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Disappointing that Telford couldn't get the win last week, but at the end of the day I am confident it was the right bet to have and it was just one of those results which defies logic and goes against us. If Blyth had scored an injury time penalty then we would have been in profit for the day as well despite the max bet losing. At the moment I am just putting the one bet up but there will be more to follow tomorrow at some point. Dagenham & Redbridge v Aldershot If Gary Waddock can keep Aldershot up I think it will be the biggest achievement of his managerial career because they are awful. It isn't all his fault because there have been budget cuts at the club, but you have to fear that if they go down to Step 2 they won't be coming back in a hurry. It has been 10 games since they last won in the league and they have picked up just 3 points in that spell. That last win also came against bottom of the table Braintree. Scoring goals is a huge problem for them as they have scored just 24 all season and if we narrow that down to the last 10 games then they have only scored 5, 3 of which came in the 4-3 loss to Maidenhead on Boxing Day. Away from home it is a really grim picture as they have won just once, drawn twice and lost 11. Dagenham didn't play well against Maidstone last week, but Maidstone basically gifted them all 3 goals thanks to some shocking defending. Given how much I have written about Dagenham of late there is no real point of repeating myself, but at the very least they should be no bigger than 4/6 for this and probably even shorter than that. I just can't understand how they are only very slightly odds on for this. Dagenham ought to only need 1 goal given how goal shy Aldershot and they look a cracking bet. Dartford v Concord Rangers Concord will be keen to get the 3 points they have lost for fielding an illegible player here, but I think the home side offer a bit of value. Dartford's home form has been very impressive as they have lost just twice. Wealdstone beat them early on in the season when they weren't in great form anyway and the only other team to beat them is Torquay and they played well that night despite losing. They have got themselves into play-off contention and it is mainly thanks to their performances at home. Concord's away form has picked up of late having drawn at Bath and won at East Thurrock and Welling before losing their last away game to Hungerford. Take the Welling win away though and the only teams they have beaten on their travels are Dulwich, East Thurrock and Weston all of whom are struggling. Dartford are nearly as big as 6/4 to win this with Marathon and that represents value to me. Dulwich Hamlet v Chelmsford City I'm hoping to get to this game on Saturday and it will be my first visit to Champion Hill since Dulwich returned their last month. Usually I want them to win, but given Gloucester are in a relegation battle with them I'm not sure I really do (although I do hope both survive) and I think Chelmsford are worth backing to win. I have only seen Dulwich in the flesh twice this season both when they played Gloucester. Back in August Gloucester beat them 1-0, but I was really impressed with Dulwich and thought there is noway they would struggle this season. Then just before Christmas they looked a completely different side and not a very good one at that. It is hard to know what has gone wrong really, but I suspect that the team had got used to winning games of football and now they aren't they are finding it very tricky to play their usual passing style of football because they don't have the confidence to do so. I thought returning to Champion Hill would see a big improvement in form, but after winning on Boxing Day in their first game back they have picked up just 1 point in their next 5 games and that game in a desperate affair at East Thurrock last Saturday. Having seen East Thurrock earlier this month I can imagine how bad a game it was. Chelmsford are much better than East Thurrock and although their good away form from earlier in the season has left them I would say out of the 4 defeats in their last 6 on the road the only poor loss was to East Thurrock. I'm surprised to see Chelmsford on the drift as Dulwich look really low on confidence at the moment and at just over 6/4 with Marathon the away side look a solid bet. Southport v AFC Telford No doubt Telford will go and win now I am taking them on, but Southport are worth a bet despite losing their unbeaten record at Altrincham last week. They certainly played well and I can seem bouncing straight back here. Telford might be very strong at home, but it has been a very different story on their travels. They have only won 3 away games and two of those came against FCUM and Nuneaton and both of those are in the bottom 3. Following Southport has been pretty profitable for us in recent weeks and I am surprised they have drifted out to 121/100 with Marathon as I would have them nearer even money myself. Whitehawk v Carshalton Those of you who have been following me for a while may remember that a year or so again backing Whitehawk became a rather profitable system despite the fact they were bottom of the table and still ended up going down and I just wonder if they are about to go on another good run of form. They have improved the side this month and their last two results have been superb. First of all they got a draw against Dorking who are 2nd in the table and then last week they were really impressive in beating Kingstonian last week. If they can repeat those two efforts then they should be more than capable of beating a Carshalton side who have only won 2 of their last 8 league games and have lost 5 on the bounce away from home. Every chance they will have one eye on their FA Trophy match at Barnet next week as well. At 19/10 with BetVictor they are well worth backing. Dagenham & Redbridge 4pts @ 49/50 with Marathon Dartford 1pt @ 147/100 with Marathon Chelmsford 2pts @ 38/25 with Marathon Southport 1pt @ 121/100 with Marathon Whitehawk 2pts @ 19/10 with BetVictor Not surprisingly the price has come in on Dagenham although I still think the price is on the right side of value.

