FA Cup Odds Make Manchester Clubs Favourites Ahead Of Quarter Finals

 Subscribe in a reader

The FA Cup Quarter Finals take place this weekend and there look to be some interesting ties, the highlight of which is no doubt the meeting of the current top two sides in the Premiership, Manchester United and Arsenal. That is not the only game to look forward to in Manchester, the only remaining Championship side left in the competition, Reading, take on Man City on Sunday.

The early kick off on Saturday sees Carling Cup winners Birmingham return to cup action against Bolton. Birmingham slipped into the bottom three last week but they have largely been solid at home, losing just over a quarter of their games at St Andrews. Bolton have struggled away from home in the league but seem to manage ok in the FA Cup, their last two wins in the competition have come on the road. This should be a very tight game and a draw might be the best call at around 23/10.

The evening game on Saturday is the game that is most likely to involve the winners of the competition. FA Cup favourites Man Utd, who are 12/5 to go all the way this year, play host to Arsenal who are rated at 7/2 with the bookies to win the FA Cup. If they can beat Man Utd they would surely become the favourites but that is a tough task at Old Trafford, where Man Utd have dropped just two points in the league all season. Despite two recent losses United are fancied to win the match at just over even money.

The first of the Sunday matches is Stoke versus West Ham and this looks possibly the most open of all the Quarter Finals. Stoke are generally very good at home but they have struggled for results recently, winning just once in six league matches. West Ham meanwhile are starting to pick up wins and with both sides looking to have good claims the draw is probably the best option at 12/5. The other Sunday game will see Man City take on Reading. City go into this game as strong favourites at just 2/5, Reading have proved themselves a tough team to beat in the competition but their great run is likely to come to an end.

For up to the second odds and tips on value bets, check out the football pages on Valuechecker.co.uk.

ATP World Tour Finals – Roger Federer defeats Rafael Nadal in Championship Game

by Stephen Lars on Nov.30, 2010, under Sports News, Tennis

Roger Federer has been working his way around this very complicated season. So perhaps this end of season win in the O2 Arena comes certainly as a big relief for the talented athlete. The season has been filled with ups and downs for the Swiss Maestro. He was brilliant at the Australian Open but things got very complicated in the other three Grand Slams. Federer was sent off before the French Open semifinals. Federer has always struggled in the clay courts of Roland Garros. What the fast paced courts of the Meadowlands in New York in the US Open is to Rafael Nadal, the clay courts in Paris where to Federer.

Federer then fell very early, in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. He had been the most prolific and succesful player in the grass courts of Wimbledon during the last decade. And yet this year he had failed to make it into the quarterfinals.

In the US Open, Federer played one of the most intense games ever against Novak Djokovik in the semifinals. He really couldn’t overcome the pressure, and saw how his early exit in the US Open gave Rafa Nadal his Career Grand Slam and assured the Spaniard his position atop the ATP professional rankings.

Federer was not capable of making it back to his best shape. He went on to hire a new coach and for a moment gave signs of a very significant improvement. But still it was not enough for the King of the Slams to get as competitive as the biggest tournaments required him to.

But on this game, it all went for Federer. Rafa was really not able to play a very strong match. Sure, he managed to push the game into a 3 set game, but as the game kept evolving, little by little, it seemed as if Rafa was growing tired by the minute. This was the 22nd match between the two players. Still, Federer proved that he was the strongest player in London. With a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, Federer won his 5th World Tour Finals on Sunday and kept on his dominance on this Round Robin, top 8 ranked player in the world, season finale championship. So, yes, not a bad ending for Federer.

Nadal had never made it into the finals of this tournament. But he had to pay his duties to get here. Nadal spent over three-hours to bring down Andy Murray and that was a bit too much to deal with, 24 hours before playing no other the Federer on the final. We have to be since with you guys here. It really seemed that at the end, Nadal just gave up a little. He knew that no matter whether he lost or win this game, he was going to walk his way into the next season sitting atop of the ATP rankings.

Nadal also knew that he had had one of the most extraordinary years any professional tennis player has ever had or even dreamed to have. Sure, Roger’s win would cut down Nadal and Federer’s personal record down to 14-8 for Nadal. But it didn’t matter much. Federer was just outstanding. He was almost flawless, he hit 92 percent of his first served plays and lost only 13 points on serve in the entire match.

That’s it for the season. It has been a great year in the ATP circuit. There has been room for some exciting upsets and many record breaking moments. But that’s it. We might have a new king. Its now a matter of time to see if Federer is going to make a comeback and reclaim what is his.

ATP Tennis – Novak Djokovic defeats Thomas Berdych at ATP World Tour Finals

by Stephen Lars on Nov.23, 2010, under Sports News, Tennis

Novak Djokovic had a sore spot ever since he fell to Czech Thomas Berdych during the Wimbledon semifinals in July. But it is now payback time, as the talented Djokovic brought in his A-game to the 02 Arena in London in his first match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals round-robin stage to defeat Berdych in a 6-3, 6-3 matchup.

Djokovic knows his way around this tournament. He had a great tournament during the 2008 season when we went all the way to capture the season finale at Shanghai. In the 2008 final Djokovic went face to face with Nikolay Davydenko and won 6-1, 7-5. The following year, when the tournament made its move from Shanghai to London, Davydenko was able to step up and win the tournament playing the final against Argentine Juan Martín del Potro by 6-3, 6-4.

The ATP World Tour Final is certainly a very different tournament. Contrary to most any other professional ATP sanctioned tournament, the World Tour is not played based on a single elimination knockout stage. The World Tour Finals only calls in the 8 best ranked players at the end of the year.

These eight players are then divided into four players groups. Players in group A and Group B take on a round-robin first stage where they play 3 matches against the other contenders in their group. The two best record holders in each group then make it to the next phase of the Barclays World Tour and into the semifinals. The Winners are awarded up to 1500 ranking points and there is over a 4.5$ million purse.

Djokovic has been very successful this year over hard court surfaces in the ATP circuit. This is his 40th win in hard courts. He has only fallen 10 times in the fast paced hard courts this season. And that surely was evident in the court. Djokovic clearly dominated the 25-year-old Czech throughout the whole match. Berdych committed 19 unforced errors, and from early in the first set, it was evident that he was in trouble. Berdych suffered two double faults in the opening game. From there on there was very little hope for Berdych.

Djokovic arrives to the 02 arena as the No. 3 seed in the tournament. He is really experiencing one heck of a season. He has won 26 of his last 33 games and it really seems as if he might just be able to keep on crunching his opponents.

If you are looking for some wagering on Tennis action, then you probably don’t want to miss on the action on November 23rd. Roger Federer will play Andy Murray while  Robin Soderling will take on David Ferrer. As of press time, Federer is a favorite to win at ML-130 with a comeback of ML