Now Liverpool have Joe Cole what will he do this season?

The new Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has made his second big signing (the first being Serbian winger Milan Jovanovic) since taking over the reigns of Rafael Benitez by getting the former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole to sign on the dotted line. Cole was a free agent after his contract with Chelsea expired in the summer and he decided to leave the club for “political reasons”, at his time at Chelsea he scored 40 goals out of 282 appearances winning three Premier League titles and two FA Cup along the way.

Joe Cole betting specials

Before he kicks a ball for Liverpool the internet bookmakers Stan James have produced a list of special bets specifically for Joe Cole.

When Will Joe Cole Leave Liverpool?

How long will the new signing stay with his new side? He has only had 2 clubs so is quite loyal prior to Chelsea he was with West Ham for 5 seasons.
2010 – 50/1
2011 – 9/2
2012 – 10/3
2013 – 13/8
2014 or later – 7/4

Total Premier League Goals

Only goals scored in the 2010/11 Premier League season will count.
Under 6.5 – 4/7
Over 6.5 – 5/4

Total Europa League Goals

Only Europa League Goals Count
Under 2.5 – 8/13
Over 2.5 – 6/5

Click here place your Joe Cole bet and to claim your £25 free bet with Stan James

Who will meet Holland in the World Cup final?

Tonight sees the last semi final match between European giants Germany and Spain, it is sure to be a fantastic match but will it be as exciting as last nights game between Uruguay and Holland which saw the Dutch emerge as victors with a 3-1 score line which saw them book the first place in the World Cup final from Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.

Online bookmakers Stan James will be running a cash back offer on tonight’s semi final. It will all depend however on the Bayern Munich striker Miroslav Klose, if he can manage to find the back of the net at anytime during the standard 90 minutes of play then Stan James will gladly refund all of the losing goal scorer bets that have been made on the match.

The game is almost guaranteed to be one of the highlights of the tournament but whoever wins tonight it will mean that the final for the second World Cup tournament in a row will feature an all European fixture.

Semi final match odds

• 2/1 – Germany win
• 6/4 – Spain win
• 23/10 – Draw

Click here to place your World Cup bet and claim your £25 free bet with Stan James

Can Diego Forlan catch up with David Villas World Cup goal tally?

The Uruguayan coach Oscar Tabarez will be very pleased with his teams performance as before the tournament he surely would not have thought that his team could get all the way through to the semi finals. Although they do owe quite a lot of thanks to the hands of  Luis Suarez whose deliberate hand ball cost the last remaining African nation Ghana their spot in the semi finals.

Uruguay v Netherlands match odds

The two teams face each other tonight at the Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town and Bert van Marwijk’s side are the clear favourites to get to the World Cup finals, but as this World Cup has shown us any result is possible.

• 11/2 – Uruguay win
• 5/2 – Draw
• 4/6 – Netherlands

The online bookies Stan James are running a cash back offer on this game. If the Atletico Madrid striker Diego Forlan manages to score in 90 minutes of the game for Uruguay then they will refund all losing bets made on the first, last and anytime goal scorers as well as all scorecast bets.

Currently Forlan is at odds of 7/1 with Stan James to be the first goal scorer and is at 5/2 to score at anytime during the match. Forlan has so far managed to knock in 3 goals during the tournament and is 2 goals behind current golden boot leader David Villa who is on 5 goals, he is at odds of 20/1 to overtake Villa.

Click here to place your World Cup bet and claim your £25 free bet with Stan James

Will the marathon game at Wimbledon create a 5th set tie break for next year?

USA’s John Isner and Nicolas Mahut from France will today be resuming at 3pm today their mammoth game on Court 18. The match has entered the record books as the longest ever in the history of tennis, the game is currently locked at 59-59 in the final set after a mammoth 10 hours of play eventually came to a close due to the poor light, the 2 players were given a standing ovation by the packed 782 capacity crowd. This means that the game will now enter its third day since its start on Tuesday.

When the winner of the game is eventually decided they will go on to play Thiemo De Bakker from the Netherlands in the next round who was also involved in a similar marathon game with Santiago Giraldo before beating the Columbian 16-14 in the final set, however this match was only a paltry four hour and six minutes.

Isner v Mahmut match odds

Who will come out as winner in the longest game in the history of tennis?

• 5/6 – Isner
• 5/6 – Mahmut

Will there be 5th set tie-break in 2011 Wimbledon

Internet bookmakers Stan James think there is a good chance that the Lawn Tennis Association will rewrite the rulebook so that games in future don’t take quite as long!
Yes – 8/1

Click here to place your Wimbledon bet and claim your £25 free bet with Stan James

Who will be the top jockey for this years Royal Ascot?

With all the commotion going on in press and our television you would be forgiven for thinking that World Cup in South Africa is the only sporting event taking place in the world at the moment. However as every punter worth his salt knows Royal Ascot is just around the corner. Beginning tomorrow from Ascot Racecourse in Surrey comes five days of glorious horse racing featuring some of the worlds best jockeys and most famous races.

Top Jockey At Royal Ascot

Favourte at present according to bookmaker Stan James is Ryan Moore however one to look out for is Frankie Dettori who has moved from odds of 14/1 to 10/1.

• 5/2 – Moore
• 11/4 – Hughes
• 5/1 – Murtagh
• 10/1 – Dettori
• 16/1 – Fallon
• 20/1 – Hills
• 25/1 – Buick
• 33/1 – Peslier
• 33/1 – Queally
• 33/1 – Fanning

Click here to place your Royal Ascot bet claim your £25 free bet with Stan James

Can South Africa start the tournament with a win?

The long 4 year wait between World Cups is over and the tournament in South Africa begins today with the match between the host nation and Mexico. Last night saw the fabulous opening concert with performances from The Black Eyed Peas and singer of the World Cup anthem Shakira.

The hosts have had quite good form of late and one player to watch out for is Katlego Mphela the 25 year old striker for Mamelodi Sundowns who in his last five outing for South Africa has netted six goals, head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira is so confident in his ability he has left Benni McCarthy out of South Africa’s 23 man squad.

Click here to place your bet on the South Africa v Mexico game with Stan James

Opening match odds

• 15/8- South Africa win
• 13/8 – Mexico win
• 9/4 – Draw

Cash back offers

If Javier Aguirre’s Mexico side can beat the host nation by more than 2 goals then Bet Fred will give punters who have staked £5 or more (up to £200) on the first or last goal scorer, correct score or scorecast markets on this game their stake money back.

Click here to claim your free bet from Bet Fred

If you place a bet on the game with internet bookmakers Sporting Bet they are offering punters their stake money back if the game ends with a 0-0 score draw.

Check out Sporting Bets daily World Cup offers

Rafael Nadal looks set to regain the French Open

The Spaniard Rafael Nadal will be hoping to win the French Open for the fifth time in six year years and his recent form has done little to put punters off. His excellent game against 2009 Champion Roger Federer yesterday in Madrid gave him the right to be called “The King of Clay” once again, as this took his clay record this season to 15-0, this has helped to push his odds of winning the French Open to just 4/11.

On top of their recent offer to refund all losing bets if Spain manage to win the World Cup in July the bookmaker Stan James are running another excellent free bet offer on ante post odds for this years French Open. If Spanish tennis super star Rafael Nadal manage to win the French Open on Sunday without dropping a set then they will refund all losing stakes made on the men’s singles outright placed from Tuesday 18th May to the start of the tournament on Sunday.

French Open 2010 Ante post odds

Odds for the French Open supplied by bookmakers Stan James

• 4/11 – Rafael Nadal
• 7/2 – Roger Federer
• 14/1 – Novak Djokovic
• 20/1 – Ernest Gulbis
• 25/1 – Andrew Murray
• 25/1 – Fernando Verdasco
• 33/1 - Robin Soderling
• 40/1 – David Ferrer
• 40/1 – Nicolas Almagro

Click here to place your French Open tennis bet and claim your £25 free bet with Stan James

Spain are still looking to be 2010 World Cup favourites

There are just 24 days to go before men across the United Kingdom will be able to reclaim the remote controls for their HD television as they stock the fridge and prepare the sofa for the most exciting tournament on the footballing calendar. If you can’t wrestle the remote of the wife then we shall see you down the pub ready for the first game on 11th June when hosts South Africa take on Mexico at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg. With luck you will not see an episode of Coronation Street or Eastenders until the final and you will have watched 62 games of electrifying, heart wrenching football.

Favourite to win the competition are Vicente del Bosque’s Spain who until recently were the topped ranked team in the FIFA rankings, they are followed by the new leaders in the rankings Brazil, however most fans reading this post will be hoping that the only home nation in the tournament can see a repeat of the 1966 World Cup and once again England can regain the title of World Number football team, after all we invented the game!

World Cup free bet offer

The bookmakers Stan James are so confident that the favourites Spain will not win the World Cup that if you place a bet of £5 or more on the outright winner of the World Cup (excluding of course Spain) before the tournament begins on the 11th June 2010 that they will refund all bets on the winner to be used as a free bet if Spain pick up the trophy at Soccer City in Johannesburg on July 11th 2010.