I didn't do too badly with picking out games that would be on last week, but sadly Stockport were the only winners although at least they kept losses down given the big price they were. Dorking came good in mid-week which pretty much covered Saturday's losses. No weather issues this weekend so unlike the horse racing everything should be on. Aldershot v Eastleigh Aldershot holding Dagenham to a draw was costly a couple of weeks ago, but I think there is value in opposing them again here. I wrote in that preview that Dagenham should only need 1 goal and it wasn't quite enough in the end, but the fact remains that Aldershot aren't heavy scorers and there is every chance Eastleigh again will only need 1 goal. Eastleigh's away form had been strong and then they only got 1 point in 4 away league games, but they bounced back a couple of weeks ago when winning at Bromley. They are in play-off contention and I'm still not sure that Waddock is going to be able to keep Aldershot up. Chesterfield v Halifax I shouldn't have given up on backing the draw in Chesterfield games as in the league they have drawn 4 of their 7 games since they beat Salford which was the last time I backed the draw in their matches. Those 4 have come in their last 5 and the win was only against Aldershot. They were poor in the FA Trophy last weekend and although it might not have been a priority it was still concerning they lost to Brackley so easily. Halifax have drawn their last 5 games and you can add another two if looking at their last 9 league matches. The stats clearly tell you that the draw is value here and it has to be worth a play. Wrexham v Dagenham & Redbridge God knows what is going on at Wrexham as yet again losing their manager to the Football League looks set to derail their efforts to get into the Football League. Last season they imploded when Keates left and this season things have gone downhill after Sam Ricketts move. To be fair that's not entirely true as they continued in good form to start with, but since the turn of the year they have been desperate losing 4 on the bounce and managing to only beat a Maidenhead side who managed 1 shot the whole game, 1-0. Another managerial change has happened and inexperience Bryan Hughes has come in. Apparently he is looking to improve their attacking which goes without saying given they struggle for goals. All the upheaval can't be good though and Dagenham have the potential to punish them. I really do have a love/hate relationship with Dagenham this season, but 19/5 really is too big a price to not back them here. Nuneaton v Boston (National League North) Pretty safe to say that Nuneaton will be playing Step 3 football next season and despite being taken over things still don't seem great off the pitch. On the pitch they have won just once at home all season and they have picked up just 2 points in their last 8 games. Boston are on the edge of the play-offs and they are pretty solid away from home this season and only lost 1-0 at Spennymoor in their last away game. That is their only defeat in their last 5 matches as well and an odds against quote looks too big for me here. Hyde United v Matlock (Evo-Stik Northern Premier) Not only have Matlock won just 4 games on the road this season they are in poor form overall. They have picked up just two points in their last 6 games and although they are only just behind their hosts in the table they are clearly struggling of late. Hyde have been in good form of late and take out the loss to Bamber Bridge their last 9 league matches have seen good performances even in the other two games they have lost which have come against good sides. They look a bet at 6/5. Spennymoor v Bradford Park Avenue & North Ferriby v Workington The BPA game got called off last week, but they are worth opposing here against a bang in form Spennymoor side who have won their last 4 league matches and have lost just two of their last 10. BPA have only 2 points in their last 6 games and as I pointed out last week they have let players go as it looks like the club don't really want promotion. The home side have gone odds on now, but I think they are worth doubling up with Workington. Now Workington are 1 from bottom and North Ferriby are bottom in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier, but it really should be an away win. North Ferriby have won 2 lost 22 and have a goal difference of -51. Workington are showing signs of possibly being able to stay up and they do have games in hand to help as well. North Ferriby have lost 9 on the bounce and have conceded at least twice in all of them. Workington have won their last 2 and only lost on of their last 4. This is a must win game for them if they are going to stay up whereas North Ferriby know their fate already. The double pays 257/100 with Marathon. Eastleigh 1pt @ 17/10 with Marathon & William Hill Chesterfield v Halifax draw 1pt @ 13/5 with Bet365 Dagenham & Redbridge 1pt @ 19/5 with Betfred Boston 2pts @ 53/50 with Marathon Hyde United 2pts @ 6/5 with BetVictor Spennymoor/Workington 1pt double @ 257/100 with Marathon

Just the one bet for me on Tuesday night in the Bostik Premier as two teams I put up ante-post play each other Margate and Dorking. Margate was a pretty poor call to be fair and they have never looked like getting involved, but Dorking were 33/1 when I put them up and they are currently top of the table. It looks like being a 2 horse race between them and Haringey (who have just scored an injury time winner to go level on points with Dorking as I write this on Monday night) and Dorking looked to have really clicked of late. They are 8 games unbeaten and they have won their last 5. They put 4 past Worthing, 5 past Harlow and on Saturday were sublime in putting 6 past a Folkestone side who had only lost 1 of their last 8 games. They have a 3G pitch just as Margate do so they will be used to the surface and Margate haven't won in 9 games now. Granted they have managed to draw 5 of those games, but they were well beaten themselves on Saturday as they lost 4-0 to Enfield. They have only won 2 games at home all season and hopefully Dorking will continue in the same vain that they have of late. Dorking 2.5pts @ 11/10 with BetVictor

It was good to be back in profit on a Saturday after a couple of tough weekends. Hopefully that will continue this Saturday where I have 6 bets. Boreham Wood v Hartlepool Just one bet in the National League this week and I am glad that Wood have signed Haringey's star striker this week as it makes them even weaker in their bid to stop Dorking winning the Bostik Premier, but I am not sure he will turn the home sides form around. Goals have been an issue for them so they have had to do something and they were lacking in that department again on Saturday when losing 1-0 at Maidenhead. It has been 6 league games since they last picked up 3 points although to be fair they have drawn half of those so they are still making themselves hard to beat, but I think the away side are value here. Having only lost twice at home they have then gone and lost their last two home games to Maidstone and Havant and Hartlepool should on paper be a much tougher test. Richard Money was a mistake, but at least Hartlepool have done something about it and the team has really improved for Craig Hignett. They beat Braintree and then they drew with Leyton Orient last Saturday and if they had scored a penalty then they would have taken 3 points against the team 2nd in the league. I think they have a real chance of picking up 3 points here and the 12/5 with Bet365 and BetVictor. Hampton & Richmond v Gloucester City For my sins I am off to watch my side again on Saturday. I have seen us more this season than I have for a long time and given I have only seen us win once it has been on the whole a pretty depressing experience. However I think we are a very attractive price to win this. We had to sack Chris Todd as his stint was a massive failure, but I thought getting Mike Cook in his place was a mistake. However he has massively improved the side and they have won 2 and drawn 2 of the 4 games he has been in charge for. Crucially in that time just one goal has been conceded and we look as strong at the back as we did before Todd took over. Granted goals are still a concern and the 2 against Slough on Tuesday night were the first 2 goals from open play since before Christmas.1st half against Slough we only had one shot, but the 2nd half was much better and we scored 2 good goals. If we can play like that then I am very hopeful we can beat a Hampton side who I don't rate at all. Strangely enough they also played Slough in their last match and they were very lucky to get a point as Slough were much the better team and Hampton equalised in injury time. I have said before there is little between most of the sides in the bottom half of the NLS and there is no way City should be over 3/1 to win this game. Hampton struggle to score goals so a 0-0 wouldn't be a big surprise, but Gloucester are playing with much more confidence than they were and there is every chance they could get the 1 goal which might well be all they need to win this. Slough v Dartford Speaking of Slough for all they should have won last Saturday against Hampton the fact remains they have only won once in their last 9 games and not at all in their last 5. That is puts them in 20th place in the 10 game form table. Their issues seem to be in the 2nd half as that seems to be where they are dropping points. Dartford are flying at the moment and it looks like they will be in the play-offs yet again. They have only lost twice in their last 10 matches and that has seen them rise up the table. Their away form is a slight concern. It took them until deep into injury time to beat a 9 man Woking in their last away game and they hadn't won in 4 prior to that including only drawing at East Thurrock. However that is more than factored into the price as they shouldn't be anywhere near 3/1 (BetVictor) to win this. Truro v Oxford City Oxford's form has fallen off the edge of a cliff and they have picked up just one point in their last 6 games. That point came against an out of form Eastbourne side as well. Truro might have only won one of their last 5, but they have only lost by the odd goal when they have lost and those were against better teams than Oxford. I think they are a bit better than their league position suggests as well and given they have more to play for than Oxford I think a price just over 6/4 (Marathon) looks a good one about a home win. Darlington v Southport Granted the home side are doing pretty well themselves having lost just twice in their last 9 league games although the win at Blyth was their first in 4. Southport's good form looked to have come to an end losing two including 4-0 at home to AFC Telford, but they then bounced straight back with a hugely impressive 5-3 win over leaders Chorley last Saturday. This is no gimmie, but I do think the away side are over priced at 21/10 (BetVictor) because I do think they are one of the best teams in the division despite their league position. Treble I rarely put up a treble, but this one pays 5/1 with BetVictor and it makes plenty of appeal. I have written plenty about Bradford Park Avenue and the fact they clearly don't want promotion. I'm not surprised Altrincham have been backed and I think they will win. Nuneaton look in even a bigger mess than they did when I opposed them last week as the new owner has left them this week and the club really is in a sorry state. I just can'[t see how 3rd placed Spennymoor don't pick up another 3 points. Welling have had to cut their budget in recent weeks as well which is a shame as it might well cost them a play-off place. Torquay travel to South East London this weekend and they look almost unstoppable at the moment and are pretty much scoring goals for fun. Hartlepool 1pt @ 12/5 with Bet 365 and BetVictor Gloucester 1pt @ 63/20 with Marathon Dartford 1pt @ 3/1 with BetVictor Truro 1pt @ 153/100 with Marathon Southport 1pt @ 21/10 with BetVictor Altrincham/Spennymoor/Torquay 1pt @ 5/1 with BetVictor

