Aston Villa remember how to win, good news for Sheff Utd

Five stats about this weekend’s football

1. There’s no sign of any fight from the teams supposedly battling to avoid the drop. Over the last seven matches, the bottom five have produced just three wins between them - which have all come against one another (West Brom over Sunderland, Middlesbrough over Hull and Sunderland over Hull).

2. Aston Villa ended a 12-match winless streak by beating Hull last night but the sense of achievement was diminished by the fact Hull have won just two of their last 26 league games.

3. West Ham became the first team to beat Stoke at the Britannia Stadium in 2009 and joined Fulham as one of the only clubs outside the Big Four to keep a Premier League clean sheet there.

Posted: May 5th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Why Everton/Middlesboro is unlikely to feature many goals

Everton/Boro, Sunday 4pm, SetantaSports 1, Free Bets, Best Odds

Everton are unbeaten in five against Middlesbrough and have won three of the last four so the home win looks like the most likely outcome in this weekend’s FA Cup quarter-final. Boro have upset the form book in recent weeks with wins against West Ham and Liverpool while the Toffees eliminated their Merseyside rivals and Aston Villa to reach this stage. If you aren’t keen on backing a winner then allow us to present the case for there being under 2.5 goals, which is available at 3/4 on Betfair:

» Fourteen of the last fifteen encounters between these two sides have finished with two or fewer goals being scored.

» The 4-0 loss to Tottenham was Middlesbrough’s first game in eight to have featured more than two goals.

Posted: March 5th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

FC Twente could finally get a result on the road in Europe

Schuper Schteve McClaren prepares his troops to face Marseille

The second coming of Steve McClaren, who was written off as a failure and forced to work abroad, has gone from strength to strength and his Dutch side FC Twente are now unbeaten in fourteen domestic games, of which they have won ten, and stand an outside chance of winning the Eredivisie.

The one area where drastic improvement is still required is European away games, of which they have lost their last eight, and the trip to Marseille tonight offers them a good chance of doing that. The visitors can be backed at 5/1 with Sky Bet while the draw is 11/4 with Ladbrokes .

Posted: February 19th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Everton FA Cup wins against Prem teams are like buses…

Five stats about this weekend’s football

1. Everton had gone ten years without knocking out a Premier League team in the FA Cup before eliminating Liverpool and Aston Villa, two of the top three, this year. The winner of Middlesbrough and West Ham’s fifth round replay won’t be looking forward to their quarter-final visit to Goodison Park.

2. The victory also marked the end of Aston Villa’s impressive sixteen match domestic unbeaten run and was Everton’s first win in six against Martin O’Neill’s side.

Posted: February 16th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

It’s the UEFA Cup version of Champions League week six

Aston Villa and Portsmouth play without having much to gain

Aston Villa already know without doubt that they have qualified for the next stage of the UEFA Cup while Portsmouth know without doubt that they can’t qualify, meaning that they both go into their final group games with little to play for against, you’ve guessed it, teams with little to play for. Here’s our preview of tonight’s run out for the reserves:

Hamburg v Aston Villa
Both of Aston Villa and Martin Jol’s side are guaranteed a place in the next round so are just fighting it out to win the group tonight, unless Ajax beat Slavia Prague by a bigger margin than the winner of this match. At Tottenham, Jol enjoyed a six game unbeaten streak against Aston Villa, including a comeback from 4-1 down to draw 4-4 at home last season while since he has left Spurs have lost both matches against Martin O’Neill’s side, whose reserves lost at home to Zilina a fortnight ago. Hamburg have lost just once at home this season but haven’t won a home game in the UEFA Cup yet under Jol’s guidance.

Portsmouth v Heerenveen

Posted: December 17th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Are Blackburn really going to welcome Graeme Souness back with open arms?

Former boss is the 11/10 favourite to return with Ladbrokes

Paul Ince has today become the sixth Premier League manager to leave their post this season, in the process saving what was in danger of being a chronically slow news day. Here are the leading contenders to replace the Guv’nor at Ewood Park:

Graeme Souness (best price: 5/2 with Paddy Power)
Souness took the club back into the Premier League and won the League Cup during his first spell as manager between 2000 and 2004 and starts as the early favourite to regain the position after newspaper reports over the last few days linked him to the post. He walked out of the club four years ago for Newcastle after a winless start which left Rovers in the relegation zone and at the time it was rumoured that Souness had jumped before he was pushed.

Sam Allardyce (best price: 3/1 general)
In case you haven’t read a newspaper since January, Sam Allardyce is pretty interested in finding himself a job and having previously overachieved without spending much money at Bolton, he is a strong candidate. However, Blackburn opted for Ince over more experienced candidates like Allardyce and Steve McClaren in the summer so Big Sam may bear a grudge.

Alan Curbishley (best price: 10/1 with Paddy Power)

Posted: December 16th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment