the home win.

Aston Villa – West Ham 2.04 – 4.35
Latest odds: home – draw – away I was not really surprised to hear that coach O’Neill has decided to leave A Villa. He wanted Villa to improve, but the signs ahead of this season have been the opposite, especially with J Milner on his way out. It is getting increasingly difficult to hold on your best players with vulture clubs like M City competing. Villa still have a decent squad, with or without O’Neill, but they can forget about a place in Europe.

Coach Grant has brought Piquionne, Ben Haim, Hitzlsperger and the winger Barrera to his new club, West Ham. Barrera was the expensive one, but I know nothing about him. The Ajax winger Suljemani has just joined the Hammers. I expect W Ham to improve under Grant. Maybe they will get something from this match. Nothing indicates a big game from Villa, that is what I am saying. Villa have to play this match without their two defenders Cuellar and J Collins and there are also some doubts concerning Agbonlahor’s fitness. Still the odds have become ridiculously high on the home win (2.04) and I guess it is worth backing now.

Blackburn – Everton 3.08 – 2.60
Latest odds: home – draw – away You know Blackburn. They were a terrific home side last season, only losing at Ewood Park to Tottenham, M City and, not to forget, Everton. Blackburn have not changed much, but an interesting loan player will play for the club. The ex-Molde striker Mame B Diouf has been loaned out from M United.

Arteta and Cahill, the two key players for Everton are 100% fit and coach Moyes come to this opening match in an optimistic mood, stating that his present squad is his strongest ever. I predict that Everton will repeat their winning display from last season. Picking the away win then.

Bolton – Fulham 2.30 – 3.52
Latest odds: home – draw – away It is of course a lot of guess work at this stage, but I cannot deny that I am more comfortable with the home alternative in this match. One of my old favourites Martin Petrov has joined Bolton and from what I have heard Petrov has already been in impressive form. I Klasnic, J Elmander and R Blake will be in the box, not all of them together course, but definitely a starter upfront will be the ever strong Kevin Davies.

M Hughes is managing Fulham nowadays. He did a god job with Blackburn and M City and why should he fail with Fulham? He has to manage without the injured duo D Duff and A Johnson. C Smalling is playing for M United these days. Fulham seldom enjoy playing away from home and Bolton will get my vote.

Sunderland – Birmingham 2.30 – 3.60
Latest odds: home – draw – away I was leaning towards the home win in this match as well. Then I heard that their big front man Kenwyne Jones has left for Stoke. The M United striker D Wehlbeck is supposed to cover for K Jones. The Sunderland coach Bruce obviously preferred F Campbell to K Jones alongside D Bent. Their signing Riveros, midfielder from Cruz Azul, will not be ready for this match, but new defenders Onuoha and T Bramble should be available. L Cana has left the club, but his midfield colleague L Cattermole is at last perfectly fit. Sunderland had a great to their season last year, but lost their ways in some inexplicable way around Christmas time.

Birmingham were the surprise package last season together with Fulham. They have offloaded Benitez, but instead they have bought N Zigic. Not the same kind of forward of course, with Zigic basically a target player. What can I say? I do not expect Birmingham to repeat their success from last season. Sunderland pose more of a goal threat than Birmingham. Darren Bent, the all important hit man, is considered an injury doubt and he has to play for this writer to back the home win. According to late reports D Bent should be OK. Home win then.

Wigan – Blackpool 1.90 – 5.00
Latest odds: home – draw – away First Blackpool surprise us all by getting promoted to the Premiership with an average looking Championship side. Then they offer an even bigger surprise by not strengthening the side at all. I mean most teams that reach the Premiership side usually fill their sides with left overs from some of the other teams in this league, but not Blackpool. Nothing has happened and they are facing a hopeless season. In midweek Blackpool signed on five-six players, but I was not impressed, M Harewood being the most prominent one. At least Blackpool are trying.

Still everything may happen when Wigan are playing, at least that is the way it looked like last season. Wigan quite often played their best games against the top teams, but often disappeared against the poorer sides. Rodallega has stayed put at Wigan and they have signed another forward with a scoring reputation, Boselli. He scored two goals for Wigan in their last friendly game vs. Dundee. Victor Moses could have his breakthrough this season. I guess that one has to back the home win, but how do you trust Wigan?

