A few nights ago, I won Hyperion’s first ever poker night, beating off some stiff competition. With a small portion of my winnings, I decided to buy a Racing Post yesterday morning, enticed by their pullout on the new football season. This got me very excited, and I have decided to follow in their footsteps, and post my favourites for the football leagues this season.
Premiership – I have already mentioned this in the last post, but I will be backing Chelsea at 2.8. The odds have drifted slightly, so jump on this. Have Chelsea significantly improved their squad – no. Have Man Utd, Liverpool, or Arsenal significantly improved their squad – not really. Look at the number of goals Chelsea scored last season, and the fact is, the players that left scored very little of these. Ballack scored 4 league goals, Cole 2 – I’m sure Yossi will be able to cope with this burden. What about Manchester United – I have been very surprised by the hype surrounding new signing Hernandez. 26 goals, in 4 seasons, in Mexico – not much to shout home about. He scored a good goal against France in the world cup, but we will wait to see how he fares. Arsenal have lost strong players, but bought strong players. I expect them to do as well as last season, but still see them as too inexperienced, and too weak in terms of player muscle. Liverpool I think will do well with Roy at the helm – bring a British core back to the team, as opposed to a Spanish core in a British league. However this transition may take a couple of seasons.
Championship – My pick here is Forest. Did very well last season, if they can improve their away form they will be right up there. As also mentioned before, I quite fancy Norwich. 2 promotions in a row is quite a formidable feat, however I think they have a real chance of making the playoffs. I have refrained from naming companies in this blog so far, as no money is coming my way from affiliation. However a certain sponsor of Forest is offering a great bet – back Forest to win the Championship, and if they fail to win but finish in the top six, your stake is refunded. Load on at 10.0! Has to be my nap in this post, as it’s a win-win situation.
League One – It’s hard to look past Southampton in my opinion. After a year of consolidation, they look on track to make it a quick return to the championship. However, the odds are nothing to shout home about at 3.1, so my outsider for the season is Colchester at 55.0. They will be pushing for playoffs at least, and potentially one to lay off in the new year.
League Two – I think by now you can see that my knowledge lies in the higher leagues. However the price on Wycombe looks good at 10.0, with a few loan signings they should have a strong squad, and be there or there abouts in May.
There you have it – the first lot of many more tips to ‘load onto’ throughout the season. If you have read this far, I have backed a double of Norwich to beat Watford, and Reading to beat Scunthorpe at the weekend at 2.8. However I’ve approached this with a small stake mentality, not much form to read at present. I wish you a good weekend of football betting.
James Faux, Hyperion Gaming