Joao Sousa to beat Juan Ignacio Londero at 1.72 with betfair Londero had an amazing week winning in Cordoba but I can’t imagine him doing another deep run here after playing 5 matches in 5 days. He will play against another good claycourter with more experience and he should be tired after his 5 matches in Cordoba. The only problem here is that Sousa is not in his best (he lost recently his 2 matches against Bublik and Kukushkin in the Davis Cup) but he’s better ranked (41) and has more experience so I expect him to win against a player that should be tired.

Last Saturday wasn't good, but it does seem to be one bad day followed by one good day at the moment so hopefully that means it will be a profitable weekend. I have 6 bets in the 3 National League's this Saturday. Maidenhead v Solihull Maidenhead have only lost one of their last 5 games, but they haven't played anyone as good as Solihull in that spell. They lost to bottom side Braintree, Got 4 points in their two games against Aldershot, beat a severely weakened Gateshead 1-0 and then on Tuesday night beat Maidstone. So they have played 3 of the 4 teams below them in the table and a one team who were struggling to put 11 fit men on the pitch. Solihull are now in 3rd place and are just 3 points off Leyton Orient. They did need a replay on Tuesday night to overcome Halifax in the FA Trophy, but obviously with Maidenhead also playing on Tuesday that shouldn't come into it. They also landed the max bet against Gateshead in their last game easier than the 2-1 scoreline suggests. They should be odds on to win this so 11/10 with Betway looks a big price. Maidstone v Dagenham & Redbridge I was half tempted to put Maidstone up as a bet on Tuesday night, but thankfully was put off in the end as they lost 4-2 to Maidenhead. That made it 11 losses at home in the league with just the one victory. Whoever comes in as manager has to improve that home form fast. It is often said that a 3G pitch is an advantage for the home team, but it clearly isn't in this case as Maidstone have won 6 times away from home. Dagenham caused us a painful lost a couple of weeks ago after coming from 3-0 down to go 4-3 up and then draw 4-4 with Boreham Wood. Since Dagenham scored two very late goals to beat Hartlepool I have put them up 3 times as a bet and they have failed to win each time. Fair to say they owe us won again and they do look a cracking be here. Their away form has been strong winning 4 of their last 6 and only losing 1-0 to Sutton and Orient. They performed with credit at Salford in the FA Trophy last weekend and they should be favourites to win this. At Marathons' 83/50 they look a really good bet. Salford v Gateshead Salford have certainly bounced back from their tricky spell where it looked like they may have fallen out of contention for the title. So on the back of 4 losses on the bounce they then went and beat Wrexham and Leyton Orient without conceding a goal, which was important for them as defensively they had looked very suspect in recent weeks. Gateshead might not be quite as weak as they were against Maidenhead or Solihull, but they have lost manager Steve Watson to York in the meantime. This could hardly be a tougher game for the new manager given Salford have only conceded 13 goals at home losing just one and obviously they have such an impressive team. I think this could be a fairly easy win for the home side as I don't think Gateshead are anywhere near to a side who are 8th in the table at the moment. I think they can overcome the -1 handicap which is 17/10 with Betway. Bradford Park Avenue v Blyth Spartans Picking up just 1 point in their last four have meant BPA have fallen from the top spot in the National League North table. It was a poor loss last week to FCUM as well given they are in the relegation zone and had a few players missing. This game should be even harder as well given Blyth haven't lost in 10 league games now. Strangely enough their last defeat was to FCUM. They were superb in the FA Trophy last week beating Boreham Wood and they have recovered nicely after a very poor start to the season. I would have these two much closer together in the betting than the bookies have them and the 23/10 with BetVictor is well worth taking. AFC Telford v Kidderminster Telford have very similar home form to Salford in that they have only lost once and conceded just 12 goals. Their away form looks like it will stop them being possible title winners, but they are obviously bang in the play-off hunt. The one team they lost to at home was Bradford whilst they were flying so there is nothing wrong with that at all and they really ought to be shorter than the 8/5 they are with William Hill. The prices make little sense really given Kiddie are 6 points behind their hosts having played a game more. As I have mentioned a few times on here in recent weeks they have been in awful form for weeks now. They have lost 5 of their last 6 games and a win over lowly Hereford was the positive result in that spell. Not surprisingly they sacked their manager last week, but they still lost to Boston and they really do look in free fall at the moment. In my view Telford should be close to even money to win this so they look a fantastic bet. Truro v Weston-Super-Mare Ignore the fact Truro lost 5-0 to Stockport in the FA Trophy last Saturday as they played a strong team in good form plus they were pretty much down to the bare bones. They had players cup-tied as well as injured and suspended and they will be able to put out a much stronger team on Saturday. Not only that but Weston are a million miles away from being Stockport. These two teams played each other in the previous round of the FA Trophy and Truro won 4-0. That was their first game back in Truro and they are now there full time. Truro are pulling themselves away from the relegation zone and I think they will be safe. They have won 5 of their last 10 games and their 4 defeats were against Oxford City, Torquay twice and Welling. Weston are nowhere near the level of those 3 and I would be shocked if they didn't go down. There is just enough in the price at Marathon of 53/50 to make the home side a play here. Solihull 2.5pts @ 11/10 with Betway Dagenham & Redbridge 2.5pts @ 83/50 with Marathon Salford -1 1pt @ 17/10 with Betway Blyth 1pt @ 23/10 with BetVictor AFC Telford 5pts @ 2/1 with Bet365 Truro 2pts @ 53/50 with Marathon So on Twitter and the message below people have been letting me know about the Telford drift. I have been told that Kidderminster were also heavily backed last Friday before the Boston game and we obviously know how well that gamble turned out! Telford were backed after I tipped them up so some people have got a bigger price on Kidderminster thanks to me. This is far from the first time it has happened to one of my strong bets and it will be Asian money. The Asians base their bets purely on data and I actually like it when they have a different view to me mainly because it allows us to get a bigger price, but also because I am usually on the right side of the result. One that sticks out is last season when I was big on Aldershot to win at Dagenham in a teatime game on TV. This was the week when Dagenham announced they were in trouble and had sold a few players. Clearly the Aisian's took none of this into account as on Saturday afternoon all the money was on Dagenham. Aldershot duly won. Now I obviously can't guarantee Telford will win tomorrow, but what I can guarantee is they are huge value at 2/1 which is freely available with a few bookies including Bet365. I have had two Kidderminster fans on Twitter tell me they have no idea why anyone would want to back them and the fact they are even money for an away game at a team who have only failed to win 4 games at home season is just bizarre especially when you add into the mix their current form. What on earth the Asians use to come up with their bets I don't know but they would be better off doing more homework. I don't usually go in again when the price drifts, but plenty of punters do and there is nothing wrong with going against the crowd (given I often back the outsider it works for me) or in this case going against a few people in Asia! Based on the current price I am now bumping Telford up to a max bet. Basically if they had been 2/1 last night when I did my preview I would have put them up as a max bet so I am now adding a further 2 points on them. They might not win, but that price is a huge error and Telford should be the 11/10 shots.