Wolves – Stoke 2.38 – 3.36
Latest odds: home – draw – away I have this feeling that Wolves will enjoy a positive season and at the same time I can see Stoke failing to emulate last season’s success. That is what I originally thought, but I have to say that their new striker K Jones is the right man for Stoke. Talk about a perfect target man for Stoke with their long thows in the box and so on. Now the opponents have to handle both R Fuller and K Jones.

S Fletcher has joined Wolves from Burnley, S Hunt and Van Damme will also play for Wolves this season. Fletcher was the best Burnley player last season and I am convinced that he will do an excellent job for his new club as well.

I do not think that Stoke will change much. Why should they? Their direct uncompromising football has so far served them fine in the Premiership and recruiting K Jones gives evidence that Stoke will not be changing their style. Stoke will be without L Lawrence and S Diao.

Kevin Doyle, the leading Wolves striker, could not play for Eire in midweek and he is considered a serious injury doubt for this opening match. S Hunt will definitely be missing. I have changed my mind about this fixture. Now I am more optimistic about the Stoke chances. X2 then.

Chelsea – W B A 1.18 – 21.00
Latest odds: home – draw – away “We are not ready yet” – they are screaming from the Chelsea quarters. Well, they have to say that after losing their last four games, including the Community Shield final at the weekend. Will they always defeat a team like WBA? Not necessarily and who cares, with odds like 1.18 on the home win.

A bet on WBA with some kind of handicap could be a better idea in this match. I am not crazy about this WBA side. They remind me of their usual yo yo team going up and down from the Premiership. Still they will be full of energy for this premiere and one thing that Chelsea seem to miss right now is energy.

Liverpool – Arsenal 2.59 – 3.00
Latest odds: home – draw – away Have to say that I have not a clue what to expect from Liverpool in this Sunday fixture. They have not excelled in their friendlies, but they have mostly used reserves this far. They won both their Europa League games against Rabotnicky, but so what? Ngog has finally scored some goals and could be that new coach Hodgson has a ” new” player in Ngog. New boys J Cole and Jovanovic will play on Sunday, maybe C Poulsen as well, Gerrard of course, but we will probably not yet see F Torres. Why have Liverpool spent a lot of cash on a limited player like C Poulsen? I guess that he is supposed to replace Mascherano, doing the dirty work. The kind of player that Arsenal avoid recruiting.

Arsenal have impressed offensively in their pre season games. I think that they have won them all apart from the draw with Milan. I do not think that coach Wenger is too happy with his defence though. Against a team like Liverpool they have to defend better, but so far they have looked shaky in defence: Same old keepers. We have not seen anything from Fabregas and Van Persie this far, but they should be back for this fixture. Bendtner and Djorou are out of this match and A Song, Denilson and Diaby are major injury doubts. It starts now, does it not and the odds on the home look tempting (2.59) but I cannot do it. I have a hunch that Arsenal are in better form.

Manchester Utd – Newcastle 1.25 – 15.00
Strange is it not? Rooney playing for United in the Community Shield final, was it the same player as in S Africa? All of a sudden he did everything again right during the half that he played. P Scholes was excellent as well and I was happy in general that I have backed M United as league winners. They looked strong against Chelsea without working their socks off. Newcastle have not done enough in the transfer market and they look pretty average at this stage of the season. Good enough to stay up, but not much more than that. Sol Campbell, veteran defender, will not be ready for the opener. Home win.

The Championship
Derby – Cardiff 2.50 – 3.10
Latest odds: home – draw – away Picking the home win. I liked what I saw from Derby against Leeds last week. They won the match 2-1 and they absolutely deserved their three points. Best Leeds player on the day was their keeper K Schmeichel. The two Derby front runners R Hulse and K Commons were a constant threat.

Reserve striker C Porter is an injury doubt and defence man R Anderson will be missing. S Barker will come in for Anderson and P Green will be back to play.

An uninspired Cardiff side just about managed a home draw vs. a ten man Sheffield United side. I can understand that Cardiff are having initial motivation problems, as they were only 90 minutes away from a place in the Premiership. Their best player J Ledley has joined Celtic, but they have loaned both Olofinjana and J Koumas. In midweek they lost their best striker J Bothroyd and defender Matthews to injuries. McCormack, on his way to Ipswich, could replace Bothroyd. The way I see it, things look better for Derby at the moment. Home win.

