Betters Back Barca
It seems that Guardiola has been having lessons from Mancini on team motivation and how to throw in the towel publicly. It might have worked for Man City – they certainly came back with a bounce against West Brom and Norwich, hauling in 10 goals and giving them a handy 4 goals over United on goal difference.
The BBC is reporting that Pep said that Chelsea are the favourites for the Champions League following the Drogba matchwinner. They were under pressure for most of the game and it could so easily have been 0-3. With the return in Camp Nou next week, I don’t see it myself - nor do the punting public:
Chelsea 7/1, Bayern 21/5, Real Madrid 69/25 and Barca favourites at 6/5.
North West Title Decider?
The Man C – Man U derby on 30th is looking like a fence-sitter with City at 11/8 and United at 21/10. I’ve thrown in the towel for a Spurs top-4 League finish. They seem to have hit a bad patch, and though they are still at 1/2 ahead of Chelsea at 7/4 and Newcastle at 7/2, I see them fading fast. The Gunners head the odds at 1/7.
Next Season Premier Possibilities
Congratulations to Reading on their promotion. What’s the betting that they are down again next season? No one is offering odds on that yet, but Bet365 are offering 250/1 on a Newcastle for the title. That seems like a nice one!
One good thing for me is that Swansea stay up for another season. Though Cardiff City missed out on promotion, we Welshmen take our pleasure wherever we can. Ball games-wise it has been a pretty good year for us, counting in the rugby Grand Slam as well…