Sunday Picks

Im sh*t out of luck at the moment and I apologise to anyone following my stuff. Lots of small things have gone against me lately and it really annoys me. Worse still im having amazing luck betting in play, getting everything right. A quick example of more luck, I was having trouble with one of my betting accounts yesterday, so the company in question set up a new account for me and gave me a €20 goodwill gesture, the only drawback was that it had to be used in the casino. Apart from the odd bout of blackjack im not really much for casino’s but I decided to use it anyhow. I went to the slots where I thought I was spinning for 20 cent a time, after pressing the button though I realised id messed up and played for 20 Euro instead of 20 cents. The result? I won a mini jackpot of €570. I withdrew the money straight away and thought my luck was changing for the better! Need to get my head right though and pick a few winners.

Fulham V West Brom

Fulham have one of the better home records in the premiership and look like getting their 8th home win of the season. They look way more solid at Craven Cottage and tight pitch seems to suit their style of play. They are tough to break down and only Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea have conceded fewer home goals. It’s this defensive quality that has seen them get numerous 0 – 0 draw on the road. Andy Johnson is a dangerous striker who is only feeding off scraps but has found the net out of nothing on more than one occasion.
West Brom are simply awful away and have picked up just five points and scoring a miserable six goals. Coming up against such a mean Fulham defence will be a tough assignment. Jay Simpson is back for selection which will be a boost. The baggies are bottom of the table and have the worst goal record in the league. To be quite honest it’s hard to find any positives for them in this game and even harder to see them getting anything from the game.

Verdict
West Brom are simply conceding too many goals and will find it very hard to break down the Fulham defence.
Fulham to win 1 or 2 – 0

PICK
Fulham win (1.83 @ VC) 6 points

Fulham to win to nil (2.75 @ bet365) 2 points

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Liverpool V Manchester City

Im probably going to get a lot of stick for this but im opposing Liverpool today. Im a guy who likes my stats and obviously everything points towards a home win here. Liverpool are strong at home, Man City are poor away so you are probably wondering where am I going with this.
Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso are out for Liverpool, now if you watch Liverpool enough you will know that both of these are central to the Pools attacking threat, they play in intelligent ball and Torres has scored many of his goals assisted by these two. With Man U winning yesterday there is real pressure on Liverpool to get 3 points today. But, it must be remembered that they have champions league on Wednesday against Real Madrid. Yesterday Real Madrid absolutely took Real Betis apart and were 6 – 1 up at HT before easing off in the second half. No matter what way you look at things im sure the Pool players were watching that game last night and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were not 100% focused today. Added to that they have a huge six pointer against Man U next week also to think about.
Man City have been poor away from Eastlands and this is mainly down to the fact that their big name players have failed to play to their potential. Robinho in particular has struggled but surely performing at Anfield in front of a huge TV audience will suit him today. Wright-Philips is out but Elano looks likely to play. Nigel de Jong was ineligible for the midweek Uefa cup trip to Denmark but should come straight back into the starting line-up. City have not won away in 10 games and were pretty lacklustre last time out in a 2 – 0 defeat to Pompey.

Verdict
Im not so sure that Liverpool will have this as easy as some people expect. I haven’t read anywhere that anyone has given City a chance but I think they do. Liverpool have only won 2 of their last 6 at Anfield and in that sequence have been held by Hull, West Ham and Fulham. With Gerard and Alonso out you are taking away a huge chunk of their creativity and defence splitting passes. Man City are nothing special but they have big players and should rise their game for today’s game. Lets not forget Bellamy is going back to his old club and has a point to prove. Liverpools midfield is not creative enough and I find it hard to see them getting many chances. Man City won away at Old trafford last season when nobody gave them a hope. Can they do something similar again? They will be close so small – medium stakes

PICK
Draw ( 4 @ ladbrokes) 3 points

Man City draw no bet (5 @ boylesports) 2 points