Surely Norwich are a much stronger side than Scunthorpe. OK, Norwich disappointed big time in their opening game against Watford, but it was worse last season, when they lost 1-7 to Colchester in their first league game. They still got promoted, did they not? Scunthorpe will miss their suspended midfielder S Togwell. Backing Norwich away to Scunthorpe (2.75).

Millwall at home to Hull next. The odds on the home win look tasty (2.56). Hull had some luck with their goals against Swansea. Young Bostock’s goal was a screamer, but not easily repeated. Anyway I am not impressed by the present Hull squad and as the enthusiastic newcomers Millwall have hit some crazy early form, the home win could be worth backing. Millwall have played two away games and they have scored five goals. L Trotter and J Abdou are ready to play again and Millwall also welcome back their two internationals S Morrison and D Carter. Home win.

French League
Lille should win their home game against PSG (2.10). Lille have basically the same strong squad as last season. They drew their first league game, the tricky away fixture at Rennes. Both their strikers Gervinho and De Melo started on the bench. For this match Lille welcome back the previously suspended duo Cabaye and Chedjou. Full strength Lille squad in other words. Bodmer and Nene are new PSG players who were making their debuts last week, when PSG won their home fixture against St Etienne. PSG usually struggle away to Lille. Well, PSG usually disappoint, do they not? Lille then.

A second pick will be the newcomers Arles at home to Lens (3.16). Arles will have their captain Piocelle back for this match and it looks like Meriem will make his debut for the club. Lens miss S Sow, but welcome back E Chelle. You expect newcomers to have some success at the start of their campaign and I think that Arles will have a good opportunity tomorrow to pick up a three pointer. Lens rarely impress away from home. Arles to win.

8/10 on Boston Red Sox at 2.30 with Planet Pinnacle (Fixed Odds)

It was not nice soccer but Toronto’s fans could be happy. Their team did not loose at home 13 games and got bilance 9-4-0, this season 4-2-0 and score 9-2.

Houston is ideal team for Toronto to end scoreless times. Dynamo won against Miami 1-0 in the US Cup but before in 4 games they got 11 goals. This is their 4th meeting in Toronto, 1st won Toronto and 2 ended up with the draw. Dynamo won both games at home and I think Canadians are all about revenge and that’s why I go for 1 but with -1/4AH.

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Pick : 1

Masterson is 2-7, with a 5.21 ERA and is 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA in his last 3 starts as he allowed all 6 runs in the 6-4 loss at Cincinnati last Saturday. He has a 4.43 ERA at home and a 5.96 ERA during the day.

Toronto has the better pitcher here and will be looking to avoid a 4 game sweep, so expect them to lift and give some run support to Marcum to win the game

Rowland-Smith is 1-7, with a 6.18 ERA as he allowed 5 runs in the 8-3 loss at Milwaukee on Friday. He has a 8.10 ERA on the road (22 runs on 40 hits in his last 5 road starts). Like the Yankees, behind the better pitcher, also score some runs to avoid the sweep here

The teams have met 16 times since July 2009, with Washington winning on 11 occasions, and 6 of 7 games played in Washington through that span.

The Mets have won 5 of their last 16 away games as favourites, and 2 of their last 8 with Santana as a favourite away between the odds of 1.67 and 1.90, while Washington have won their last 6 home games with Hernandez starting.

Suggested bet is for 7 units on Washington at the odds of 2.20

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7/10 on Washington Nationals at 2.20 with Stan James(Fixed Odds)

The teams have met 11 times since August 2009, with Oakland winning on 7 occasions.

Oakland have won 8 of their last 30 away games against right-handers, 4 of their last 13 away games against teams with a home win/loss record below 50%, and 5 of their last 16 with Cahill starting following a game in which they scored at least 5 runs, while Baltimore have won 5 of their last 6 home games against teams with a win/loss record below 50%.

Suggested bet is for 5 units on Baltimore at the odds of 2.35

5/10 on Baltimore Orioles at 2.35 with Bet365 (Fixed Odds) ]]> http://www.8bet.com/html/36188/feed 0