Premier League Betting Tips September 25/26

With a few surprises and a number of 1-1 draws last weekend, I still correctly picked 3/4 tips last weekend, with only Stoke City letting me down. Fortunate or not on Cesc Fabregas’ goals, I had full confidence in both Chelsea and Manchester City pulling through, and they did with ease, at good odds. This weekend sees a tough fixture list, but I’m confident of similar results and a large amount of cash in our pockets at the end of it.

Lay Liverpool to beat Sunderland 1/2
Roy Hodgson’s tough start to life at Anfield continued on Wednesday night when his side were humiliated in defeat to Northampton Town in the Carling Cup. This came after a late defeat at Old Trafford last Sunday that has left Liverpool just 1 point above the drop zone. Fernando Torres is not fully fit, Steven Gerrard has been held back in a more defensive role, and their man-marking system in defence hasn’t been a success. It’s going to take time before Roy Hodgson gets this team going. That gives Steve Bruce and his Sunderland side a great opportunity to pick up points at Anfield on Saturday. They dented Arsenal’s title hopes with a dramatic stoppage stoppage time equaliser from last week and give themselves another morale boost by avoiding defeat here. Darren Bent always shows up against the big clubs and I would expect him to be no different in this game. Sunderland are a good shout to cause an upset in the Premier League this weekend.

Tottenham to beat West Ham 11/10
West Ham United became the last team to register a point this season when they came away from the Britannia Stadium with a 1-1 draw. Saved by the woodwork on a number of occasions, the West Ham defence is arguably the worst in the Premier League currently. Backed up by an uncertain and out-of-form Robert Green doesn’t help. Avram Grant will return from his break this weekend, knowing his side picked up more points (1) last weekend than he did in his first four games (0). He returns for a big London clash also, against rivals Tottenham. Spurs have certainly struggled for form of their own, but sit 5th in the table despite a defeat to Wigan Athletic amongst other results. Jermain Defoe remains absent, but Harry Redknapp has Peter Crouch, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Robbie Keane to pick from up front. Tom Huddlestone will be a big part of winning the midfield battle in this game, and is one that Redknapp may want to leave Rafael van der Vaart out of. With their quality and experience, I expect Tottenham to pull through this game and come away with 3 points against a West Ham side that is lacking quality up front and at the back.

Manchester United to beat Bolton 8/15
The bookmakers may have noticed Manchester United’s slow start to the season by giving us over halves for an away day at Bolton. The kick off time won’t favour the visitors, but they’ll be heading into this game at least 4 points behind Chelsea and knowing they cannot drop points in this one. Nani and Dimitar Berbatov combined to great effect in last Sunday’s victory over rivals Liverpool and will be looking to produce similar results again. Nani will come up against tough-tackling Paul Robinson. Either expect the Portuguese winger to have a quiet game after feeling the full effects of a Robinson tackle early on, or expect him to cause the slow and careless full back no ends of problem, winning set pieces in the way that Nani does (often by falling over shadows). Paul Scholes has been in fine form this season too, while this may be a game for Wayne Rooney to pick up his own form. Defensively United may have problems with the aerial ability of both Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander, should Owen Coyle go with both strikers once again. Edwin van der Sar needs to be commanding from set pieces, while Darren Fletcher needs to prevent Bolton from seeing many attacking opportunities. Both are capable of doing these duties as United will look to outscore their opposition as they did last weekend.