Thursday 30-08-2012

There are 3 football matches live on TV tonight:-

• ·         Liverpool Vs Hearts

• ·         Newcastle Vs Atromitos

• ·         Northampton Vs Wolves

The draw odds for the Liverpool match are very high, making the ltd strategy impossible. Even though Liverpool are going through a transition period and will make wholesale changes, I can’t see them losing this one. The only way I will get involved in this game is if Hearts score first, or it is 0-0 late in the match; which I doubt.

The other two matches are possible trading opportunities.

Newcastle are playing Greek outfit Atromitos. The 1^st leg of this Europa league clash finished 1-1. Atromitos have only played one match of their domestic campaign so far and finished 4^th last season.  Last season away from home, in the league, they won 4, drew 7 and lost 4. They scored 15 goals in 15 matches and conceded 18 goals. This suggests that they are a decent defensive outfit that don’t score many goals on their away travels. However, the premiership has far more quality than the Greek league. 

Newcastle, last season, had a great campaign and almost finished 4^th. This season they have played two matches, winning 1 and losing 1; the loss was against Chelsea away and the win was against Spurs at home. Even, if Newcastle field a weaken team tonight, they should still have too much quality for Atromitos. The draw odds are just below 5, so I will look to lay the draw from the start. I was also thinking about laying over 2.5 goals for the first 15mins as Atromitos do look well organised. However, with the fast pace of the premiership and the Newcastle crowd, I don’t think I will risk it.

The other live game is a capital one cup match (Carling Cup) with Northampton taking on Wolves.

This season Northampton are currently 9^th in the league after three matches. They have won 1 and drew 2 of their matches and scored 5 goals and conceded 4. Last season, Northampton shipped 79 goals and at home they only won 6 of their 23 matches.

This season Wolves are currently 11^th in the championship after three matches. They have won 1, drawn 1 and lost 1 and scored 4 goals and conceded 3. Last season they were terrible and finished bottom of the Premiership conceding 82 goals. Away from home they only managed 2 wins.

Wolves sold Jarvis and Fletcher this week, two of their best players. However; they still have some good players and if they don’t underestimate Northampton by fielding a poor team, they should have enough quality to get the win. The draw odds are 3.85 and I will be checking for team news before looking to lay the draw in this one to.