Brayden Schnur to beat Steve Johnson at 3.20 with Paddy Power On a bit of a losing streak at the moment, but I suppose that was expected given the nice winning run at the start of the year. Nevertheless, I still want to play Schnur, especially after going through Johnson's record book that has so many recent losses that it's almost unbelievable. Of course, Schnur is a guy he could finally beat, but he's played some decent matches here already and has enough talent to stay there with Johnson. At 3.20, I think the bookies are underestimating Schnur's chances here.

Gael Monfils to beat David Goffin at 1.83 with Bet365 Taking this early, I expect odds to drop on Gael here. David is only a shadow of his former self right now and he needs a lot more to be done to be able to produce his best tennis and I don't see it coming in Rotterdam.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert to beat Illia Ivashka at 1.40 with William Hill Guido Pella to beat Albert Ramos at 1.52 with 888 I know I said that Bautista to win in Sofia would be my last bet but I like these two bets. This is a week to look for upsets (Goffin and Kachanov have lost today), especially for those players who played in the Davis Cup but I don’t expect any surprise with these two matches. Herbert is playing in his home country and destroyed Kudla in his first match here (6-1, 6-2). The reason is exactly the same for the other match, Pella is playing in his home country and destroyed Paolo Lorenzi in his first match (6-1, 6-3). His opponent is Albert Ramos, who is in a bad form and suffered a lot in his first match against Hugo Dellien (7-6, 4-6, 6-3).

Players like Wawrinka don’t need to gain money with match fixing, they have a lot of money. Wawrinka had a complicated match against Copil who did final in this tournament the last year and Basilashvili can win against the best players but he also can lose against low ranked players because he has an ultra-aggressive style of playing. There is a lot of match fixing in Challengers and ITF events but I can’t imagine players with a good ATP ranking fixing matches so it’s more a motivation issue like you said. Obviously, there will be some that do it but not too many (and not the 2 players you have mentioned I guess). The most typical form of match fixing in this level is that where players bet for themselves on a full match bookie and If they see that they can’t win the match they retire.

Ernests Gulbis to beat Hubert Hurkacz at 2.18 with Unibet I saw Hubert play in Quimper and he wasn't impressive when he lost to Greg Barrere and Ernests will most likely beat Hubert also. Odds will probably drop so I'm taking this early.

January was very up and down to say the least, but it was good to end it with a winner on Tuesday night especially as it got one over the Asian markets which is always pleasing especially after the last couple of bets I had opposed them on had been losers. No doubt the weather is going to get in the way this weekend so I won't go into too much detail as I doubt all these will go ahead, but there are 7 teams I like. Dover v Gateshead Gateshead lost their leading striker to Chesterfield this week and they weren't happy as they are currently under a transfer embargo so they can't sign a replacement. They haven't won in 6 league games now and they travel to a Dover side who have lost just once in their last 10. Hopefully this game has a better chance than most of beating the weather given the location and Marathon's 6/4 looks a decent price on a home win. Maidenhead v Dagenham & Redbridge It is a bit of a love hate relationship with Dagenham at the moment as they cost us last week when conceding against a goal shy Aldershot. Even so they look overpriced at 9/5 with Bet365 to beat a Maidenhead who are going to struggle to stay up. Granted they were a bit unlucky to not get a point against Solihull in their last home game, but they then went to a Wrexham side on a poor run of form and managed just 1 shot in the whole game. Granted they will probably be a bit more attacking minded here, but the away side are value to pick up the 3 points. Bradford Park Avenue v Leamington The only game BPA have not lost in their last 5 was when I tipped Blyth against them at a big price and Blyth missed an injury time penalty to win the game. Although the board claimed they do want promotion their actions spoke louder than words as they have let 3 of their best players leave and it seems they know they can't really sustain a club at National League level. They obviously wouldn't turn promotion down should they win it, but they would obviously prefer it if they stayed at this level. Granted Leamington were winning their first game in 10 on Saturday when they beat Altrincham 3-0, but that was a hell of a performance and they have drawn 6 of their last 10 games so it isn't like they are losing all the time. 11/4 with Bet365 on the away win looks more than fair. Brightlingsea Regent v Whitehawk (Bostik Premier) Backing Whitehawk didn't quite pay off last week as they had to come from 2 down, but they conceded after 3 minutes and that obviously always changes things when a team scores that earlier. The fact they fought back proves they are improving and although Brightlingsea have been on a strong run of form I think the away side are worth a small bet at a big price. Bishops Stortford v Merstham (Bostik Premier) The away side are now unbeaten in 10 league games after beating Worthing on Wednesday night. It isn't as if they have had an easy run of fixtures either as they have played plenty of the teams around them at the top of the table including the top 2 teams. The home team have lost 6 of their last 8 and the two wins were against teams in the bottom 4. 6/4 looks a big price on an away win. Hartley Wintney v Wimborne Town (Evo-Stik Southern Prem South) The away side are on an impressive run of form losing just once in their last 9 league games including drawing with top of the table Taunton last Saturday and beating 3rd place Met Police 3-0 on Tuesday night. The home side have won just once in their last 7 games and an away win is attractively priced. Harrogate v Stockport (FA Trophy) This game is almost certain to go ahead as Harrogate play on a 3G pitch and I fancy there could be an upset. Both are going well in their respective leagues, but I think Stockport are more than capable of winning this. I don't think there is as much between these two sides as the prices suggest and at nearly 4/1 Stockport are a value play. Dover 2pts @ 6/4 with Marathon Dagenham & Redbridge 1pt @ 9/5 with Bet365 Leamington 1pt @ 11/4 with Bet365 Whitehawk 1pt @ 103/20 with Marathon Merstham 2pts @ 6/4 with Marathon Wimborne Town 2.5pts @ 83/50 with Marathon Stockport 1pt @ 39/10 with Marathon

Vera Zvonareva to beat Darya Kasatkina at 2.12 with Unibet Aryna Sabalenka to beat Ekateryna Alexandrova 2-0 at 1.86 with Unibet Going against Kasatkina once again, she's still to get going and has no match practice going into this, while Zvonareva looked good in the second part of her previous match. It's mainly a bet against Kasatkina though. The other bet is very much for Sabalenka, on the other hand, as she's playing well again and and she's a level above Alexandrova in nearly every single respect. I didn't watch Alexandrova today, but she could've easily lost against Boulter in the previous round had Boulter not been such a headcase.

