Southampton vs Leicester City – Best Prices On All Correct Scores

Southampton have the chance to regain top spot when they take on Leicester City at St Mary’s tonight. The Saints are currently second in the Championship following West Ham’s win at the weekend but will be gunning for the three points against an inconsistent Leicester side who are 15^th in the table. The south coast outfit are the 5/6 favourites with Ladbrokes, while Leicester can be backed at 10/3 to earn a surprise win, with a draw priced at 5/2.

Southampton look to have recovered from their mini-slump with back-to-back wins against Coventry and Nottingham Forest. Meanwhile, Leicester have just the one win from their last seven league matches, although a 4-0 FA Cup thrashing of Forest last week would have restored some confidence. The Saints are undefeated in 12 of the last 14 meetings between the sides and have never lost to Leicester at St Mary’s, although it was The Foxes who came out on top earlier in the season, winning an entertaining fixture 3-2 at the King Power Stadium. Ladbrokes are offering best prices on all correct scores, with Saints available at 8/1 to win 2-1 and 16/1 to win 3-1. Leicester have been handed odds of 11/1 to win 1-0, while a 1-1 draw could be worth a punt at 6/1.

With star striker Rickie Lambert still suspended Saints will look to Guly Do Prado for goals. The Brazilian recently opened the scoring against Forest and is the 9/2 favourite to score first tonight. Steve De Ridder and David Connolly, who also scored against Forest, are next in the betting, while new signing Tadanari Lee is priced at 6/1 to be the game’s first goalscorer. The Foxes have scored in each of their last 10 Championship games and strikers Jermaine Beckford and David Nugent are both available at 7/1 to open the scoring at St Mary’s.

Match Betting

• 5/6 – Southampton
• 10/3 – Leicester
• 5/2 – Draw

Correct score

• 6/1 – Southampton 1-0
• 9/1 – Southampton 2-0
• 8/1 – Southampton 2-1
• 18/1 – Southampton 3 0
• 16/1 – Southampton 3-1
• 33/1 – Southampton 3- 2

• 11/1 – Leicester 1-0
• 22/1 – Leicester 2-0
• 14/1 – Leicester 2-1

• 17/2 – Draw 0-0
• 6/1 – Draw 1-1
• 18/1 – Draw 2-2

First Goalscorer

• 9/2 – Guly do Prado
• 11/2 – David Connolly
• 11/2 – Steve De Ridder
• 6/1 – Lee Barnard
• 6/1 – Tadanari Lee
• 7/1 – Yago Falque
• 7/1 – Adam Lallana
• 7/1 – James Ward-Prowse
• 7/1 – Jermaine Beckford
• 7/1 – David Nugent

Odds provided by Ladbrokes

Leicester City and West Ham Joint Favourites in 2011/12 Championship Outright Betting

The Championship springs back into our consciousness tonight, when Hull take on Blackpool at the KC Stadium, and the new season promises to be an absolutele cracker. There are a cluster of teams that can realistically challenge for automatic promotion and many others who can count themselves as play-off contenders. At the moment there is nothing separating Sven Goran Eriksson’s big spending Leicester City and Sam Allardyce’s West Ham in the Outright Championship Odds, with William Hill pricing both club’s at 5/1 to win the league this season.

Despite what the odds suggest, the 2011/12 Championship season is anything but a two-horse race. There are a number of other club’s who have the talent, ambition and experience to make their mark. Top of these teams are Nottingham Forest and Reading who were both dumped out of last season’s play-offs by Swansea City. Forest have undergone a restructuring period during the summer and have appointed Steve McClaren as their new manager, who has in turn released a shed load of players as he aims to mould together a squad capable of getting promoted. Forest are currently priced at 16/1 to win the league, where as last season’s play-off final losers Reading are available at 18/1, as are Tony Mowbray’s Middlesbrough.

Elsewhere newly promoted Brighton and Southampton will be looking to follow in Norwich City’s footsteps with back-to-back promotions. Southampton manager Nigel Adkins appears to be placing his trust in the player’s who won him promotion last season as the Saints have only recruited a couple of players. However, the bookmakers believe the South coast club have a chance of winning the league with odds of 20/1, although promotion at 5/1 may be a more realistic bet. Gus Poyet’s Brighton, who were virtually unplayable for the best part of League One last season,  have been handed odds of 22/1 to win the Championship and 6/1 to get promoted.

Other teams you should keep a close eye on include Cardiff, Blackpool, Birmingham and Leeds who are all capable of beating anyone on their day. Consistency is undoubtedly the key in this division and all the major contenders will be hoping to get off to a winning start this weekend.

