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

Keane emerges as a contender to take charge of Portsmouth

Former Sunderland boss is priced as low as 4/1 with Bet365

Roy Keane has overtaken Alan Curbishley to become the third favourite to become Portsmouth’s third manager of the season.

Avram Grant and Sven-Goran Eriksson still head the betting but the Irishman has gone from not having much involvement in the market before today to being priced between 4/1 and 5/1 with most bookmakers.

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

Guus Hiddink is the favourite once more for the Chelsea job

Click here for all the latest odds on who will succeed Scolari

Anyone who followed chickendinner’s coverage of the next Chelsea manager market in the summer will remember how volatile it is and that about a dozen different men spent time as favourite before Luiz Felipe Scolari was appointed. This time round it’s no different.

Guus Hiddink and Avram Grant started as joint 2/1 favourites and since then Sven-Goran Eriksson’s odds were briefly suspended, Gianfranco Zola closed as favourite last night and Frank Rijkaard emerged as the frontrunner early this morning. However, Hiddink has now re-emerged as favourite closely followed by Grant after claims from Sky Sports that Chelsea will decide between one of them in the next 24 hours.

Posted: February 10th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Portsmouth are expected to choose Curbishley or Grant

There are two clear leaders in the races to succeed Tony Adams

(Photo Credit: Chris Ison, PA)

Alan Curbishley and Avram Grant got off on the wrong foot last season when the former West Ham boss said that Manchester United deserved the title more than Chelsea. Now they will lock horns again after being installed as the clear frontrunners to succeed Tony Adams at Portsmouth:

Avram Grant (4/7 with Paddy Power)
Bizarrely, the best job offer a manager who came within a John Terry slip-up of winning the Champions League last season is now offered is at a team locked in a relegation battle after selling two of their star players. However, Grant has made it clear he has unfinished business in England and he has previous with Portsmouth after spending a season there as a technical director before moving to Chelsea.

Alan Curbishley (6/1 with Sky Bet)
In many ways Curbishley seems like the perfect fit at Portsmouth, considering the way he saved West Ham from relegation and solidified their position in the Premier League. But Curbs quit there because George McCartney was sold without his agreement so the sale of Jermain Defoe might not have sat too well with him. Portsmouth might also feel awkward appointing Curbishley now after threatening legal action last week against a newspaper who claimed he was being sounded out about the job while Adams was still in charge.

Posted: February 9th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Mini-Me is the favourite to win Celebrity Big Brother

Paddy Power price Austin Powers actor Verne Troyer at 3/1

Verne Troyer, who plays Mini-Me in Austin Powers, has been installed by Paddy Power as the 3/1 favourite to win the sixth series of Celebrity Big Brother, which kicks off tonight.

Close behind him in the betting is former A1 singer Ben Adams, who looks a strong contender considering fellow former boyband hunk Mark Owen was victorious in series two. However, it often takes a few episodes to identify whether male popstars can challenge or whether they are going to be peripheral figures, in which case they usually avoid the first few evictions.

Troyer and Adams are a long way ahead of 1990s rapper Coolio and former Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton, both of whom are 8/1. All of the other women are 12/1 or higher as men tend to be favoured by voters. The first three series were all won by men (Jack Dee, Mark Owen and Bez) before Chantelle won series four moreso because she wasn’t a celebrity than because she was a woman then Shilpa Shetty won the most recent series after all the controversy. Four of the five runners-up have also been men.

A full list of housemates, the reason you should be in awe of them and their Paddy Power odds can be found after the jump:

Posted: January 2nd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Six reasons why Manchester United won’t win at Parkhead

Celtic/ Manchester United, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 2, Best odds

Celtic boss Gordon Strachan has always been an admirer of Wayne Rooney and once quipped: “It’s an incredible rise to stardom. At 17 you’re more likely to get a call from Michael Jackson than Sven Goran Eriksson.” Tonight though, much like two years ago, Rooney and co are unlikely to leave Glasgow with three points. Here’s why:

1. Celtic have only ever lost one home Champions League group game – when they were beaten 3-2 by Barcelona in September 2004.

2. Famous scalps that Celtic have claimed during that run include Lyon, Juventus, AC Milan and Manchester United.

3. The home side have won all three previous clashes between Celtic and United in the Champions League.

4. Gordon Strachan has been victorious in his last two home games against former boss Sir Alex Ferguson, firstly in his final season at Southampton then two seasons ago with Celtic.

Posted: November 5th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment