Three weeks ago I wrote, Inter do to Chelsea, what the Blues do to us! I could easily repeat the headline for this game as well. That would be pointless though, what's the use of repeating the obvious.

I do have a few other observations and it's better to run through them. Before I do that, let me preface this article with the fact that I'm truly delighted Chelsea have been dumped out of the Champions League and this article is not an attempt to defend a Russian billionaire's plaything.

By Ollie Irish

According to the ticking news machine that is Sky Sports News, some bookies have stopped taking bets on Fernando Torres joining Chelsea. Interesting the bookies usually know what's what.

I should add that no other news outlet has reported this, so I wonder if this story comes from a work experience boy at Sky whose mate works for Paddy Power.

Twitter has exploded this morning with word that not only has Bob Bradley resigned as US National Team coach, but that he's on his way to becoming Aston Villa's next manager. The former would be big news on its own, but combined with the latter, we're talking super-gigantic-mega story. Bradley as the first American coach in the Premier League is very much this soccer writer's dream come true simply for the fodder.

I was just browsing around the internet aimlessly (as I do!) and I found a website that is advertising prices on who will take over as Arsenal manager if and when Arsene Wenger retires. So I thought; That's an interesting question.... So, according to the two bookies offering prices, the two favourites are Martin O'Neill and Jose [.

Bookies up and down the country are tipping former Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish or former Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink to takeover from under pressure manager Rafa Benitez.
Liverpool crashed out of the FA Cup last night at Anfield at the hands of Championship side Reading, which now sees the reds fighting for fourth place having been knocked out of the Champions League and League Cup.

Fifa's World Rankings were announced today. Brazil leapfrog Spain, who are now are second followed by Portugal, The Netherlands, Italy and Germany.
Spain and Brazil are among the bookies' favorites to win the World Cup next summer.
England are in 8th place, while Argentina move up to 7th and are looking a serious dark house for South Africa.

This time tomorrow, the World Cup will have kicked off, and I, along with many others, will be spicing up the matches with a bet or two. Historically, I've always done quite well with the World Cup by following some golden rules, which are as follows:

• Bet on African and Asian nations to do well.

As the New Year approaches this seasons title race is one of the most open in the history of the Premier League. No one is showing form that suggests they will run away with it and five teams will seriously still believe that could become Champions come the end of the season. Let's take a look at the contenders.

Prior to the draw England were already among the favourites, on the back of a solid qualifying campaign. A seemingly favourable draw has served to strengthen that belief and most bookies have them as third favourites at around 11/2. Under Fabio Capello England have become an efficient unit and he appears .

And so to part two.

Sunday's win at Bolton made a lot of people sit up and take notice, partly because of the battling nature of the victory, and partly because of the inspirational form of our captain. But mainly because it meant that three points tonight could send us top of the league.

Sure, Chelsea would have a game in hand, which they would only need to draw to return to the summit.

So far, not so good. Two games into the crucial run and we've drawn at Villa (itself not a bad result) before losing poorly at home to United. According to the press, we've gone from genuine contenders to also-rans in the same short period.

Of course, it is never that simple. A win at Stamford Bridge would leave us with four points from three incredibly difficult games, the same as Chelsea despite their corresponding fixtures being Burnley and Hull.

A few weeks back we, like everyone else, wrote of England's left back dilemma in the wake of Ashley Cole's injury. Why?

In fairness, we did conclude the most likely event was Cole recovers and starts, but the hysteria around it was hilarious, particularly considering he was due to be back in plenty of time and bookies had him at 1/3, usually a good indicator.

Soccerlens is now offering a new fantasy football game which gives you the chance to win money every weekend just by predicting the most successful players of the round. You can pick a new team every week, which allows you to cater for injuries, impending 7-0 home wins, international call-ups and extra-marital affairs, amongst other things.

I'm Not A Racist But La Liga Is Strongly Biased In Favour Of Real Madrid And Castille
Check out the teams that HyperReal Madrid puppet.
Check the matches adjacent to the Champions League for Barcelona.
Check out the key match decisions over the season - our proprietary index shows HyperReal Franco at ## and FC Catalunya at ## (where 100 is pure corruption in a positive direction and 0 is pure corruption t'other way).

Face it, the Chavs need to drop 7 points from 4 games... they can lose away to Spuds and Liverpool and still win the title owing to their vastly superior goal difference.

Not going to happen.

Most bookies have today paid out on Chavski winning the title, and those bastards rarely get it wrong.

Gianfranco Zola's sacking hasn't come as a surprise to anyone, after West Ham Co. Owner David Sullivan publicly said after their home defeat to fellow strugglers Wolves 3-1 at home in March was shambolic.

We know there are still some doom and gloomers around, who insist that Newcastle will struggle next season, back in the Premiership. Danny Guthrie good player in the making on Tyneside And they have been given some ammunition today by the bookies, who are usually fairly accurate if only because big money is often involved.

Fifa's World Rankings were announced yesterday. Brazil lead Spain, who are are second followed by Portugal, The Netherlands, Italy and Germany.
Spain and Brazil are among the bookies' favorites to win the World Cup next summer.
England are in 8th place, while Argentina are in 7th and are looking a serious bet to win in South Africa with the goals of Diego Milito and Leo Messi.

Former Liverpool defender Mark Wright claims it is a very exciting time for any manager to come in and take over at the club following the recent departure of Rafael Benitez - who has become Inter Milan coach on Wednesday.
Fulham manager Roy Hodgson is reported as being the bookies' favourite to take over at Anfield with friend Kenny Dalglish having been put in charge of finding Benitez's successor.

The Elo Ratings are one of the many systems used to predict the winner of the World Cup.

The factors that go into ranking the World Cup predicting system include: the nation's past history in the event, whether or not a team is hosting the event, and the current form of the team. If you look further in depth into the methods of the system you will find some other factors that will also tip the scale one way or the other include: how much a team is winning matches by, who they beat leading up to the Cup, the location of the matches, the health of star players, and whether or not the match was a WCQ or just a friendly.

Slovenia have just beaten Algeria 1-0 thanks to a Robert Koren goal, which means we're now in second place behind the Slovenes; our next opponents (Algeria) are bottom and their performance this afternoon was very reminiscent of their African Cup Of Nations effort; substitute Abdelkader Ghezzal of Siena was sent off for two silly yellow cards (shirt pulling and deliberate handball) and keeper Faouzi Chaouchi did his best Robert Green impression.

Newcastle United are one of the clubs the bookies think could be relegated next season in the Premier League. Danny Simpson confident Newcastle can survive next season That has to be a little worrying because the bookies are usually fairly close, if only because big money is often involved, and they were dead right [.

Rafael Benitez has spoken for the first time about his departure from Liverpool on the day that bookies have shortened their odds on Fulham manager Roy Hodgson taking over from the Spaniard in the Anfield dugout.
Newly installed as coach of Inter Milan, Benitez described how the news of his pending exit was relayed to him while he was on holiday but made clear that he maintains utmost respect for the ‘amazing' supporters of the Reds.

I no longer believe anything I read in the media. I think they are scavengers desperate for news to fill their ever expanding empires of greed. I'm also eternally optimistic and, despite the evidence to the contrary, have been hoping that Roy would eventually turn down Liverpool (and/or England) and commit himself to Fulham.

The World Cup final happens this Sunday, July 11th. Hopefully you already knew that. If not, read our World Cup final preview and get yourself up to speed.

Everyone else, I have two simple questions for you:

1. Netherlands or Spain: Who do you think will win the World Cup?

Football365 | All The News | Football News | JOE COLE SECURES LIVERPOOL MOVEIt is being widely reported that Joe Cole has, as bookies over the weekend surmised by closing down betting on the topic, signed with Liverpool. I can't say I'm thrilled about this outcome for either the player or Liverpool.

Martin O'Neill's sudden resignation as manager of Aston Villa on Monday sparked speculation that U.S. men's national team manager Bob Bradley would be his replacement. Whether the predictions of British bookies, who have installed Bradley as the favorite for the job, come true remain to be seen but Bradley wasn't doing much to shoot down the idea when asked about the Aston Villa opening on Monday.

The English Premier League is back in action tomorrow. Rob posted a game by game preview of the Premier League 2010/11 opening weekend earlier, with the introductory line "all times are local time, and all predictions entirely fallible."

My Premier League predictions are equally fallible, but more long term.

Most of us have done it! had a bet on a game on the TV believing that we can predict the outcome of the game whether it be first-goalscorer, correct score or the full/time result of the game and I bet we all make the same 5 betting mistakes I mention below. I bet most of us have at least done 3 of the mistakes on many occasions leaving you broke, lets hope these tips can help you overcome those mistakes.

With the Barclays Premier League standings beginning to resemble the final table many expect come the end of the season, punters are starting to wonder where they can find value with regards to a bet on who will be the eventual winners of the Premier League this year.
Although Chelsea are clearly looking like a side which is going to be extremely tough to overhaul at the top of the table this season, they have also become an unappetising bet for many punters, with few bookies now offering Chelsea betting odds that will generate a high rate of return for those risking their hard earned cash.

One could be forgiven for thinking that Real Madrid are the only Spanish team to have played in Europe this week. Incessant media coverage coupled with relentless praise, usually reserved for a team that has just won the quadruple, or at least the Champions League, has meant that the other six Spanish teams in Europe have gone about their jobs rather quietly.

I haven't wrote a blog for a while (really getting lazy!) but thought that whilst the missus is watching the X Factor I'd get behind the keyboard again. I should do it more often really as I find it very therapeutic and wonderfully invigorating (check out my big words) especially after nine pints and two cheeky tequilas.

Arsenal welcome West Ham to The Emirates Stadium on Saturday for a 3pm kick-off. This local derby has often thrown up some great matches in recent seasons, with West Ham famously spoiling the party when Arsenal were carrying out their centenary celebrations. That day Aston Villa's Nigel Reo-Coker was on West Ham's books and he put in a man of the match performance to give the East London side the points.

Another weekend, another loss. Three weekends in a row, now: is losing becoming a habit for the champions? Well, no. But things aren't pretty on the pitch at the moment.
Off the pitch however, things are probably worse. Just as Chelsea seemed to be throwing a past of almost continual behind-the-scenes turmoil behind them, Ray Wilkins' departure chucked a large, slightly rusting spanner in the Cobham works.

Football betting is a massive industry, with millions of pounds, euros, etc changing hands each season. There are all kinds of punters, from the obsessive fan to the statistics nerd to the seasoned gambler, and the bookmaking companies are always on the lookout for new customers. One method that many of the bookmakers have used to bring in new business is 'free bets'.

HARESH DEOLMonday, November 29th, 2010 13:50:00

The Malay Mail was tipped off by a source from abroad claiming the individuals linked to fixing the President's Cup and on-going King's Gold Cup matches could be involved in "arranging international matches" in the region.

This included the Thailand-Zimbabwe and Thailand-Syria international friendlies in Bangkok last year.

Newcastle United defender Sol Campbell has slammed the club's decision to sack manager Chris Hughton. Few people if any expected Hughton's sacking, and many questions are being asked as to why the decision was made. Campbell, a seasoned veteran of the Premier League, has criticized the decision, going as far as saying it "makes no sense.

The draw for the first knockout round has just been made in Switzerland and this is how it looks for the English clubs:

AC Milan v Spurs

Arsenal v Barcelona

Olympique Marseille v Manchester United

FC Copenhagen v Chelsea

On paper, it looks as if Chelsea have the 'easiest' tie, but Copenhagen are unbeaten in the league and eliminated Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos in the Group Stage.

Its a given isn't it - surely Messi, the bookies favourite, is going to take home the Ballon d'Or for the second year running?

• As this video shows, he scored three hat tricks in a week (10 in total)
• Last season he scored 47 goals in 53 games
• This season he has already scored 27 goals in 23 games (17 in 14 just in the League)
• He has scored 55 goals in the 2010 alone
• He broke his own record this season by scoring in 10 consecutive games
• The record ended when Barca bear Real Madrid 5-0.

There were unprecedented scenes tonight at Untold Towers, the rural enclave which houses Untold Arsenal. As editors and copywriters gathered on the 42nd floor and watched in amazement a crowd of over 400 bookmakers, bookies runners and a couple of burger sellers attacked the building with sticks, staves and a centurian tank.