Some brilliant sport this weekend and a mass of markets to get your teeth in to on BETDAQ. There’s some particularly good racing at Kempton and Warwick with one or two Cheltenham clues sure to emerge. I met up with AP McCoy on Monday to watch his beloved Arsenal and he’ll be upset to miss out on this weekend but he’s healing well and will be back soon.
My local trainer, Emma Lavelle, has some good chances this weekend and I think she has a good thing at Kempton. She loves to target the novice hurdle at Warwick which Court In Motion won by half the track last year. Highland Lodge has a great chance but Ambion Wood is a massive danger as he’s getting his act together now and the Dartnall team think the world of him.
I think Captain Sunshine will win the 1.40 at Kempton. His jumping was novicey last time at Taunton but Lavelle has worked hard on that since and he has stacks of ability. Getting weight from the Henderson horse Captain Sunshine should be very hard to beat.
I’m heading to the Liberty Stadium in Swansea for what promises to be a fascinating Super Sunday with Mark Hughes’ first game in charge of QPR at high-flying Newcastle followed by Thierry Henry and Arsenal’s visit to Swansea. Hughes has quite a task on his hands with his new club in 17th place, just one point clear of the relegation zone and only 2.97 on the Daq to be relegated. QPR have not won in eight games (D2, L6) – their last win was 3-2 at Stoke on November 19th and they last went nine games without a win in the top division from October to December 1995 when they went on to be relegated. Could that be a sign?
After that game it’s then Swansea against Arsenal, which also has an excellent storyline to it with the return of Thierry Henry.
It’s incredible to think that nine ago years to the day on Sunday (January 15th, 2003) Swansea were bottom of the Football League, four points adrift of Exeter while Arsenal were top of the Premier League. Swansea are making a big impression in the Premier League and hosting Arsenal in a fantastic new stadium live on Sky Sports. What a transformation.
Swansea have been brilliant at home this season too. 17 of their 23 points have come at the Liberty Stadium and only the current top seven teams have better home records.
From Wales the team will be heading to London to prepare for the return of the Monday Night Football. I hope you can join Gary Neville and myself from 7pm on Sky Sports HD1 to review the Premier League weekend and watch an intriguing match between Wigan and Manchester City. City have won the last four meetings without conceding and are unbeaten in six, winning five. Even missing some key players, the league leaders are hard to oppose on Monday night but need to bounce back from another poor result – 0-1 against Liverpool on Wednesday night. They have now lost four of their last eight games – blip or crisis? They are out to 1.69/1.7 on Betdaq to win the league.
Before all the live games there are some intriguing fixtures on Saturday, none more enticing than Chelsea v Sunderland at Stamford Bridge. This game has so many ingredients with the two managers having differing fortunes of late. Sunderland are flying under Martin O’Neill and could be a big price at 9.4. They famously won here 3-0 in November 2010, which is a 305 chance on Betdaq this time around! However, Chelsea had won six successive home meetings (scoring 23) before the defeat last season, including a 7-2 win in January 2010.
Tottenham won impressively yet again on Wednesday night to move level on points with Manchester United and have shortened again to 8.2 on BETDAQ to win the title. On Saturday Spurs have a great opportunity to continue their roll at home to Wolves.
Finally, Manchester United play Bolton, who must be fearful after losing 5-0 at the Reebok in September, following a hat-trick from Wayne Rooney and a double for Javier Hernandez. United were 3-0 up after just 25 minutes. The champions have won the last eight meetings at Old Trafford but with the way Premier League matches have been going of late, will you be taking 1.18 on Betdaq? The Premier League roller coaster should have punters thinking twice about taking short prices at the moment. I’m expecting the unexpected. However, I do think there will be goals at Old Trafford – there hasn’t been goalless draw here between these two since February 1927!
ED’S BET:
Captain Sunshine (Kempton 1.40)
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