Championship Outright Odds

• 5/1 – Leicester
• 5/1 – West Ham
• 16/1 – Nottingham Forest
• 18/1 – Reading
• 18/1 – Middlesbrough
• 20/1 – Southampton
• 22/1 – Cardiff
• 22/1 – Blackpool
• 22/1 – Ipswich
• 22/1 – Birmingham
• 22/1 – Leeds
• 22/1 – Brighton
• 30/1 – Hull
• 33/1 – Burnley
• 45/1 – Portsmouth
• 55/1 – Derby
• 70/1 – Bristol City
• 70/1 – Millwall
• 110/1 – Watford
• 110/1 – Crystal Palace
• 150/1 – Peterborough
• 150/1 – Coventry
• 200/1 – Barnsley
• 250/1 – Doncaster

All odds supplied by William Hill

Arsenal Betting Specials With William Hill

As the start of the 2011/12 season edges ever closer there are still a large number of unanswered questions concerning Arsenal; Will Cesc Fabregas stay or go? Will Samir Nasri depart? Can The Gunners finally win a trophy this year? Could Arsene Wenger be sacked this season? Numerous key issues and matters are still unresolved at the Emirates stadium, which is having a negative effect on the club’s preparation for the upcoming season.

Arsene Wenger will be under some serious pressure this year, something he is rapidly growing accustomed to following his side’s trophy drought. His previously concrete job as Arsenal manager will come under scrutiny this season if Arsenal fail to win a trophy for what would be the seventh consecutive season. Despite having a hugely talented, young squad, Arsenal evidently lack the experience and mental toughness to close out games, which cost them dear last season. In order to erase those bitter memories Wenger needs to invest in some high quality players while doing everything he can to hold onto his most valuable assets.

Two Arsenal players who are currently the centre of a transfer storm are captain Cesc Fabregas and their best player last season Samir Nasri. Arsenal fans will have everything crossed in the hope that these two stars will stay at the Emirates for at least another year. Fabregas is once again being heavily linked with Barcelona, but for the time being has remained stum over his future. The 24-year-old has extremely short odds of just 1/4 with William Hill to not be with the club after the transfer window, whilst the odds are 9/4 that he will stay. Nasri’s future is also up in the air and William Hill have installed Manchester City as the 8/13 odds-on favourites to get the talented Frenchman, with Man Utd available at 6/5 and Chelsea 8/1.

All Arsenal fans crave a bit of silverware, it doesn’t matter what shape or size, any will do at the moment. They came agonisingly close to winning the Carling Cup last season but choked in the final minute to gift Birmingham the trophy. Arsenal are currently 8/1 with William Hill to go one step better this year and win that trophy, while they are priced at 9/1 to win the FA Cup and 10/1 to win the Premier League for the first time since 2004. For Multiple Trophy odds see below.

Arsenal Trophy Multiples:

• 1/6 – No Trophies
• 50/1 – Premier League/Carling Cup
• 50/1 – Premier League/FA Cup
• 50/1 – FA Cup/Carling Cup
• 100/1 – FA Cup/Champions League
• 100/1 – Carling Cup/Champions League
• 100/1 – Premier League/Champions League
• 500/1 – Premier League/FA Cup/Carling Cup
• 750/1 – FA Cup/Carling Cup/Champions League
• 750/1 – Premier League/Carling Cup/Champions League
• 750/1 – Premier League/FA Cup/Champions League
• 1500/1 – Premier League/FA Cup/Carling Cup/Champions League

All odds supplied by William Hill

Cardiff And Swansea Favourites To Reach Play-off Final

Welsh rivals Cardiff and Swansea are the bookies favourites to meet at Wembley Stadium on Monday 30^th May in the £90million showdown. Both of the first- leg Championship play-off games ended in goalless draws last week meaning the home sides have the advantage going into the second-leg this week.

Swansea host Nottingham Forest at the Liberty Stadium at 7.45pm on Monday 16^th May. After a heroic performance in Nottingham where they came away with a creditable 0-0 draw after playing virtually the whole match with ten men, Swansea head into tonight’s match as 20/21 favourites to win with Stan James. Swansea have only lost two games at home this season and look the favourites to progress to the final.

In the other play-off second-leg match Cardiff take on Reading at the Cardiff City Stadium at 7.45pm on Tuesday 17^th May. Similarly to the other play-off first-leg, the two sides played out a goalless draw. Tuesday’s game will no doubt be another nerve-wracking encounter as the teams battle it out for a place in the play-off final. Cardiff have an incredible record against Reading having lost none of the last eight matches between the two sides, and with home advantage they head into the game as 5/4 favourites to win. However, the Bluebirds may have to do without striker Craig Bellamy, who is a doubt with a hamstring injury.

