The LFW resident pundits return to look ahead to a bumper weekend of Easter football action.
Another two winners for me last time out, as Chelsea did indeed beat Swansea (and beat them to nil, which was my other suggestion...) and Stoke inevitably beat hapless Newcastle. Obviously I didn’t predict the ridiculous 5-2 against Forest, and Bournemouth dropping points against Yeovil was a real LFW coupon buster in the pub — although as I type this they’ve just conceded twice in the last minute at home against ten man Sheffield Wednesday, so maybe the bubble has finally burst after a magnificent run.
NAP of the Week — Liverpool (-1) vs Norwich @ Evens
Is this the most one sided contest in history? For the last four games between them the aggregate score is 18 (EIGHTEEN!) three in Liverpool’s favour. And Suarez has scored ELEVEN of those 18! Even if Liverpool didn’t have the number of Norwich, the simple stats — Liverpool ten wins on the spin, Norwich one win in seven (against Sunderland), Norwich lowest scorers in the league, Liverpool 93 league goals and counting, means that the handicap is definitely on. Liverpool -2 is 11/5 and -3 is 6/1 — I’d probably tuck into both of those as well!
Suarez ‘fill your boots’ Special — Suarez to score at least 2 goals (5/2)
Following on from the above, Suarez lining up against the Canaries *almost* makes you feel sorry for Norwich. Almost. He has 11 in his last four against them, including those four outrageous goals against them in December. He’s 5/2 to score twice, and a fairly large 11/1 for the hat trick. Remember, BetFred do double delight hat-trick heaven on this game as well...
QPR related bet: Leicester vs QPR — Both Teams to Score @ 4/5
Tough game to call this one — Leicester, deserved champions, have taken their eye off the ball since passing the finish line, getting tonked by Brighton and then drawing with Reading, whilst QPR continue to be consistently inconsistent — the 5-2 win over Forest was preceded by limp away defeats at Blackburn and Bournemouth. So the bottom line is that we don’t know what QPR or Leicester side will turn up. The wise money may be made on the both teams to score market — Leicester have only kept one clean sheet in their last eight, and QPR with Morrison, Austin and Big Bad Bobby Z in attack can cause problems.
QPR related bet #2: Watford vs QPR — QPR to win @ Evens
The Leicester game may be tricky, but this one may be more straight-forward. It comes only 48 hours after the Leicester one, but I expect Redknapp to rotate his players — he may even give a run out for a couple of the youth team! Watford are pretty poor on the road — their recent win at Sheffield Wednesday was their first away win in 15, and QPR are second only to Leicester at home this season.
Chelsea vs Sunderland — Chelsea win to nil @ 10/11
Chelsea, the master of the dull win, have comfortably the best defence in the league, and have kept clean sheets in their last six games at Stamford Bridge. They are the only team not to lose at home in the entire football league. Sunderland not only historically do very badly against Chelsea — losing one of their 18 matches, they are also in terrible form generally — no wins in ten, eight defeats. A routine Chelsea 1-0 or 2-0 looks nailed on.
Previous winners:
Stoke vs Newcastle — Stoke win @ 11/10, 11/04/14
NAP of the week: Swansea vs Chelsea — Chelsea to win @ 5/6, 11/04/14
NAP of the Week: Newcastle vs Man U - Man U to win @ Evens, 4/4/14
Battle of Mid Table - Southampton to Beat Newcastle @ 3/4, 28/03/14
Weekly Roma win to Nil - Roma Win to Nil (vs Sassulo) @ 17/10, 28/03/14
Everton vs Swansea - Everton @ 4/6, 21/03/14
NAP: Wigan vs Watford - Wigan @ 21/20, 21/03/14
QPR related bet - QPR Win to Nil v Yeovil @ 13/10, 14/03/14
7/1 on the Away double of Liverpool and Arsenal vs Man U and Spurs, 14/03/14
QPR related bet: Birmingham vs QPR - QPR to win @ 6/4 02/03/14
NAP of the Week: West Brom vs Man Utd - Man U to win @ Evens 02/03/14
Safe as Houses German Double @ Evens, 02/03/14
Juve to Beat Milan @ Evens, 28/02/14
Bologna vs Roma - Roma win to nil @ 29/20, 21/02/14
Roma vs Sampdoria — Roma win to nil @ 13/10, 15/02/14
NAP of the Week - Bournemouth vs Leicester - Leicester @ 21/20, 31/01/14
QPR related bet: QPR vs Burnley - draw, BTTS @ 7/2, 31/01/14
Chelsea vs Man Utd - Chelsea win @ 5/6