2010 World Cup outright odds

The top ten rated teams according to bookmakers Stan James. Looking at the odds there is a very good chance that the winner will come from Europe as 7 of the top rated teams hail from there.

• 4/1 – Spain
• 9/2 – Brazil
• 6/1 – England
• 15/2 - Argentina
• 10/1 – Holland
• 12/1 - Germany
• 14/1 - Italy
• 18/1 - France
• 28/1 – Ivory Coast
• 28/1 – Portugal

Click here to place your World Cup bet with Stan James

Panic over as Terry returns to training

The scare that was reported yesterday that England (and Chelsea) defender John Terry had broken the dreaded metatarsal bone in his right foot (the bone that no-one had heard of and probably never even existed before David Beckham broke his in 2002) has seen several bookmakers adjust their odds on England’s chances of winning the 2010 World Cup. The bookmakers Stan James changed their odds for England to win up to 6/1 from previous odds of 11/2.

However it seems that the panic that was going through England fans heads yesterday was unfounded as today it has been reported that John Terry has attended training with Chelsea today in preparation for his sides clash against Portsmouth at Wembley on Saturday for the FA Cup Final. According to the BBC sports website Terry is fully expected to now play in the match and therefore will be fully fit to be in Fabio Capello’s squad that goes to the World Cup in South Africa.

World Cup Outright Winner

Odds are supplied by Stan James and if you place a bet with them on the outright winner and Spain end up winning they will return your losing stake as a free bet.

• 4/1 – Spain
• 9/2 – Brazil
• 6/1 – England
• 15/2 – Argentina
• 10/1 – Holland
• 12/1 – Germany
• 14/1 – Italy
• 18/1 – France

Click here to place your England World Cup bet with Stan James

2010 Guineas Tips

It’s the first Classics of the 2010 Flat Season at Newmarket this year with the runnings of the 2000 and 1000 Guineas. The races see the best three year old Colts and Fillies from the UK, Ireland and France go head to head to set themselves on the trail to becoming the best three year old thoroughbreds of the season.

Both races are run over a distance of one mile and the 2,000 Guineas, which is contested between the Colts, is run at 3:05 on Saturday with the Fillies equivalent, the 1,000 Guineas run at 3:20pm on Sunday, with both races are live on Channel 4. Last year’s winner was the John Oxx trained, Sea the Stars, who was the first horse in twenty years to win both 2,000 Guineas and Epsom Derby, before going on to win a further four Group One races including the Arc de Triomph.

It will take an exceptional horse to match the achievements of last year’s 2000 Guineas winner in 2010 but many are predicting that the Aidan O’Brien trained, St Nicholas Abbey, could be good enough to replicate Sea the Stars and go on to win at Newmarket on Saturday before heading to Epsom in five weeks time to land the Derby, a double which is as short as 5/2 with Guineas sponsor, Stan James.

Free £25 bet for new customers when joining Stan James today

The unbeaten St Nicholas Abbey is currently best price 5/4 to win the 2000 Guineas but his price for the Derby double is not much bigger because it is thought that this son of Montjeu will imporve both for the run and step up in trip. Judge on his two year old form, none of these rivals should be able to come close to beating him, with second favourite, Elusive Pimpernel, needing to overturn a three length defeat in the Racing Post Trophy back in October.

Canford Cliffs, who was long time antepost favourite for this race before St Nicholas Abbey asserted himself on the market in the Autumn is available at 8/1, whilst another unbeaten Colt, the Michael Johnson trained Awzaan is a 10/1 chance. Of the bigger priced runners, the one time raced Inler (20/1)  and French Raider, Makfi (33/1),  make each-way appeal if you want to take on the favourite.

However, it is difficult to look beyond St Nicholas Abbey to win the race and we could well have another potential superstar of the Horse Racing world on our hands.

In the 1,000 Guineas on Sunday, the race looks a much more competitive affiar with bookmakers offering 7/2 the field. The French trained Special Duty is the favourite but must bounce back after a disappointing seasonal re-appearance last time out. Kieren Fallon, who last won this race in 2005, teams up with Luca Cumani to ride second favourite, Seta, who is currently an 11/2 chance along with Music Show.

However, it could pay to side with Godolphin and Frankie Dettori who join forces on Hibaayeb who won a Group One at Ascot on her final start as a two year and with the chances of good improvement over the winter, could be a good each way alternative to the leading protagonists at odds of 20/1 with Stan James.

Guineas Tips

2,000 Guineas (3:05 Saturday 1st May) – St Nicholas Abbey @ 5/4 with Stan James

1,000 Guineas (3:20 Sunday, 2nd May) – Hibayeeb @20/1 with Stan James

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