Coria wins by KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo BOOOOOOOOOOM

Lucas Pouille -1.5 games to beat Marcos Baghdatis at 1.50 with bet365 Feels like Pouille should pick up a relatively easy win here. Still, knowing Pouille and the possibility for tie breaks I don't want to go too crazy on the handicap.

Usual suspects at the top of the league... I thought you two were going to play HU all night

Roberto Bautista Agut to win ATP Sofia at 5.50 with bet365 My last bet this week. Considering the odds we have 4 favorites to win here: Bautista (5.5), Tsitsipas (5.5), Khachanov (5.5) and Medvedev (6.0). From all these players Bautista is the one who “theorically” has two first rounds easier than the others had. He will face tomorrow Ebden (his victory against him is paid at 1.15). Ebden almost lost against Adrian Andreev, a local player who is 17 years old. In his second match Bautista will face Yannick Maden/Seppi/Fucsovics (I think that he now is so much better than any of them). Fucsovics had an injury in the AO and he couldn’t compete for his country in the Davis Cup, so he can’t be in his best. Seppi played 2 matches in the Davis Cup (against Ramanathan 6-4, 6-2 and against Gunneswaran 6-1, 6-4). Both matches were played on Grass (different surface from here: hard indoor). Yannick Maden, who surprisingly won against Mannarino, can’t be a threat for RBA. In the Semifinal he will face Khachanov/Berrettini/Copil/Lazarov/Verdasco. At first I have to say that this looks the kind of tournament were Verdasco has an early “unexpected” defeat (these are my feelings, let’s see what happens). Lazarov is a local player who is 17 years and probably will be destroyed by Verdasco if nothing “strange” happens there. Then Verdasco will face Copil (anybody can win here). The other players are Khachanov and Berrettini. The Russian played 2 matches in the Davis Cup (against Huesler 6-3, 7-5 and against Laaksonen 7-6, 6-7, 6-4). The matches were played on hard but is remarkable how Laaksonen put him in real troubles. Is important to remember that Bautista won against Khachanov 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in the Australia Open (RBA leads the h2h 3-1 and the only 2 matches played on hard are victories for RBA). Anyway, I think Berrettini can put in some troubles to Karen, let’s see. Im not gonna analise the possible Finalists from the other part. We have there Medvedev, Tsitsipas, Haase, Monfils,… The 2 more dangerous are Medvedev and Tsitsipas I guess (also Monfils if he finds some regularity in his game). Finally, I want to talk about Bautista. He is in his best form. In the AO he won against Murray, Millman, Khachanov and Cilic. He won in Doha, beating there Berrettini, GG Lopez, Wawrinka, Djokovic and Berdych. I have no doubts about his implication here, he did Title here in 2016, beating Troicki in the Final.

Dayana Yastremska to beat Garbine Muguruza at 1.95 with SportingBet I'm a big fan of Ms. Yastremska, and she has deposed of her previous two opponents with relative ease. Obviously Muguruza will be somewhat more of a challenge than her two previous opponents, however, Yastremska beat Muguruza in Luxembourg last year in straight sets (6-2, 6-3) despite having to back up from her win in Hong Kong the previous week.

There aren't many Non-League games this midweek and the only team I really had in mind to back was Billericay at Slough. I went through the prices on Sunday night saw they were odds on when I was hoping for at least 5/4 and obviously left it alone. I then got a message on Twitter last night saying were Billericay value at 2/1 and couldn't believe what had happened with the odds. Clearly the Asians have got involved again and Billericay are now as big as 11/4 with Bet365 whereas Slough are odds on. Quite frankly the prices are ridiculous and the home side are massive value. Dean Brennan's time at the club came to an end after the loss to Chippenham which wasn't a surprise as their form had gone down massively. Yes players had left and quite a few new faces appeared and I think it meant the side had become a bit disjointed. Harry Wheeler has now returned though and they got a very good win against Welling on Saturday in his first game back in charge. Prior to that they had got a very good draw at Concord whose home form is very strong this season. Wheeler returning seems to have improved the team as Saturday's performance was their best for a few weeks and I think they can build on that here. Slough are a solid side but have been pretty inconsistent this season and I can't see them breaking their way into the play-offs. They have actually only won once in their last 6 games and the results of their last two matches have not been good. First of all they blew a 2 goal lead against Chippenham and then on Saturday they lost 2-0 to bottom of the table Weston who as I have mentioned on here are a truly dreadful side. Now to be fair to Slough they were the better team and the Weston keeper won man of the match, but it is still worrying they couldn't find the net against them and still conceded twice. Slough are capable on their day, but Billericay have the better team and like I say I would have backed them at 5/4 so at 11/4 it really is a must bet. It is about time the Asian market got it wrong again and hopefully that will be the case tonight. Billericay 2.5pts @ 11/4 with Bet365

Djokovic (-7,5 games) to beat Nishikori at 2.10 with bet365 Nishikori can't have much energy left in his body after that gruelling 5-hour marathon match against PCB. Nishikori had to play couple long matches before that too (against Majchrzak and Karlovic), and I believe that will show in this match. Great odds on Djoker here IMO.

Reilly Opelka to beat John Isner at 3.15 with Unibet Rediculous odds here. Reilly at 3.15 wth, but still expected but it's a 50/50 match and ofcourse the big favourite has to be Big John but I don't buy it. Reilly beat Big John in AO and can do it again.

Rogerio Dutra Da Silva -1.5 Sets @ 2.11 in SBOBet Stake 3.5/10 Rogerio Dutra Da Silva is a clay-courter, plays in his country and he's already used to the xlay surface 'cause he has played in Punta Del Este Challenger, ATP250 Cordoba and Buenos Aires and the Davis Cup games against Belgium. On the other side, it will be the first game for Donati on clay-court 'cause his last game was in the previous draw from Montpellier in hard indoor. Nothing much more to sat, it should be an easy win for the brazilian.

Congrats to muttley beating dastardly in the heads up! Good game all, enjoyed your company as always.

don't chase your losses you don't have to bet every day

Nikoloz Basilashvili to beat Hyeon Chung at 1.84 with 888 Basilashvili lost in the first round in Sofia against Brands and retired from the doubles so looks like he had some kind of problem but that was 1 week ago and he should be fit for this one. Chung did nothing remarkable since he reached the semifinals the last year in the AO. This year he lost against Herbert in the second round in what was an expected early loss from him considering his form and lost in the first round in Chennai (Gulbis: 7-6, 6-2) and Auckland (Rubin Statham: 7-5, 6-3).

