Why Manchester City won’t win the worst televised match of the season

Bolton/ Manchester City, 4pm, Sky Sports 1, Free £10 bet

Last Sunday the Premier League put on a brilliant show: Liverpool ended Chelsea’s 86 match unbeaten home run, Tottenham picked up their first win of the season, Robinho scored three fantastic goals and Emmanuel Adebayor came off the bench to single-handedly beat West Ham. How do you follow that? Apparently by making Bolton versus Manchester City, a tie that has finished goalless for two consecutive seasons, the only game on the box. Here’s why Sky have made a bad decision and City won’t win:

Five reasons why Manchester City won’t win at the Reebok

1. Two wins against Sunderland aside, Manchester City haven’t won a domestic away game since beating the champions Manchester United at Old Trafford in February.

2. The Citizens haven’t won or even scored at the Reebok in the league in the last three seasons, going five hours and eight minutes without a goal.

3. Mark Hughes’ side have kept just one clean sheet in their last ten domestic away games.

4. Manchester City

Posted: October 31st, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Why Hamilton won’t win in Brazil but will be crowned champion

Brazilian Grand Prix, 5pm, ITV1, £30 of free bets

The big question in Brazil is what will Lewis Hamilton do if he finds himself behind Felipe Massa in Brazil: sit back and accept being second-best for a day or make a major error chasing victory and throw away the Drivers Championship once again? Here’s why the Brit won’t win at Interlagos but will still win the Championship:

Why Hamilton won’t win the race…

» Hamilton has followed just one of his last seven race wins with victory in the following Grand Prix.

» More worryingly, only one of the last six have been followed by a podium finish.

» There have only ever been three British victories at Interlagos – the last of which came in 2001. In comparison there have been six occasions where a Brazilian has taken the chequered flag.

Posted: October 31st, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Why KP could bring home the Ashes

England’s new captain could lead them to glory

It’s time to banish pessimism from the room and welcome his arch enemy optimism back to the table because Kevin Pietersen won his first test match as England captain. Of course, South Africa had nothing to play for because they’d already won the series but let’s just ignore that and drink in the good energy. Here’s why you should bet on England to win the Ashes:

» Sticking with Michael Vaughan would have been a bad decision - only twice since 1945 has anyone captained England to more than one Ashes victory.

» And the four men to captain England in more than one Ashes series since Mike Brearley’s third victory in 1981 have all lost their second series.

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» chickendinner superfact: England have won back-to-back home Ashes series on three occasions since 1945. On two of those occasions they switched captains between the two successes.

Posted: October 30th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Why the Stanford Superstars will claim the money

Kevin Pietersen and co will miss out on a big payday

The England players are all singing from the same hymn sheet, promising their adoring public that they would much rather win the Ashes than beat the Stanford Superstars and claim a million dollars each. But that selfless approach could prove costly when they collide with the West Indies’ Twenty20 stars in Antigua next month. Here’s why England will miss out on the jackpot:

» After winning just one of their first five games, against England at the Oval incidentally, the West Indies have won two of their three Twenty20 games over the last year.

» Last December they were victorious in South Africa against a side that had won six of its previous seven contests and in June they triumphed by seven wickets over an Australia team that had won five of its last eight.

» The West Indies win percentage in Twenty20 action (when counting ties as halves) stands at 43.75 per cent, marginally better than England’s 42.85 per cent success rate.

» Their last two wins came against countries with superior Twenty20 win records while England’s last three came against a New Zealand side who are weaker. Prior to those games, England had a woeful 27.27% win percentage.

» In his two previous appearances against the West Indies in Twenty20 action, England captain Kevin Pietersen averaged just 17.5 runs compared to his overall Twenty20 average of 25.93.

» Pietersen has been one of England’s two top run scorers in four of their last five Twenty20 internationals so if he fails to deliver against the West Indies again, the visitors are in trouble.

» West Indies captain Chris Gayle has produced excellent batting performances in his most recent contests against England in test (52 runs), one day (82 runs) and Twenty20 cricket (61 runs).

» Dwayne Bravo has been ruled out for the Superstars with an ankle injury. This is good news though because he took just one run from two clashes with England last summer.

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Posted: October 30th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Adams favourite to succeed Redknapp at Portsmouth

Harry Redknapp has abandoned what he considers a sinking ship to board one where the only way is up, which leaves Portsmouth looking for a new manager. Last time Redknapp left they got it all horribly wrong, appointing first Velimir Zajec then Alain Perrin. Luckily for them, Milan Mandaric is no longer in charge of recruiting but an apparent lack of money may hinder the search. Here are the main contenders:

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Tony Adams
The former Arsenal defender has built a good reputation as an assistant at Portsmouth after flopping in his first spell as a manager with Wycombe but it may be too soon for him to step up from being a number two to taking charge. If Portsmouth are as desperate to cut costs as is claimed, they may gamble on Adams as a cheaper option.

Sam Allardyce
“Sources close to Sam Allardyce” are quick to confirm his interest in any Premier League vacancy but despite his success at Bolton, his reputation for long ball football puts off many suitors. He has proven capable of achieving success on a shoestring in the past which counts in his favour but may not prove a popular choice with the fans.

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Posted: October 22nd, 2008 by admin | 1 Comment

Five reasons why Kinnear will finally taste victory

West Brom picked up their only away win of the season in the North East last month against boss Tony Mowbray’s old club Middlesbrough but it’s unlikely they’ll make it a double tonight. Here are five reasons why Kinnear will finally pick up his first win:

For Newcastle’s current form and first goalscorer stats, go to chickendinner’s Newcastle stats centre

For West Brom’s current form and first goalscorer stats, go to chickendinner’s West Brom stats centre

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Posted: October 21st, 2008 by admin | Add Comment