Championship Promotion Betting Odds

• 15/8 – Swansea
• 9/4 – Cardiff
• 3/1 – Reading
• 4/1 – Nottingham Forest

Cardiff v Reading Match Betting

• 5/4 – Cardiff
• 2/1 – Reading
• 9/4 – Draw

Cardiff v Reading Qualify Odds

• 8/13 – Cardiff
• 6/5– Reading

Swansea v Nottingham Forest Match Betting

• 20/21 – Swansea
• 29/10 – Nottingham Forest
• 23/10 – Draw

Swansea v Nottingham Forest Qualify Odds

• 1/2 – Swansea
• 6/4 – Nottingham Forest

All odds courtesy of Victor Chandler

Swansea Slight Favourites In Championship Play-Off Betting

Nottingham Forest face Swansea at the City Ground at 7.45pm on Thursday 12^th May and a day later Reading host Cardiff at the Madejski Stadium at 7.45pm Friday 13^th May in the first-leg semi-finals of the Championship play-offs. Place a bet on one of those teams to be promoted through the play-offs and if they are knocked out via penalties, Victor Chandler will refund your losing stake as a free bet.

Nottingham Forest are back in the play-offs after finishing in 6th spot with 75 points. This is familiar territory for the club, having been in the same position last year, where they were beaten twice by Blackpool. Forest have a decent home record this season and will be confident of going into the second-leg in a good position, especially after recording a 3-1 victory against Swansea at the City Ground earlier this season. Swansea have had a cracking season, but will nonetheless feel disappointed at finishing 3^rd, just four points behind automatically promoted Norwich. If Swansea can snatch a draw they will be confident of progressing through to the final.

Reading are arguably the play-offs most in-from team after putting together a scintillating run of eight straight league wins from late February to late April, and five points from their last four games was enough to ensure 5^th position and a play-off place. Cardiff have been in contention for an automatic play-off place all season, and like their fierce rivals Swansea, will be disappointed at missing out. Cardiff have been stuck in the Championship since 2003, and after many near misses, they will feel that this year is as good as any to finaly make the step up to the big time.

Victor Chandler have Swansea as the favourites to reach the Premier League at 9/4, while Reading and Cardiff are 13/5 to go up and Nottingham Forest are priced at 3/1.

Nottingham v Swansea Match Odds

7/5 – Nottingham Forrest

11/5 – Swansea

23/10 – Draw

Nottingham v Swansea Qualify To Final Odds

11/10 – Nottingham Forrest

4/5 – Swansea

Reading v Cardiff Match Odds

5/4 – Reading

5/2 – Cardiff

12/5 – Draw

Reading v Cardiff Qualify To Final Odds

5/6 – Reading

5/6 – Cardiff

Outright Promotion Odds

9/4 – Swansea

13/5 – Reading

13/5 – Cardiff

3/1 – Nottingham Forest

All odds courtesy of Victor Chandler

With Strachan gone what manager next for Middlesbrough?

In what can come as no real surprise to Middlesbrough fans, the current team manager Gordon Strachan has left the club he joined less than a year ago with immediate effect and he will not receive any compensation as he resigned and in doing so tore up his contract! The team had a string of poor results this season and at the weekend in their match against Leeds they lost 2-1, which took the side to 20th in Championship, so far they have recorded 6 defeats in 11 league games. Since Strachan took over from Gareth Southgate as manager in October 2009 he has only managed to win 13 out of 46 games in charge.

Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson now needs to start the looking for a replacement and become the next manager in control at the Riverside.

Odds on the next manager at Middlesbrough

All odds for this market are supplied by Ladbrokes who clearly favour Tony Mowbray for the job but have also given the little glimmer of hope that former Teessider Juninho could come and rescue the club.

• 2/7 – Tony Mowbray
• 8/1 – Phil Brown
• 10/1 – Alan Curbishley
• 12/1 – Alan Shearer
• 14/1 – Glenn Hoddle
• 14/1 – Paul Ince
• 16/1 – Paul Jewell
• 33/1 – Terry Venebales
• 50/1 – Juninho

Click here to place your Championship manager bet and claim your £25 free bet from Ladbrokes

Struggling Middlesbrough face Championship newcomers Leeds on Saturday

Championship newcomers Leeds are currently enjoy the highsof the Championship table compared to their opponents Middlesbrough who are currently struggling towards the bottom of the Championship table. Even though Leeds last two outings have ended in defeat they are still in the top half of the table in 10th placego, Middlesbrough have not managed a win since mid September when they beat Reading at the Riverside and are currently on just 11 points and 18th in the table.

