The form side of the Football League continue their run

Five stats about last night’s Football League action

1. While Wolves, Leicester and Wycombe, the teams who led the three divisions at Christmas, have all endured blips since, the team with the best form in the Football League were bottom of the Championship on December 25. Doncaster won just four of their first 24 games in the division but since Yuletide have won seven and drawn one of their eight league games. That run has seen them climb to 15th, where they are eight points clear of the relegation zone.

2. Of course Leicester’s blip has been very minor, with the Foxes still sixteen points clear of Peterborough in third despite three successive draws. Nigel Pearson’s side endured a trio of ties earlier this season before losing away to Brighton which bodes well for in-form Bristol Rovers, who the league leaders visit on Saturday.

Posted: February 18th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

IG Sport offer advice for betting on the Superbowl

The spread betting firm think the New York Giants offer value

Our friends at IG Sport have kindly previewed the spread betting markets on this year’s Superbowl. Here’s what they had to say:

““It is a truth universally acknowledged that any Premiership team bottom at Christmas will be relegated”!  Apart from West Brom in 2004 of course! “Okay, okay, it is however a truth universally acknowledged that when Ian Rush scored for Liverpool they never lost a match”!  Except against Arsenal in the 1987 Littlewoods Cup final.  “Okay, okay, however it is a truth universally acknowledged and backed up by the facts that any NFL team to win a match at Wembley goes on to win the Superbowl in the same season!

Posted: January 8th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Girls Aloud 2/1 to be the first band to break-up next year

Paddy Power expect reality TV’s most successful group to split

The period between Christmas and the new year sees novelty betting become more prominent as you can put money on anything from snow on Christmas Day to which celebrity couple will announce they’re having a baby first.

One of the markets being offered by Paddy Power is on which pop group will break-up first next year and Girls Aloud are the 2/1 favourites to go their separate ways. For a long time the girl band have been rumoured to be on the verge of a split and there are always murmurings off arguments but the fact they are still going strong suggests it could all be over-exaggerated.

The other contenders are McFly at 9/4, Sugababes at 7/2, Westlife at 6/1, the recently reformed Boyzone at 8/1, Take That at 14/1, U2 at 25/1 and Oasis at 33/1.

Posted: December 22nd, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Why West Brom can still be confident of staying up

Five stats about this weekend’s football

1. Manchester City fans still shouldn’t be suffer too many sleepless nights worrying about relegation. In each of the last three seasons, the team 18th at Christmas - Portsmouth, West Ham and Sunderland - have survived.

2. Could this be the best Premier League season yet? At this point last year there were 36 points separating first and last, compared to 24 this year and there were 15 points between eighth and eighteenth, compared to six this season.

Posted: December 22nd, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment