Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is (total £175.01, up £146.01)

Nothing lasts forever, and for the first time since our opening weeks of betting we actually made a loss this week in our predictions. No doubt it is a bitter pill to swallow, but only losing £5 has meant there have been no sleepless nights.

One bet did come to fruition—Frank Lampard scoring in the epic Chelsea-Liverpool Champions League match on Tuesday night. But then we were stung, Arsenal’s 3-nil win rubbished our forecast of less than 2.5 goals, while the French hoodoo in the UEFA Cup proved true once more as Marseille lost at home to Shahtkar, joining PSG in exiting the competition on Thursday, to continue French team woeful history in the tournament.

After a long shower and a good dusting down our spirits have freshened up. We know we are still the business. We are still £146.01 up. And if you still haven’t signed up to 888.com (do it here) you’re the one missing out on easy money.

So onto this weekend’s money-making predictions.

We have had quite a lot of success picking out home-bankers, and this week we are pushing the envelope by backing three teams to bring home cheer. In Belgium, Mons are plummeting to certain relegation having lost seven matches on the trot, and travelling to third-placed Club Brugge (1/6 to win) on Saturday, their eighth sucessive defeat appears imminent.

A similar story occurs in Denmark where high-flying Brondby (1/5 to win) face rock-bottom Sonderjyske, while over in Holland league leaders AZ Alkmaar (1/5 to win) can win this season’s Eredivisie title if they beat Vitesse on Saturday.

We are staking £15 on wins for Club Brugge, Brondby and AZ Alkmaar looking to reap a £25.20 return.

AZ Alkmaar can also walk away with the Dutch championship if Steve McClaren’s FC Twente fail to win at Feyenoord and Ajax do not beat PSV Eindhoven on Sunday. It has been 14 matches since Twente failed to get on the scoresheet, and with Feyenoord experiencing a turbulent season, goals look on the cards in this match.

Goals also look in the offing when Bundesliga leaders Wolfsburg (15 goals in their last five games) host midtable Bayer Leverkusen at the Volkswagen Arena. Believing their to be more than 2.5 goals in both matches (Twente-Feyenoord at 4/6 while Wolfsburg-Bayer Leverkusen is 8/13) we are aiming to turn our £10 bet into £26.92.

Last, we head to Spain for the riskiest bet of the week—double away wins.

Barcelona are a runaway train, and the chances of Getafe stopping Pep Guardiola’s side, even in front of their own fans, seem remote. Throwing caution to the wind though, we are not only backing Barca at 4/9 to win, but making a double on Osasuna to take three points at Almeria too.

Almeria are in a downward funk having lost four of their last five matches, although that includes games against Sevilla (a), Barcelona (h), Real Madrid (a) and Mallorca (h). But as luck would have it Almeria have no respite, as their next opponents are currently one of the form teams in La Liga. Osasuna have battled the drop admirably, having won three on the bounce including a 4-2 win at Atletico Madrid a fortnight ago. Osasuna are 21/10 to win in Andalusia.

We are betting £8 hoping to swoop a return of £41.33.