Man City vs Cardiff - Man City to score at least three times @ 9/11
NAP of the week: Roma vs Livorno - Roma to win to nil @ 5/6 17/01/14
Swansea vs Tottenham - Spurs to win @ 7/5
Roma vs Genoa - Roma to Win to nil @ 13/10, 10/01/14
Fulham vs Sunderland - Sunderland win @ 13/5, 10/01/14
Short odds away double - Chelsea (vs Hull ) & Arsenal (vs Villa) to both win @ 5/2, 10/01/14
NAP of the Week: Charlton vs Derby - Derby to win @ 5/4, 13/12/13
Man City vs Arsenal - City to win @ 5/6, 13/12/13
Aston Villa vs Man Utd - Utd to win @ 4/5, 13/12/13
Man Utd vs Newcastle — Lay Man Utd @ 9/5, 07/12/13
NAP of the week: Newcastle to beat West Brom @ 20/19, 29/11/13
QPR vs Bournemouth — QPR to win to nil @ 11/8, 29/11/13
Norwich vs Palace — under 1.5 goals @ 9/4, 29/11/13
RM vs Valladoilid — Gareth Bale to score anytime @ Evens
Hamburg vs Hannover - Hamburg to win @ Evens, 22/11/13
NAP of the week: Ajaccio vs Marseille - Marseille to win at Evens, 22/11/13
NAP of the week: Wimbledon vs Coventry — Coventry to win @ 10/11 08/11/13
Reading v QPR Match drawn @ 12/5, 08/11/13
West Brom v Crystal Palace — WBA to win @ 3/5, 01/11/13
Fulham vs Man Utd — Man U to win & BTTS @ 5/2, 01/11/13
Man City vs Norwich — Aguero anytime @ 10/11, 01/11/13
QPR v Derby : HT Draw @ 5/4, 01/11/13
NAP of the Week - Crystal Palace vs Arsenal - Arsenal (-1) at Evens, 25/10/13
Aston Villa vs Everton - Everton to Win @ 13/10 25/10/13
Chelsea vs Man City - Aguero to score anytime @ 9/4 25/10/13
Arsenal vs Norwich - Arsenal to win & BTTS @ 2/1, 18/10/1
Crystal Palace vs Fulham - Fulham to win @ 15/8, 18/10/1
Everton vs Hull - Ht/FT Draw/Everton @ 10/3, 18/10/13
Charlie Austin anytime goal scorer v Millwall @ 11/8 18/10/13
QPR related bet: QPR to win to nil v Barnsley @ 33/20, 03/10/13
NAP of the Week - Forest to beat Huddersfield @ 5/6 — 02/08/13
NAP of the Week - Bordeaux vs Monaco - Monaco to win @ 6/4, 09/08/1
NAP of the week: Monaco to Beat Montpellier @ 4/7, 15/08/1
NAP of the week: Man City to win to nil @ 20/23 — 29/08/13
NAP of the week 2 - Man Utd vs Palace - Utd to win to nil @ 21/20 — 13/09/1
NAP of the week 3 - Sunderland vs Arsenal - Arsenal to win @ 8/11 — 13/09/13
QPR Related bet: QPR vs Birmingham - QPR win @ 3/5 — 13/09/13
Giroud and Sturridge to score anytime double 6/1 — 13/09/13
QPR to win at Yeovil @ 11/13 — 20/09/13
NAP of the week — Blackpool vs Leicester — BTTS @ 7/9 — 20/09/13
NAP of the Week - Liverpool to beat Sunderland @ 7/10 — 27/09/13
Roma vs Bologna - Roma win to Nil @ 7/5 — 27/09/13
Elsewhere there are a mountain of meaningful fixtures throughout the country over the weekend but most eyes will be on Carrow Road on Sunday. Unbelievably, 888Sport and Unibet seem to have not noticed the amount of penalties Liverpool have been scoring recently and you can back Liverpool to score a penalty in this game at 4/1. Considering they have scored nine penalties in their last sixteen games, and although Norwich are not a team who concede many penalties, in this instance it is well worth an interest against a Canaries side who will be defending for their lives.
Bet of Weekend: Norwich v Liverpool - Liverpool to score a penalty - 4/1 (888Sport/Unibet)
Previous Winners:
Ravel Morrison to score at anytime - 12/5 (Paddy Power) 14/03/14
Preston to Beat Walsall - 11/10 Betvictor 28/02/14
Dumbarton to win at Alloa, 11/4 08/02/14
Stoke v Liverpool - Suarez to score anytime and Liverpool to win - 7/5 Bwin, 10/01/14
Carlisle v Tranmere - Carlisle to win 6/5, 13/12/13
Swindon v Carlisle - Sean O Hanlon - 16/1 Anytime (Coral/Hills) 29/11/13
Doncaster v QPR - QPR to score Under 1.5 Goals @10/11 (Coral), 29/11/13
Cardiff or Draw @11/8 (general), 22/11/13
Reading v QPR Draw - 12/5 (Bet365/Betfred) 08/11/13
Steven Caulker to score Cardiff v Swansea 15/1 888Sport, 01/11/13
Burnley QPR HT 0-0 7/4 and Draw at HT 11/10., 25/10/13
Oldham to beat Swindon - 2/1 (BetVictor), 25/10/13
Bet of the weekend - Charlie Austin to score anytime v Barnsley Evens 03/10/13
Benteke to score at any time v Arsenal at 11/4 (Coral/Skybet), 17/08/13
Nile Ranger First Goalscorer Each Way 11/2 (Paady Power/Skybet), 28/08/13
QPR to score first v Leeds at Even money (Bwin/Betfair), 28/08/13
Joey Barton to score at any time vs Middlesbrough 4/1 (William Hill, Paddy Power, Betfred, Skybet), 27/09/13
The Twitter @loftforwords, @andy_hillman