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City kicks off EPL season against SpursSoccer Betting Lines08/13/2010 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City will debut well over $100 million in new talent Saturday morning, when the English club opens pursuit of the Premier League title against last season's nemesis Tottenham. City lost at home to Tottenham in the final week of the season, allowing Spurs to claim fourth place and a Champions League berth. The rivals open the season at White Hart Lane, with Arsenal's visit to Liverpool the other big opener. Manchester City has lost 11 of its last 12 games against Tottenham but went on another spending spree this summer. In addition to finishing in the top four, coach Roberto Mancini hopes Yaya Toure and David Silva will help City contend for the EPL title. Defenders Jerome Boateng and Aleksandar Kolarov were also signed this summer, and together with midfielders Toure and Silva to provide Mancini with enough talent to challenge defending champion Chelsea and Manchester United. First, City has to try and solve Tottenham this weekend. Spurs edged Liverpool in their season opener last year and never looked back. Tottenham got off to its best-ever start, and eventually claimed a spot in Europe's top club event for the first time in five decades. Tottenham is essentially unchanged from one season ago, so Harry Redknapp will have a better grasp on his team entering the opener. With City adding Mario Balotelli on Friday - he will not play this weekend - Spurs would benefit from three points before Manchester finds its groove. Redknapp could be without Jermain Defoe, who had 18 goals in 31 starts a year ago, because of injury, but talented duo Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon drive the team from the wings, while captain Ledley King anchors the back. King knows how important it is to get off to a good start, as both teams hope to finish in the top four and possibly end 40-plus year title droughts. Spurs last won the EPL in 1960-61, while City last won in 1967-68. "We took a lot of positives out of the Liverpool result on the first day of last season and went from strength to strength after that," King said on the club's website. "We're aware of the threat they possess and we're expecting a very tough game. They've got big aspirations for this season and will want to get off to a good start, as will we." Chelsea has also remained pretty quiet for much of the offseason, as Michael Ballack departed and Yossi Benayoun joined from Liverpool. But the Blues added Brazilian Ramires on Friday, and more signings are still possible. Even without Ramires for the opener, Chelsea should be a handful for promoted West Bromwich on Saturday. Goalie Petr Cech and defender Alex are fit after calf injuries, although Frank Lampard is doubtful. Also Saturday, Aston Villa hosts West Ham, Blackburn hosts Everton, promoted Blackpool hosts Wigan, Wolverhampton hosts Stoke City, Bolton hosts Fulham, and Sunderland hosts Birmingham. Arsenal visits Anfield to battle Liverpool in the lone match Sunday, as Arsene Wenger will try to keep his club in the top four. The Gunners added defender Laurent Koscielny, midfielder Milan Jovanovic, and forward Wellington Silva, but didn't make a big splash in the transfer market. Liverpool signed midfielder Joe Cole from Chelsea and Serbian midfielder Milan Jovanovic on free transfers, and acquired midfielder Christian Poulsen from Juventus, but more importantly kept Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard. Roy Hodgson replaced Rafa Benitez as coach, and is faced with the challenge of getting Liverpool back into the top four after a seventh-place finish. Manchester United, which had its three-year title run snapped by one point one season ago, opens against Newcastle on Monday. Sir Alex Ferguson made a trio of additions, all 22 or younger. Mexican Javier Hernandez was the most expensive, but he has already showed all the signs of being a great signing. In additions, 20-year-olds Bebe and Chris Smalling were acquired, giving United the talent to challenge for the title in 2010-11 and beyond.
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College Football Betting Tips From a ProWhile the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly. Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules. The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers. What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by. These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end. College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well. Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football. Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play. Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration. I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key. Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season. It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage. As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital. Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards. |
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