Middlesbrough v Leeds United match odds

All odds are supplied by bookmakers Bet Fred, and Gordon Strachan’s team are the favourites to win this tie, however as they have been struggling and recent press reports indicated that all is not well between fans and team we would go for an away win for Leeds.

• 13/10 – Middlesbrough win
• 21/10 – Leeds win
• 9/4 – Draw

As well as offering some of the best odds around on the above game the bookies Betfred are giving punters the chance to get their stake money back as a free bet should they make the wrong choice and lose! If the game ends as a boring goal less draw then they will refund all of the losing first and last goal scorer bets as well as correct scores and scorecast bets up to a top value of £200.

Click here to place your Championship bet and claim your £25 free bet from Betfred

Bellamy rushed in as bookies favourite for top goal scorer in the Championship

The bookies William Hill have taken the news that Craig Bellamy has joined Championship side Cardiff City on loan from Premiership side Manchester City by making him one of their favourites to be the top goal scorer in the Npower Championship and they have also cut Cardiff’s odds to win the Championship from 10/1 to 9/1.

Whether Bellamy will gel with his Cardiff side remains to be seen as he does have a history of upsetting the atmosphere in the dressing room but Hills are offering odds of 4/11 that Bellamy will still be with Cardiff come the end of the season and odds of 2/1 that he will be gone.

His entrance to the Cardiff side will mark the 31 year olds 9th club (including loan signing), of his permanent 7 signings Bellamy has left 4 of those sides within a year. His most unsuccessful run was back in 2000 when he was with Coventry City and only managed to 6 goals out of 34 appearances and as such this led to the teams relegation form the Premiership.

Championship top goal scorer

All odds are supplied by William Hill.

• 8/1 – Craig Bellamy (Cardiff City)
• 8/1 – Kris Boyd (Middlesbrough)
• 9/1 – Michael Chopra (Cardiff City)
• 12/1 – Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough)
• 14/1 – Billy Sharp (Doncaster Rovers)
• 20/1 – David Nugent (Portsmouth)
• 20/1 – Matty Fryatt (Leicester City)
• 20/1 – Grant Holt (Norwich City)
• 20/1 – Danny Graham (Watford)
• 20/1 – Steve Morrison (Millwall)

Click here to claim your £25 free bet from William Hill

Where will Sheffield United finish this season in the Championship?

Sheffield United have confirmed that their new manager will be first team coach Gary Speed who was the bookies favourite to win the role of Sheffield United manager. He has been offered a 3 year contract with the Blades in replacement for the sacked Kevin Blackwell who was dismissed following the 3-0 home loss against QPR. Speed has already been with the club for over 2 years but this will be his first ever managerial role.

With the current speed of the managerial merry go round bookies are placing odds on whether the former Welsh international will still be in charge by the end of the season or can Speed survive the sack race?

The bookmakers William Hill are offering odds of 11/4 Gary Speed will no longer be boss of Sheffield United on the first day of NEXT season, are the odds are 1/4 that he will still be there..

Where will Sheffield United finish?

United are currently holding up the bottom of the Npower Championship in the 23rd slot with just 1 point out of 2 games, but a new manager being installed generally gives the team a boost and wins are more likely.

• 20/1 – Winner
• 10/3 – 2nd to 5th
• 7/4 – 6th to 10th
• 9/4 – 11th to 14th
• 7/2 – 15th or worse

Click here to place your Championship bet and claim your £25 free bet from William Hill

Gary Speed favourite to take on the role of next Sheffield United manager

It look as if Gary Speed will soon be officially be able to hang up his boots for good if gets the role of Sheffield United manager, the job has become available following the sacking of Kevin Blackwell at the weekend following the 3-0 home defeat by Queens Park Rangers.  Speed has been with United since 2008 making 37 appearances and scoring on 6 occasions, he has recently completed his UEFA Pro Licence qualification and was Blackwell’s first team coach but did recently find himself named on the bench in their recent Carling Cup fixture against Hartlepool which ended in a 2-0 loss for the Blades.

Untied were recently approach by Championship rivals Swansea to take on their managerial role but were spurned which has prompted bookies to make Speed their favourite to take on the role.

Next permanent Sheffield United manager

The top ten managers that bookmaker Victor Chandler thinks are in line for the job as Sheffield United manager.

• 4/9 – Gary Speed
• 5/1 – Phil Brown
• 10/1 – Tony Mowbray
• 10/1 – Sean O’Driscoll
• 10/1 – Nigel Adkins
• 10/1 – Chris Wilder
• 12/1 – Lee Clark
• 12/1 – Andy Scott
• 14/1 – Gareth Southgate
• 14/1 – Steve Clarke

Click here to place your manager bet and claim your free £50 bet from Victor Chandler

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