Jordan Thompson to beat Noah Rubin at 1.85 with William Hill Yeah, I agree that Thompson is somewhat better and should be a somewhat bigger favourite here. I would be very confident outside the US, but I think the odds are worth it even with the home conditions factored in.

Jordan Thompson to beat Noah Rubin at 1.79 with Betsson Jordan is the way better player here, that's how I reason!

Matteo Berrettini to beat (-1.5 sets) Marton Fucsovics at 2.65 with Unibet Matteo is playing for a place in the semifinal and he would deserve to be there. Marton got lucky with RBAs walkover but now his luck should end just like it did in Irving challenger semifinal last season when Matteo beat Marton 6-3 6-4. Marton played like an amateur last time he was on the court while Matteo has played his best tennis as if he was a top 50 player which he is close to and he very mutch deserves a place in the final. I don't see Marton stopping him and based on last years Irving result I think there's value in backing Matteo to win in straight sets.

Is this the weekend where we finally avoid the sword of Daggercles, Dagenhamcles, Dag-cles...

Pablo Cuevas to beat (-1.5 sets) Malek Jaziri at 1.76 with Unibet Pablo have already beaten Malek in straight sets on hardcourt 2016 in Winston-Salem open by 7-5 6-1. If anyone saw Pablo playing yesterday he was absolutely outstanding. He didn't face a break point the hole match because his serving was so perfect. Pablo looks like he's back to his normal standard of play again and that means he will likely win this match in straight sets. Marius Copil to beat Fernando Verdasco at 2.35 with Unibet Marius and indoor hardcourts in Europe is always a good combination, it's where he is the most dangerous and that performance in first round when he beat Stan is just enough for me to think he can beat Nando as well. Mirza Basic the last seasons Sofia winner is out but that's just because his form have been awful ever since he won that Sofia final. Marius who was runner up last season sits in a hole different situation because he is making progress and that's why he's winning matches like never before. Nando is a lefty but I think Marius can deal with that well enough to beat him and reach the quarterfinal. Nando is living a lot on his reputation nowadays and he isn't the player who reached the Aussie open semifinal many years ago. Now Nandos tournaments often ends with him going out before the quarterfinal. He doesn't have the same ability to win titles anymore and he is living on his routine in many matches but it's not enough to reach finals. I just can't help but thinking Marius wins this with his big serve that gets him out of danger many times. He finished his last match with saving a break point in the last game when he was serving for the match and nicely finished the match by serving two huge first serves. Nice value on Marius here so I'm all over it.

Better day yesterday although should have been a clean sweep. Watching Ding lastnight, he looked very good and very agressive. I am going to throw a couple of points at Ding at this stage he has impressed me. Day 3 Preview : Today we have another 8 matches. We'll complete Round 1 and get started on the Last 16. First up in the afternoon we have Mark Selby against Shaun Murphy and Higgins against Saengkham. Once they are finished we have Master's finalists Kyren Wilson & Dave Gilbert facing Matthew Stevens & Yan Bingtao respectively. In the evening we have Guodong who was very good against an ill Robertson, against Mark Davis and Tom Ford against Judd Trump who looked suspect in places against Carrington. When them two matches are done we finish with Maguire against the impressive Sijun and Barry Hawkins against "Ronnie slayer" Marco Fu. I'm going with a few here. Firstly, I like Selby here. Not only because of the form of Murphy but also Selbys own form, which altough sometimes patchy, looks solid enough to me. He has a good head-to-head against Selby winning the last 3 matches and winning the most recent 3-0 in 2017. He went out to eventual finalist Gilbert at the German Masters on a deciding frame but he looked good there and he has hit 6 centuries in his last 3 matches. I actually not suprised to see Selby in the final this week. Murphy on the other hand has only beaten Jimmy White this year. Noppon Saengkham is a player I like alot. He is a great break builder and in this kind of format, I think that is very beneficial. He faces an out-of-form John Higgins today and at 2/1 he is abit of value in my eyes. One thing these two have in common is they both lost their last match 5-4 to Sijun (interesting) the h2h shows 2 wins out of 2 for Higgins but at a time he was a much better player. Most of Higgins most recent matches have been pretty tight and I expect this to be atleast 6 frames. Tom Ford has been in some pretty decent form recently and I'm quite suprised that he is 8/11 to get 2 frames. Ford has beaten Trump in 4 of the 12 matches. Ford has been scoring well and prior to this event he had hit 10 50+ breaks and 2 centuries in his last 3 matches. I'll take him to grab a couple of frames atleast. Xiao Guodong has hit some good form in the last couple of weeks. Prior to the German Masters he had lost a deciding frame to Ding in the Last 16 having smashed Ryan Day. 5-1. Head-2-head between these shows Davis had won 4 out of the 7 they have played but last year in China, Guodong beat Davis 5-0 and you would have to say that he is playing better than Davis. He beat an in-form Neil Robertson and that was 3-1 down (to win 4-3) although admittingly, robertson had a cold/flu and looked like crap. Davis also went 2 down (to Jimmy Robertson) and came back to win (4-3) however you couldn't say Jimmy is in good form like Xiao is. I'm going to take Xiao to win this one. 2pts D.Junhui to win the Grand Prix 10/1 betway 5pts M.Selby (-1.5 frames) to beat S.Murphy Evens bet365 5.5pts Over 5.5 frames (J.Higgins Vs N.Saengkham) 8/11 Betfred 2pts N.Saengkham to beat J.Higgins 2/1 WillHill 5.5pts T.Ford (+2.5 frames) to beat J.Trump 8/11 Coral 5pts X.Guodong to beat M.Davis 4/5 bet365

Donna Vekic (+4.5 Games) to beat Petra Kvitova at 1.98 with 888 I was preparing the explication for this one but there is no need to do it because four-leaf has done it in his post. The fatigue from Kvitova after a lot of matches played and the good form from Vekic are the main reasons. I watched Alexandrova and she had some kind of problem/pain during the match. I don’t know what she had exactly but she and her coach looked a little bit worried. During the second set looks like their plan was “go on and if we lost the second set we retire” but even with that handicap she won in straight sets. If somebody else has seen the match and knows what she had exactly or can find some info about this would be good.

Donna Vekic to beat Petra Kvitova at 4.00 with bet365 I expect Petra to run out of steam here as she's playing for the fourth straight week and now on a different continent having to travel from Melbourne to St. Petersburg. Donna is not as forgiving as Vika was in the last round and she's defenitiely in decent form or whatever form you can expect from Donna to have nowadays and she's good enough to take advantage of any fatigue that Petra has. Same thing happened last season in St. Petersburg when Caroline Wozniacki came from Melbourne after winning AO as she won her first match but went out to Daria Kasatkina in the match after. Highly likely that Petra should start feeling some fatigue and finally get knocked out before the final of a tournament again after reaching two successive finals down under. Petra wins this match probably if she's 100% but chances are she's not gonna be 100% this time.

Cardiff vs Bournemouth The transfer deadline is coming up tonight so a lot could change between now and then but for the time being it's another tough game for Cardiff in the Premier League. The Bluebirds host an in-form Bournemouth in a 3pm kick-off at the Cardiff City Stadium in what is certain to be another emotional day for the club. Cardiff bounced back from two abject performances against relegation rivals with a courageous effort away to Arsenal in midweek. The players appeared to channel the recent Emiliano Sala tragedy in a positive manner to deliver a performance that deserved more than the 2-1 defeat. It's already been confirmed that the club has signed Leandro Bacuna from Reading with rumours linking us to Tottenham striker Vincent Janssen and Southampton forward Charlie Austin. Can either of those players be signed up to help us push up the table from our 18th place position and 4 points adrift of safety? Bournemouth will be buzzing after smashing Chelsea 4-0 in midweek at home. Eddie Howe's men have moved up to 10th in the table after that victory. A win here would potentially push them as high as 7th in the table. Unfortunately, their away form is pretty shambolic with just 3 wins from their 11 away matches so far this season. I'm going to show a bit of optimism after a bit of negativity on my behalf. I actually think we could get something here. Bournemouth's away form isn't great. We can be a really dangerous side at home. A few players looked very good on the weekend and I think our back-line is starting to adjust to life without the injured Sean Morrison. If Neil Warnock can motivate us in the right way then I could see us grabbing a 1-0 or 2-1 win. I think the draw is more likely but as a Cardiff fan that wants the club to pick up a vital three points I'm going to back us to win but will put the draw no bet insurance down because I'm not mad! Cardiff Draw No Bet @ 2.25 with RedZone Cardiff to Score First @ 2.20 with Bet365 @Mindfulness, @Pep004, @MaliMisko12, @betcatalog, @sajtion, @godofhorses, @Tiffy, @waynecoyne, @The Sexless Innkeeper, @Magic0024, @malabgd, @Duke_Tm, @dogmeister, @Arkadi Manucharov, @derbent, @fat, @allyhibs, @6avin24, @discipline, @the bastardian, @Bronxie, @Bett, @KikoCy, @teddybear3011, @markus808, @allthethings, @Kenton Schweppes, @vasilli07, @Dylan Lynch, @neilovan, @JKos, @zemo91, @kulikTS, @mrclubbie, @Judeksi, @Henind666, @Teodore, @kilkenny1, @newjack, @PokerWolf1, @Dave1X2, @real55555, @jazzman02, @Ameer13, @Gedkip, @mcsilks, @MangoTheThird, @Roy The Boy, @DonPaulo, @Duckets, @yossa6133, @sjuesju, @dylanphan, @thfc, @Dboston, @Dr. Florida192, @money44, @1moregoal, @ggm31v, @EuroDream, @ndanmak, @cummins91, @vicsuna, @abigail, and @AndreBR, what will you guys be betting on this weekend?

445 W Caledonia Duchess 10/1 PP

Rafael Nadal to win Australian Open 2019 at 1.80 with Bet365 If a miracle happens and Pouille wins tomorrow, this is going to be a massive value, but the real reason for me going for Nadal now instead of tomorrow is that I don't think that the odds are all that likely to increase. Djokovic would need to play really well for that to happen and I'm not convinced that he will, as he's had plenty of strange blips in this tournament already. I was looking forward to Tsitsipas getting something today, but Nadal was just spectacularly good and I think that he's the best player of the remaining trio at this moment in time.

Stoke vs Preston There was only one game I was going to look into in the Championship this weekend and that's this clash between Stoke and Preston at the Bet365 Stadium (no, this is not a sponsored post!) in a 3pm kick-off. Why? It's only my boy Nathan Jones turning things around at the Potters! OK, so Nathan Jones isn't my boy as such but he's a former Merthyr Town FC (formerly called Merthyr Tydfil FC when he was playing) player and I've been a big fan of his management style at Luton. It was a dodgy start to his tenure with the 3-1 loss to Brentford and then the 3-2 defeat to Shrewsbury in the FA Cup 3rd Round Replay. However, the 2-1 win at home to Leeds on the weekend suggested that times may be a-changing for the club. Preston are a team struggling to keep their heads above water. I've always found Alex Neil a hard manager to like and I can't say I'm overly disappointed to see him experiencing the down side of management right now. The club is 18th and a safe 10 points clear of relegation but that could all change very quickly. The 4-1 win away to QPR on the weekend was a surprise after a run of 5 league games without a win but I can't help but feel it was more a freak score than a sign of improvement. The Lilywhites have only won 3 of their 14 away matches this season and they've only picked up a point on three further occasions this campaign. Stoke might not be over-performing in 15th place but they're only 8 points outside the play-offs and have lost just 4 of their 14 home matches. Not bad for a team languishing down in the lower ebbs of mid-table. I'm going to have to back a Stoke win here. I think Preston have the potential to make things difficult for teams but I think as Jones starts to get to know his players more he'll begin to maximise their attacking prowess. At their best, this Stoke team has the quality of a Premier League side. Jack Butland, Ashley Williams, Ryan Shawcross, and Joe Allen to name a few. They could be a worthwhile tip for a late push for the play-offs. Stoke to Win @ 1.95 with BetVictor Total Goals Scored Over 2.5 @ 2.22 with MarathonBet @waynecoyne, @sajtion, @arvee, @canaries91, @Mindfulness, @betcatalog, @Magic0024, @malabgd, @CloughandTaylor, @Tiffy, @Gidds, @chris50, @PokerWolf1, @teddybear3011, @skyblues88, @allyhibs, @Icongene, @KikoCy, @willie82, @Neubs, @Papa Lazarou, @kulikTS, @Valkovets, @Pipoca, @padman, @Marek76, @silver fox, @neilovan, @HastGill1, @jazzman02, @andypaps28, @Kenton Schweppes, @rangers234, @newjack, @Kane91, @yossa6133, @The Sexless Innkeeper, @Xcout, @branskie, @Wanderer89, @four-leaf, @trevor8, @OppoArchitizerLady, and @the bastardian, are you guys planning on any bets this weekend in the Championship? What do you think of my preview here?

Is in the final...

Petra Kvitova (-4.5) to beat Danielle Collins at 1.80 with Pinnacle Skipping the Tsitsipas bet, I wanted to get evens for him to win a set. I am, however, going to back Kvitova to build on her run and beat Collins in a better fashion that she did in Brisbane. She's certainly improved since then and, most importantly, she's already been to Grand Slam SFs, which tend to come with a lot of pressure that isn't easy to deal with. If Collins drops her serve early on, this could be over very quickly.

Not too many matches tonight, but I have spotted 3 games worth having a bet on. Brightlingsea Regent v Worthing (Bostik Premier) The only game Brightlingsea haven't won in their last 7 leagues games was when I put them up as a bet against Tonbridge and they blew a 2 goal lead. Hopefully we can get that cash back tonight as they look a fair price to beat Worthing. The home side have only lost one of their last 10 and are in flying form. Worthing were looking possible title contenders as they had a few games in hand for a while, but their form has taken a downward spiral in recent weeks. They have lost their last 3 and have only won twice in their last 9 league games. I think Regent should be closer to even money than they are so the 13/10 with Marathon, Betway and BetVictor looks well worth taking. Chesham v Basingstoke (Southern League Premier South) I have put Chesham up as a bet a few times in the last few weeks and their good form has continued as they have only lost 1 of their last 10 league games. That run includes winning the reverse of this fixture which took place just 10 days ago 3-2. Basingstoke did go down to 10 men once all the goals were scored but Chesham ran out worthy winners. Basingstoke have won just one of their last 5 and have only won 3 away games all season. Chesham should be capable of doing the double and Betway go 11/10 about a home win which is well worth a bet. Welwyn Garden City v Corby (Southern Division One Central) It is quite rare that games at step 4 get priced up, but when you get a quiet day like today bookies do drop down to this level because they will offer betting in play on it. Those of you who follow me on Twitter might have seen that I put up a late bet last Tuesday when I opposed Welwyn when they hosted Sutton Coldfield. The reason for doing so was that all but 3 of the team had walked out after the manager resigned. The new manager had signed 10 players and got a couple in from the youth team and amazingly they defied the odds to get a point against Sutton although Sutton were all over them in the 2nd half and should have won. The Welwyn goal was an own goal by the keeper as well. After that point they did manage to get a 0-0 draw on Saturday against Aylesbury United. To get two draws given how little the team knew one another was pretty impressive, but in Corby they are facing really tough opposition for the first time. Corby are looking to win the title and have lost just one of their last 10 league games. They score goals for fun having scored 34 in that time and only two games have they not scored more than 2. That is seriously impressive stuff and it is hard to see how they can't punish a Welwyn side who will still be learning how to play as a team. 5/6 is available with Marathon and that looks too big in my view. I will also be having a smaller bet on Corby to be winning at half time and full time at 15/8 with Bet365. Brightlingsea Regent 1pt @ 13/10 with Marathon, Betway and BetVictor Chesham 1pt @ 11/10 with Betway Corby 4pts @ 5/6 with Marathon Corby/Corby HT/FT 1pt @ 15/8 with Bet365

Rafael Nadal (-6,5 Games) to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas at 2.00 with 888 Nadal started here with a bad match against Duckworth but since then he has played better and better in every round. He has not dropped any set and he has covered this line in all his matches. He has improved his serve and only Duckworth has break him in his first match here (his only bad match in this tournament). Tsitsipas is one of the biggest surprises here but I think that he still doesn’t have enough weapons to hurt the actual version of Nadal.

Berdych The handicap line was for the entire match, not the first set!

Southampton v Everton If I had to choose 1 team this weekend to bet against, it would be Everton. They are so inconsistent, show poor away form, and have stagnated a little (in my opinion) under SIlva. Is Silva all that good? Hmmmm, jury is out. When looking at previous results I tend to ignore the anomalies. If you remove the 1-5 away win at Burnley, Everton don't look so clever, scoring just 4 goals in 7 away games. I really don't think they can win here, but the Saints will also struggle. However, I think the new manager makes the difference here. I do like the over 2.5 goals here for 2 reasons; 1) Two evenly matched teams that will both reckon they have a winning chance, will create an open game. 2) Saints are finding 1st half goals in recent home league games. Early goals open up games. I would be going over 2.5 goals here, but if I was backing a winner, I would be going Saints and over 2.5 (based on head to head Saints 4 wins in 5 in this fixture.) Saints HOME WIN & OVER 2.5 goals odds 4.25

225 ascot Ballymoy 303 Boite 300 Ballymoys form reads well on paper ..looked strong last time powering away and could be more to come ....boite isxa dark horse ...out of his depth last time he wasnt shamed so if he gets the extra distance could surprise a few Ballymoy 5ptsxwin 9/2 bet365 Boite 5pts win 19.0 betfair

Rafael Nadal (-5) to beat Tomas Berdych at 1.85 with Marathon I watched both today and I can't see Berdych doing much even in his current form. The mental handicap is still going to be there most likely and Nadal's somewhat improved serve should be crucial in making the Czech suffer.

The Punters Lounge £150 added Poker League continues this week with our February league. All games are played in the PokerStars Home Games PL Poker Club. This month all legs are NLHE. Leg 1 : Wednesday 6th February at 20.00 GMT in the PL Poker Club Home Game. Leg 2 : 13th February Leg 3 : 20th February Leg 4 : 27th February Buy in is $5.50 per leg. The £150 added will be split between the top 3 players of the league end, with £75 to the league champion, £45 to 2nd and £30 to 3rd. This will be payable via PayPal at the end of the league. Big thank you to SirPuntalot and Punters Lounge for the added funds. Winners will also get an exclusive PuntersLounge Mug and Pen Your top 3 scores of the 4 legs will count towards your league total. We will be using the usual PL league format, which will be updated in this thread. (The PokerStars own league scores will not be used.) Formula is -Log(position/Entrants)x100 All members are welcome, however you must post in this thread if asked to let us know your forum username, otherwise your placings and scores cannot be included in the league. Please spread the word and invite your friends so we can get the weekly numbers to keep this league viable. New players always welcome to join in. To join the PokerStars PL Home Games Club: club id = 744199 password = PLPokerClub We also have a PL Poker Club Facebook group where regular reminders are also posted. Please request to join. https://www.facebook.com/groups/524375907722928/ Good luck! League Table

Avoid short priced favourites Obviously they'll win quite often but they'll never win often enough to make a profit I think favourites are nearly always poor value because a lot of punters are naturally drawn to 'the favourite' regardless of it's chance of winning ……. it's human nature ! so the favourite not only carries money which reflects it's chance but also extra money merely by being 'favourite' and that extra money doesn't reflect the horses chance actually I'm brim full of golden rules …. some of which are probably contradictory !

1st $425.75

Just so all you people know, Roberto Bautista Agut will eat Marton Fucsovics in Sofia tomorrow. No way Marton will have a chance in the quarterfinal. He was like an amateur from time to time last match, broken left and right. Just errors everywhere you could see Marton.

Pliskova to beat Muguruza @ 1.80 with SportingBet This pick is largely based on Pliskova's big lead in the H2H, winning 3/4 times in 2017 alone. I do confess that I have not managed to watch any of Pliskova's games, however, having watched the Muguruza/Bacsinszky game, I do think a better player, like Pliskova, could better take advantage of Muguruza's serve, which was looking a tad vulnerable (in contrast to the game vs. Konta).