Portugal and Argentina continue to struggle, Peter Crouch maintains his record

Five stats about this week’s internationals

1. Peter Crouch wasn’t too impressive last night but maintained his incredible international goal-to-start record, with 14 goals in his last 14 starts.

2. England’s 21-point haul from their first seven qualifiers is a drastic improvement on 14 from their first seven in the Euro 2008 campaign, although they did have 19 at this stage under Sven-Goran Eriksson in qualification for the last World Cup.

3. Anyone who thought Portugal had turned the corner with their last-gasp 2-1 win over Albania was proved wrong last night when they drew 0-0 away to Estonia in a friendly. That result was particularly worrying as they were actually performing fairly well in friendlies prior to that, winning four of their previous five.

Posted: June 11th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Bruno Alves loses his place on our Christmas card list

Porto captain ruins our 50/1 treble with a 93rd minute winner

When it comes to multiples betting, chickendinner is the ultimate pessimist, always wary of a late twist no matter how well everything appears to be going.

On Saturday however, even we started to believe our 50/1 treble of World Cup Qualifying draws had come up trumps. First Bulgaria and Ireland shared the spoils and shortly after Luka Modric equalised for Croatia to earn them a 2-2 home draw with Ukraine.

We were left anxiously waiting the final whistle in Albania’s clash with Portugal and as the score had stayed 1-1 from the 29th minute all the way through to the end of normal time, it really looked as if our unlikely treble was about to deliver a big profit. Unfortunately, Porto defender Bruno Alves popped up with a header in the 93rd minute to ruin our weekend.

Posted: June 8th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 1 Comment

chickendinner go fishing for World Cup qualifying draws

Ireland, Portugal and Croatia are 50/1 to all draw with Bet365

England’s trip to Kazakhstan looks almost certain to end in an away win - England have won all five of their qualifiers, they’ve lost their last four - so we’ve diverted our attention elsewhere. Identifying multiple draws is a tough task but the rewards can be spectacular. There are three games where we think the spoils are there for the sharing and should all three miraculously come in, you will win £50.97 for a pound stake on Bet365:

Albania v Portugal (7/2): Portugal drew with Albania at home and have won none of their last four qualifiers, drawing three. They do have Luis Boa Morte back though!

Bulgaria v Ireland (7/3): Ireland have drawn their last two away qualifiers and drew at home to Bulgaria. The hosts have drawn four of their five.

Croatia v Ukraine (5/2): This one is a long shot because the only group game these sides have drawn so far came against each other in Kharkiv but neither of them have lost to anyone other than England.

Click here for a £200 Free Bet Basket when opening a Bet365 account

Posted: June 6th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 1 Comment

Feeling patriotic? Back both English sides at almost 5/2!

Porto/Man Utd, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 2, Free Bets, Best Odds
Arsenal/Villarreal, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 3, Free Bets, Best Odds

There isn’t too much value to be found if you fancy backing the English teams to do well tonight but the best price we have found is on a Manchester United/Arsenal win double, where Paddy Power will pay out £33.73 on a £10 stake. Here’s why that could be a worthwhile bet:

English domination
It’s been almost two years since an English side were knocked out of the Champions League by foreign opposition.

Arsenal’s home comforts
The Gunners haven’t lost a European home match against foreign opposition since September 2003, when they lost their opening group game 3-1 against Inter Milan. Arsenal have conceded just one goal in ten home matches and have won their last four.

Villarreal are struggling
As well as being without a win in three games, the Yellow Submarine have won just one of their last ten away games, losing six times over that period. That run started with a 2-0 loss to Celtic, who finished bottom of their Champions League group.

Man Utd did similar last year

Posted: April 15th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Portugal’s qualification bid suffers yet another setback

Carlos Queiroz’s side could trail by seven points on Wednesday

There is now a distinct possibility that the reigning world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo will not be in South Africa next summer after Portugal drew 0-0 at home to Sweden.

Carlos Queiroz’s side have won just one of their first five qualifiers and find themselves four points behind Denmark and Hungary in Group 1 and that margin is likely to widen on Wednesday when they host Albania and Malta respectively, while Portugal aren’t in action.

Posted: March 30th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Why Portugal might not win a must-win clash with Sweden

A preview of chickendinner’s favourite match of the week

Carlos Queiroz’s first term in charge of the Portuguese national team was short-lived after he failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup and without drastic improvement they could miss out on South Africa too.

Portugal are generally 8/13 for tomorrow’s home clash with Sweden and that appears far too short when bringing form into the equation. The hosts have won just one of their last six competitive games and that came away to Malta.

Posted: March 27th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment