After an international induced Premier League hiatus, England’s top tier returns with some standout games for spread punters to look forward to, featuring mouth-watering ties between North London and Manchester’s finest.
As Tottenham Hotspur host Manchester United and Arsenal make the opposite journey to face Manchester City at Eastlands, one side from each game goes into the weekend with a 100% winning start – but probably not the two teams that most spread bettors would have anticipated. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger have both tasted defeat this season and will be anxious to take points from teams high on confidence and determined to gatecrash the Big Four.
Tottenham v Manchester United
Spread punters will be aware that The Red Devils very much have the upper hand over Spurs having lost to them just once since the turn of the century (as a result United have been priced at 13/10 for an away win by Blue SQ betting). This sole defeat came 20 games ago at White Hart Lane in May 2001 when United had already long-since been crowned champions.
Spurs fans are used to a never-ending cycle of promising and hope-fuelled pre-seasons followed by disappointment when it comes to the real thing, but after their best-ever Premier League start, spread buyers of their win index might feel that they have a chance of beating one of their bogey teams.
After spending a week together with the national side, United and Spurs’ seven-strong combined contingent will put England friendships to one side. Much debate surrounds Fabio Capello’s frontmen and the televised clash will pit Wayne Rooney against Jermain Defoe and buyers of both men’s goals in this game will notice that they are joint-top Premier League scorers.
Manchester City v Arsenal
Mark Hughes’ City side were the talk of the summer, spending money like it was going out of fashion; forgetting that for most it already had. The Citizens will be full of confidence after a maximum return in August, but the three teams they have beaten are lodged in the lower-half of the table, and two of them, Bolton and Portsmouth, currently occupy bottom-three places.
Spread sellers of City’s goals will know that they have averaged 1.5 goals so far this season from four games in all competitions, while buyers of Arsenal’s team goals will be full of hope following a mean of 3.2 from their five. The spotlight will inevitably be cast on Emanuel Adebayor and Wenger’s boys will be wary of their former striker – as will sellers of the tall Togoan’s golden boot points with Sporting Index. He has scored in all three Premier League outing so far.
Historically, it’s a game buyers of the Gunners’ win index will know that they have dominated having won eight of the last ten when visiting the Blues. Interestingly in this same period there have been no draws which will be of interest to sellers of either side’s win index.
With both of these games on Saturday afternoon, the big game on Sunday is the lunchtime kick-off at St Andrews where Birmingham play host to Aston Villa in one of the fiercest derbies in the country. As the passion transfers from the terraces to the pitch, spread punters have seen results traded in this game as often as insults and dodgy tackles. In the last ten encounters cautions have been brandished at a rate of 4.2 per game – a statistic that may give confidence to spread buyers in the bookings market.
You can check out all of our Premier League predictions on this week’s Soccerlens Podcast before making your picks on this weekend’s Premier League games with Sporting Index – and winning a free £200 bet!
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