The Weekends Match Previews & Betting

Valencia v Barcelona This is an interesting game with Valencia facing a Barcelona side they haven’t beaten in 11 league games,  that would normally make this an easy bet but Barcelona are not good travellers to the Mestalla stadium, having won only 2 out of their last 8 games. Valencia have won five and lost three of their last eight league games but all three of those defeats came on home soil. Valencia are currently in real financial trouble, having overextended themselves trying to fund a new stadium, as a result the club has been taken over by the regions governing body and a number of players are likely to be feeling unsure about their future. Despite all the speculation, David Villa did not make a move away on transfer deadline day and will be available to face his old club. We had a chat to Daniel Watt about this game and he pointed us in the direction of a couple of interesting bets, Barça -1.5 which is around 2.39 with Pinnacle and Over 3.5 goals which is sitting at an average odds of 2.07. AC Milan v Udinese This game will generate a lot of interest just because of the signing of mercurial striker Mario Balotelli.  He is likely to make his game in this debut having impressed in a friendly played on Thursday. AC Milan really need to start winning matches like this one if they are to have any hope of reaching the Champions League places, they are currently sitting in fifth. Udinese won the reverse fixture 2-1 and with Milan having only beaten Udinese twice in their last 8 league games, the boys from Udine will feel confident of taking some points here. We have contrasting advice on this one, reflecting the difficulty of selection. Anton Ebdon has gone for over 2.5 goals and Udinese +1, Daniel Watt has gone for AC Milan -1 and under 2.5 goals. We’ll take a back seat on this one and just enjoy the spectacle. Manchester City v Liverpool The other side affected by the Balotelli transfer takes on the reds of Liverpool in Sundays game. Whilst the departure of Mario Balotelli will certainly make life a little less “interesting”, it could help unite the squad as there was a feeling that the Italian had had more than his fair share of chances. At the time of recording the video, we didn’t know if any major reinforcements were going to be made to City’s lineup, in the end, no major business was done and the only player likely to be making a debut here will be in the red shirts, the signing of Coutinho from Inter Milan giving Brendan Rodgers another midfield option. Liverpool are currently a very hard team to predict, managing only a draw after being two goals ahead against Arsenal, losing to Oldham in the Cup but putting Norwich to the sword quite effectively a while back. Sturridge and Suarez look an interesting combination and could stretch the normally reliable City defence. City’s strong form at the Etihad stadium should give them an advantage and Anton Ebdon expects them to take full advantage. Odds for a City win are around the 1.8 mark, another betting option is the “Both Teams To Score” market which is slightly lower but might be worth keeping an eye on in case the odds move out a little.]]>